Recreational Opportunities

The Baliles Center offers a multitude of outdoor recreational opportunities, from canoeing and kayaking to backcountry hiking and exploring. Situated on two major tributaries to the Potomac River, Hull Springs is the perfect place to fish or swim or watch the resident ospreys and bald eagles nesting nearby.

Schedule a Visit

Please contact Sherry Swinson, Baliles Center Executive Director, via email at swinsonsd@longwood.edu or call (434) 395-4987.

Birding

The Baliles Center is an ideal birding location. Year-round, dozens of species ranging from the iconic Bald Eagle to the common Carolina Wren make HSF their homes, migrating passage and breeding grounds. Birding groups or individual parties are welcome to make reservations to enjoy birding at their own pace or a guided tour.

It is advised that at least one period of the birding tour be taken via water to explore the avian life of Aimes and Glebe Creeks that border the farm.   

The Baliles Center offers great birding opportunities because of its varied habitat types including forest, field, wetland, shore and edge habitats. There are many permanent resident species, as well as many migrating species of shore birds and passerines.   

Among the many species are: [Common name (Scientific name)]

• Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)
• Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)
• Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)
• Cooper’s Hawk (Accipiter cooperii)
• American Kestrel (Falco sparverius)
• Canada Goose (Branta Canadensis)
• Mute Swan (Cygnus olor)
• Wood Duck (Aix sponsa)
• Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
• Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo)
• Northern Bobwhite (Colinus virginianus)
• Great Blue Heron (Ardea Herodias)
• Green Heron (Butorides virescens)
• American Woodcock (Scolopax minor)
• Herring Gull (Larus argentatus)
• Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon)
• Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus)
• Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata)
• Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum)
• Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)