Copyright Daniel E. Levenson 2012.
Moose Hill Wildlife Sanctuary in Sharon, Massachusetts is a special place in my life. In fact, one of the earliest memories I have is of standing on the boardwalk in the wetlands with my father and a younger sibling and having one of the naturalists there break off a piece of Skunk Cabbage leaf for us to smell. Both the scent of this mildly malodorous plant and the experience of standing on this wooden platform surrounded by water and trees, have stayed with me. Moosehill is also special because it is the oldest Mass Audubon wildlife sanctuary and a place where I spent many hours as a kid and teenager exploring the fields, forests and bluffs. There are some wildlife sanctuaries which are more compact and easier to explore in a short amount of time, but with approximately 2,000 acres of habitat buttressed by another 400 or so acres of Moose Hill Farm (once owned by the Kendall family, generously donated to the Mass Trustees of Reservation) this sanctuary is the kind of place which deserves as much time as one can give it. It's the kind of place you could easily spend a day or two wandering around, hiking up to the bluffs for an impressive view of rolling wooded hills extending south and raptors taking advantage of the currents of air, or spend a few quiet hours in the sacred silence of the pines of Hobbs Hill, waiting for White-tailed deer to pass by.
During an outing this afternoon I hoped to see some interesting birds, but I also knew that with only a couple of hours to explore I should make sure to take in everything around me as well, and I was not disappointed. Soon after I got out of my car I heard a familiar sound - the rattling staccato song of the Chipping Sparrow. I had been hearing them around Newton for the last few weeks but had yet to see one, so I was delighted when one made itself known in a fairly exposed spot at the top of a tree. This made species number 69 for the season, and made me hopeful that I might be able to add at least one more species to my year list today.
Copyright Daniel E. Levenson 2012.
I stopped in briefly at the nature center where I spoke with
a naturalist who had some suggestions about where I might see some late
warblers and then headed for the hay field closest to the road. In the past I
have found this to be a good spot to see Ovenbirds (on the aptly named Ovenbird
trail, actually) and in the fall and winter the pine forest adjacent to
the field is a good place to observe mixed-species flocks of Titmice,
Nuthatches, Chickadees and Downy woodpeckers, not to mention the occasional
wild turkey. Whenever I go birding at Moosehill I almost always come away with
a shorter list than I might if I had been birding elsewhere, but I also tend to
find some birds there that need the kind of thick forests, grasslands or other
unbroken habitat that Moosehill has to offer.
As I left the shade of the forest and stepped into the
bright sun of the field I looked out on a sea of native grasses covering many
acres of meadow, with insects buzzing and Tree Swallows swooping in graceful arcs
overhead.
Copyright Daniel E. Levenson 2012.
Sometime in the last year or so the folks at Moosehill have
placed very nice wooden benches in different locations throughout the sanctuary.
I found one at the edge of the field and sat down for a while, scanning the sky
above for swallows, raptors and other birds I commonly see in this part of the
sanctuary. As I was sitting there I was lucky enough to have a truly gorgeous butterfly happen by and land
on my leg. It sat there for a few minutes, and I was able to get some good
photos and a short video. I have seen many butterflies and brightly colored moths, but I don't think I have ever seen this species before - as you can see below it has a very striking black and white wing pattern and bright orange/red legs. When I got home and did some research I discovered that this was in fact a moth, and not a butterfly -so below you can see a photo of this amazing little creature, an Eight-Spotted Forester Moth (Alypia octomaculata). Purely by coincidence I was having a conversation with some
relatives this past weekend about the differences between moths and butterflies
and I said that it can be hard to make distinctions in the field unless you
know the species you are looking at, since many moths are in fact intricately
patterned and/or beautifully colored. It looks like this Forester Moth is a
prime example.
Copyright Daniel E. Levenson 2012.
As you can see from this video clip below there was a decent breeze, but somehow it was able to hang on.
Copyright Daniel E. Levenson 2012.
My next stop was the boardwalk, a great place to look for
frogs, Red-winged Blackbirds and occasionally hawks. I have also had great luck
seeing Eastern Towhees at the edges of the wetland. Before I got to the start of
the boardwalk, however, I came across a Wild Turkey feeding in some tall grass.
Copyright Daniel E. Levenson 2012.
Along the boardwalk the Skunk Cabbage was robust and
healthy-looking.
Copyright Daniel E. Levenson 2012.
On the other side of the boardwalk I paused to scan the
field in front of me for signs of Orioles, Blue Birds and Swallows, but the
meadow was mostly quiet. There were some nice wildflowers in bloom, and I could
hear birdsong on the other side of the field, at the edge of the woods, so I
decided to move on. Just as I left the meadow I heard a faintly familiar bird
calling that I couldn’t quite place. I stood quietly listening for a while
before I saw movement at the top of a tree about twenty feet in front of me. Slowly,
I raised my binoculars and got an excellent look at a male Eastern Towhee who
was singing quite loudly. Normally when I encounter these birds they are fairly
shy and often calling from inside a brush pile or at the edge of a thicket, but
this particular bird was in a pretty exposed spot singing from the top branches
of a tree at the edge of the clearing. The photo below is not the greatest, but
it does illustrate the coloration pattern of the male, as seen from the front
and below.
Copyright Daniel E. Levenson 2012.
This was my first Eastern Towhee of the year and hopefully
not the last. Moosehill is a great place to see these and other forest birds.
Although Moosehill is the oldest sanctuary in the Mass
Audubon system much of its land was once under cultivation or used for various
purposes. I'll go into more detail in future posts, but if you visit keep
an eye out for old stone walls and farm buildings that have been re-purposed,
including a barn. Another structure was
built nearby to house a bat colony.
Copyright Daniel E. Levenson 2012.
Copyright Daniel E. Levenson 2012.
One
botanical puzzle I’ve noticed the last few times I’ve gone afield is that there
seem to be a number of trees which have one or two branches of leaves that seem
to think it’s autumn. Below you can see a photo of one such branch that I
noticed today at Moosehill. If anyone has any insights into why this might
happen with certain trees or under certain conditions, I would love to hear them.
Copyright Daniel E. Levenson 2012.
Whether you are interested in birds, bats, moths or botany, Moosehill is a great place to visit. For more information you can click here.
Also, if you'd like to find out a little more about the
Eight-Spotted Forester Moth you can check out this interesting site. You can learn more about the Eastern Towhee from the people behind e-bird at this site.
Copyright Daniel E. Levenson 2012.
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