Saturday Sep. 30,2023, at Salisbury MA (Day 13)
Of course we hope that the Internet is running full bore, but on this Saturday I know that a lot of people are watching TV and other things, so it might be slow in putting photos. We will see. (Did finally get sme on , but slowly.)
Today was overcast and in the low 60s, which makes a good day for a drive, so we headed back to Parker River NWR where we had good viewing with birds previously. As the sun wasn't shining and the wind was blowing from the north, the birds were undercover a bit more then usual. It was especially true of the Forest activity, as we had seen a number of birds there previously. It was not a total loss as we did see a few species that we had not before. One example of that was the common Yellowthroat, and a Seaside Sparrow that took us about an hour to finally identify. Even with photographs it was difficult to sort it out from others. Every bird even in the same species has some difference from other ones in the same species. They are not twins or triplets, so even a little variation can throw you off in identification. At this time of the year there is very little sound or songs from the birds, so visual ID is the rule.
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| Boardwalk to Beach on Ocean Very gradual and smooth |
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| What is called the "Back dunes" protect the forest and marshes. |
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| The marsh is three habitats away from the Ocean. |
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| A Osprey platform is still active in the swamp |
Some other birds that we saw that are unique were; the Great Blue Heron, Semi Palmated Plover, Northern Harrier, Little Gull, Pintail, Widgeon and a Green Winged Teal. The Teal that we saw is supposed to be a dabbling bird, and that is ...they don't dive down in the water. But these two did do some diving. Now we couldn't look under the water to see how far they dove, but they definitely were under the water completely. Maybe we should report that?
So we continued to go back to the spots we saw birds before and for the most part they were there. The auto traffic, bicycles and walkers were much less then two days ago. I think the northwind, and the cloudy skies and the fact that it was Saturday, kept people only for the most part.
Parker NWR is about 10 miles long with one road down the middle . On the seaboard side is the beach (accessible in three places by long boardwalks.) the back dunes are inland from the beach and closely followed by the forest.The road edges the forest for the most part and on the west side of the road is the swamp with the many ponds. Access to all of these occurs at about 6 places. In the spring when the Plovers are nesting the entire road is closed until they fledge.
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| Virginia Creeper |
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| Seaside berries |
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| Lichen and Virginia Creeper |
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| Bayberry after it turns white from Blue. Birds say "Yum". |
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| Three Lesser Yellowlegs at Bill Howard Pond |
A feature of the Preserve are the many berry bushes which provide excellent food for wildlife. I'll put in a few of these specie. Again, because of the acid soil the two main trees are a long leaf pine and scrub oak. Historically, the early settlers brought with them a pine tree call Austrian pine. That is scattered among the dunes now, along with the other trees and shrubs.
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| Beach Plums are all over the dunes and surrounding areas. There are three berry shrubs here also, |
We headed back from the preserve in mid-afternoon, as we made one stop at a hardware store to pick up some needed things for the trailer. We did find it, and were home in time to prepare dinner
Supper was complemented by meat loaf, mixed vegetables, and a baked potato. That was a very filling and delicious meal.
So that was our Saturday and we will see what tomorrow brings as there are two smaller wildlife areas that we might visit. One is on Native American land and the other is by a river. We shall see.
See you next time.--Jim I'm Saturday so let me
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