Day 11, Trip East Thursday September 28, 2023

Thursday Day 11 Sept. 28, 2023 At Salisbury Beach MA 

All is well. We identified 35 birds today. Finally some good bird watching!  Ruth suggestion was that we look for a National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) named Parker River. We found  that it was just 5 miles away so we headed for that refuge first thing in the morning.

The refuge is situated just a few miles south of the New Hampshire border in Massachusetts. It is about 10 miles long and is a spit (Sand)  that is really an island about 10 miles long. It is  divided into for major habitats. Namely the beach, the dunes, the forest, and the swamps, each running the length of the refuge.

One of Refuges Pools

Easily seen is the line between the forest and the swamps

A boardwalk typical in this NWR.

Located on the Atlantic Ocean near Salisbury MA

 

 There was a large visitor Center not on the Refuge itself  as when it was built they felt it was more desirable to have it off the refuge.  (More space for wildlife) It is quite huge. Besides research, there is much emphasis on education programs, and accommodating visitors. We were fortunate to have one of the interns who majored in ornithology to attend us. She pointed out that many of the features we might enjoy. A Center volunteer took over after that, and presented a 10 minute movie of the Refuge. (Always a good idea before you enter the Refuges.)

Many berries

Of different kinds  (ID later)

Fungus was rare .

Do you think this means a tough winter? (Woolybear)

 

The road drives along  side  and in some places through the forest. It is completely accessible for wheelchairs at two of the ocean overlooks. (Boardwalks.)  All trails, beaches and boardwalks are for pedestrian use only. When we walked to the beaches on the boardwalks, we found very few people near or on the beaches. A few people know this time of the year is a quiet time so they bring their chairs, their books, their fishing rod and just chill out most of the day on the beach. Others prefer walking to the beach or to the forest to look for birds or wildlife. There might be 2-10 people on a vast, beach stretch.

Snowy Egrets  feeding

Fall cometh!

There are a number of observation platforms in the NWR.

 

 There are seven major stops along the road, all of which have good viewing of  the beach, the forest,the swamps or ant two. One of them has a wonderful boardwalk through the forest, to a pond of the swamp.

That was how it went most of the day. We ate our lunch at a parking area where the access to Hellcat Trail was located. Then we walked that trail (short) to a series of ponds where there were many birds. We were fortunate to see a peregrine falcon chasing the ducks at that point.

 

 

The town of Newburyport MA (settled in 1635)

You cn tell where the old roads were and still are!

 

 

 

 

Some of the other birds that we saw that were significant, were; the Northern Harrier, Brown Thrasher, Eastern Kingbird, Sharp Shinned Hawk, both the Great and the Snowy Egret, four Goldeneyes, an Eastern Towhee and many others totalling 35 species.

The sun shone most of the day getting cloudy toward the afternoon . The temperatures are up to the low 70s for the first time in a week.

We will no doubt return to this venue again although there are other  wildlife areas near us to visit.

That's it for this one as I will include a number of photos. It was a good day for photography.

Hope to see you tomorrow