Today we took a field trip to the Daniel Webster Wildlife Sanctuary, which is owned and run by Massachusetts Audubon Society. And yes, it’s that Daniel Webster, the famous statesman– he’s buried in the cemetery on the other side of the parking lot and he once owned the farm which is now the sanctuary.
We did a quick morning session of math and copywork and reading and then packed lunches and were out of the house by 10:30. Dom took a part day off of work and came with us. On the way there and back we listened to Coot Club, one of the Swallows and Amazons series. Rather appropriate choice for an outing to a wildlife sanctuary.
There were only about four other cars in the parking lot, and we saw just a handful of people while we were there. It was a perfect day for a hike– I’d looked at the forecast and chosen the day that would be cooler because some of my kids overheat pretty easily. Last time we were there, we didn’t get to see all the trails I wanted to see because they were too hot. But today the weather was cool and partly cloudy. When we first got there I rather wished I’d work something with sleeves, but it did eventually warm up a little.
Everything was so green and full of birdsong. So many birds. We saw so many birds: red winged blackbirds, purple martins, swallows, bobolinks, turkeys, sparrows, ospreys. And Bella was thrilled to spot and identify a new bird for her life list: a common yellowthroat.
We also found a baby rabbit sitting in the grass right at the edge of the path. And we saw squirrels and chipmunks and turtles.
We had a nice picnic lunch at the overview on Fox Hill, looking out over the salt marshes and the river. Peanut butter and jelly always tastes so good after a long hike.
