Rough Meadows Wildlife Sanctuary in Rowley, Massachusetts is a 226 acre sanctuary on the mainland side of the Great Marsh on Massachusetts’ North Shore, about a mile as the crow flies from Plum Island MA (and happily for me, not far from where I live). MassAudubon says this about it:
Encompassing spectacular coastal woodlands, salt marshes, tidal creeks, and salt pannes, Rough Meadows supports an astonishing diversity of wildlife. The sanctuary, managed in collaboration with the Essex County Greenbelt, is part of the Great Marsh ecosystem. The area has been designated an Important Bird Area and Area of Critical Environmental Concern.
Late spring is one of my favorite times of year at Rough Meadows because it’s so green (when there isn’t drought...last spring the drought here had begun so it didn’t look as pretty as usual...this year has been somewhat dry, but better) and the vicious Greenhead flies have not arrived yet. Some pics I took there a couple weeks ago...
Hazy sunset because of the smoke from the Canadian wildfires
This is a four-minute slideshow I made with pics I took this May and June, at Rough Meadows and another salt marsh area not far from the sanctuary, where there were Glossy Ibises and egrets. Glossy Ibises are regular migrants through here but we don’t see them very often or for very long, so it’s always thrilling to see them. (Birds in the video, in order: Greater Yellowlegs; Gray Catbird; Great Egret and Snowy Egret; Osprey chasing a Bald Eagle; Glossy Ibises with Snowy Egrets, Great Egrets and Red-winged Blackbirds; Great Blue Heron.)
More photos that I took at Rough Meadows this May and June, including photos of one of the most unexpected things I saw there recently: a Willet at the top of a 60 or 70+ foot tall tree! There is a funny question and answer at the Cape Cod MA Birdwatcher’s General Store advice page about whether it’s normal to see Willets (which are large sandpipers!) in trees...apparently it is, but (I’ve learned partly from what nookular told me) it isn’t common to see them in trees that high!
Baltimore Oriole in an oak tree
immature male Baltimore Oriole
moon over Rough Meadows (the evening of the Willet in the tree)
The tree where I saw the Willet (just before or after it flew off)...it was at the very top!
Willet at the top of that tree
Willet
Greater Yellowlegs in flight
Greater Yellowlegs
Lupines in the meadow
Wild geranium at the edge of the forest
Does anyone know what this is?
Great Egret landing in the marsh
Great Egret in the marsh
Least Terns, seen from the path in an area called Nelson’s Island...they were pretty far away so I didn’t get great pics
A Common Tern appeared from nowhere and was flying around near the Least Terns
salt marsh on Nelson’s Island in early evening
path through the salt marsh on Nelson’s Island
Lupines in the meadow
YOUR TURN, BUCKETEERS: WHAT’S HAPPENING IN NATURE IN YOUR AREA?
Thanks for reading the Daily Bucket.
Phenology is how we take earth’s pulse.
We discuss what we see in each Bucket.
We value all observations, as we ponder life’s cycles.
Now it’s your turn.
Please comment about your own natural area, with or without photos.
To have the Daily Bucket in your Activity Stream, visit Backyard Science’s profile page and click on Follow, and join to write a Bucket of your own observations.
