Daniel Webster Wildlife Sanctuary

I bought new camera this spring. I made the investment because of the frustration I had when I went to Sedona. The limitations of the point and shoot on that trip pushed me back to the SLR world. I used to shoot an SLR (film) but I got tired of lugging the camera and lenses around. The point and shoot is so convenient and for most vacation photos perfectly adequate. I have some great pictures from Hawaii that were taken with a disposable camera! But sometimes you just need more power than you can get from the point& shoot zoom. The other frustration was the shutter lag. So I decided to make an investment and buy a digital SLR.

Since my budget is limited I settled for the “kit” lens to start out. Now I had to learn to use the camera. The principles of light and shutter speed and depth of field are all the same but there are some significant differences in where these controls are located and how to set shooting modes. A great perk is that the ISO can be changed to suit the conditions unlike film where you are stuck with the ISO on the roll. But that isn’t what today’s post is about. I’m not qualified to write a photography blog. For that I recommend digital-photography -school.com. You’ll finds the link to them in the side bar.

I only explained about the camera to explain how I happened to find out about a wonderful little place in Marshfield. Back to the camera for the moment, the best way to learn a new camera is to shoot, shoot , shoot. Much easier today with digital because you can review and delete and there’s no cost. In film days you had to get the film developed and then review and then buy more film and do it all again, It got very pricy very quick.

Anyway, I was out at one of my favorite places, the Herring run on the Nemesket River, right off RT 44. I like practicing with the camera there because it’s very scenic and sometimes I meet other people who let me take pictures of their dogs or have stories to tell about animals and birds they’ve seen around here. While I was there one of my co-workers pulled up and we started chatting. He told me his father was an amateur photographer and that he’d recently found a place in Marshfield where he’s gotten some great wildlife photos. He couldn’t remember the name of it but he had a good idea where it was so I took the information and at the first opportunity, I headed over.

After getting twisted around a couple of times I finally spotted a sign for Daniel Webster Wildlife Sanctuary. Located at the end of the road, I parked and walked to a little visitor cabin (for lack of a better word) There was no one around and inside there was a contribution/ collection box with admission posted above it. The Sanctuary is run by the Massachusetts Audubon Society and apparently the admission fee is on the honor system.

I looked out the window in the cabin onto a little flower garden with a bird feeder. Birds were taking advantage of the easy meal and squirrels were circling the base of the feeder grabbing the bits that the birds dropped. I watched for a while and then started out to explore the trails.

The Sanctuary is 500 plus acres of grasslands, swamp and natural gardens designed as habitats for wildlife. The trails , blinds and observation platforms are built for wildlife watching.

The trail slopes gently downhill away from the entry cabin and then splits. I chose the right side which I learned by a quick check of the map I had picked up, is known as the Pond Loop. The map said it would take me past the purple martin colony. Not too far ahead I could see this strange looking rigging with white things hanging from it. Not a very good description but words escape me. Unfortunately so do the pictures. They are on the hard drive of a computer that is currently in the shop so I will have to post them later. I assume this is the  Purple Martin Colony because it was clear as I got closer that these were a modern version of a bird house and there were loads of birds taking advantage of them.

I was almost to the colony when 2 Canadian Geese plunked themselves down right in front of me on the path. They weren’t in any hurry to move along and they didn’t want to be crowded, hissing at me when ever I got too close. That was ok with me as I wasn’t in a race or anything. I just followed along behind them.
They were still in front of me as we passed the Purple Martin Colony and headed along toward the pond.

 That may have been why I was surprised by the 3 otters that came racing down the hill to the path and crossed into the tall grass right in front of me. It happened so fast that I barely got the camera up and never got it focused. All I managed to capture was a dark brown blur. They even startled the geese because they gave a surprised honk and waddled off in a hurry.

If that was the extent of my wildlife experience I would still have been thrilled if disappointed in my missed opportunity for a picture, but the sanctuary had more in store for me.

As I continued along the path I came to another fork. Again I went to the right which was marked “secret trail”. Almost immediately the trail became a boardwalk so clumsy humans would not blunder along and damage precious habitat . It also made for easy walking. At one point the trail turned left and opened into a large field. Since it was spring the grass was very high and across this sea of grass I spotted something brown moving. I froze and waited as did the brown spot. I took a couple of steps and the brown spot moved the opposite way. When I would stop, it would stop. This long distance dance went on for maybe 10 minutes before the animal stepped fully into view. It was a white tail deer.

 I had not yet invested in a zoom lens so I was stuck with a limited range. The field was probably 300-400 yards wide so the deer was clear but small in the resulting pictures. We watched each other for maybe 15 minutes as the sun slowly headed toward the horizon. Finally the deer must have decided I wasn’t a threat because it turned an walked calmly back into the woods.

I continued on as the trail led me back into the maple swamp and back onto the boardwalk. I felt really uplifted by my encounter with the deer was convinced that this was more than enough for my fist visit. But there was more.

As I stepped off the boardwalk I almost tripped over a family of rabbits. They scattered, all except one, who kept just a bit ahead.. It reminded me of the White Rabbit (although mine was just a plain brown) of Alice in Wonderland beckoning Alice to come along. Finally it turned off into the brush at the side of the path. Now I was at the far end of the meadow from the entry cabin. There were more paths to take but the sanctuary is only open until dusk and the sun was getting low in the sky so I crossed to connect with The Fox Hill trail to head back. I took a short detour onto part of the River Walk but I didn’t finish it.

The next detour was the Piggery Loop. That was going in the right direction and wasn’t too much of a detour so I wandered along that and as I turned a corner saw a beautiful play of light coming through the trees and lighting some yellow flowers by the path. You can see this picture on Face book in my album “Just for fun”. Until I get the old computer back, that’s the best I can do. A lesson in making multiple backups of your photos.

Returning to the Fox Hill Trail I made one last stop as the sun slowly set. There is an observation blind there and I let myself in to watch the birds coming home to roost. The blind is located at the end of a wet panne. I’d call it a shallow pond but the map called it a wet panne. Anyway, here I got a picture of a Green Heron before I lost the light.

All in all it is a wonderful place. I wish I had gotten back there more over the summer and fall but there’s no reason not to go back during the winter. Many of the birds are migratory but there are hawks and owls that are year round residents. The white tail deer stay all year and occasionally foxes and coyotes are seen, so it’s worth a winter visit.


www.massaudubon.org.