File:Walton Pond, Amherst, New York - 20220728 - 01.jpg

English: A congregation of Canada geese (Branta canadensis) and mallard ducks (Anas platyrhynchos) on the shore of Walton Pond in Amherst, New York, as seen on a July 2022 afternoon. Along with the slightly larger Audubon Lake to its west, Walton Pond is one of two water features located within Walton Woods Park, the 50-acre green space that serves as the verdant nucleus of the Audubon New Community. One of three master-planned "new communities" developed beginning in 1969 by the New York State Urban Development Corporation (the first of their kind in the United States whose development was spearheaded by an organ of a state government), the Audubon was designed following the principles of New Urbanism, a then-newly emerging school of urban design that advocated for the creation of self-contained communities that are higher in density than standard suburbs yet also more verdant, with plenty of green space such as Walton Woods Park that incorporates natural features of the landscape, and with the automobile de-emphasized in favor of alternative modes of transportation such as walking, bicycling, and public transit so as to reduce sprawl and keep housing costs affordable.