The protected areas of Moose Hill in Sharon include Massaudubon's Moose Hill Wildlife Sanctuary, Trustees of Reservation's (TTOR) Moose Hill Farm, and some additional town-owned land. The overall size of these areas exceeds 2,500 acres, a very large undeveloped area for metropolitan Boston. The habitat is mostly maturing forest with small fields interspersed and a couple of power line cuts running through. The latter two of these habitats are featured prominently at TTOR's Moose Hill Farm. We began the walk here and covered the main loop. Four people joined the walk and weather conditions were somewhat windy with hazy sun and warm temperatures (65-78F). Early successional species on the power line cut included Indigo Buntings, Blue-winged Warblers, Prairie Warblers, Field Sparrows and good numbers of Eastern Towhees. At the big field there were a half dozen Bobolinks performing courtship display flights. Other highlights on this loop were a Yellow-throated Vireo (locally uncommon) and Black-billed Cuckoo.
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| Garter Snake |
The walk continued onto Massaudubon's Moose Hill Wildlife Sanctuary and covered parts of the Vernal Pool Loop, Kettle and Ovenbird Trails. Noteworthy birds included 3 singing Brown Creepers, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Pileated Woodpecker, and Yellow-billed Cuckoo (all of which are uncommon, local breeders). The real attraction on this route is Worm-eating Warbler. At the intersection of the Kettle and Ovenbird Trails were 2 singing birds and we were able to get a clear, but brief look at one of them. In Massachusetts, Worm-eating Warblers are at the northern end of their breeding range and Moose Hill has several birds on territory. Last year, I observed at least 7 singing birds throughout the sanctuary. Owls are always exciting and we had nice looks at a Barred Owl on the Kettle Trail.
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| Barred Owl |
2 Wild Turkey
4 Mourning Dove
1 Yellow-billed Cuckoo - Heard only, near Nature Center (Audubon)
1 Black-billed Cuckoo - Heard only, backside of big field (TTOR)
1 Barred Owl - nice look, Kettle Trail (Audubon)
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| Barred Owl |
1 Chimney Swift
2 Ruby-throated Hummingbird
2 Red-bellied Woodpecker
4 Downy Woodpecker
3 Hairy Woodpecker
4 Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)
1 Pileated Woodpecker - Ovenbird Trail (Audubon)
10 Eastern Wood-Pewee
2 Eastern Phoebe
6 Great Crested Flycatcher
1 Eastern Kingbird
1 Yellow-throated Vireo
4 Red-eyed Vireo
3 Blue Jay
1 American Crow
2 Tree Swallow
5 Barn Swallow
8 Black-capped Chickadee
13 Tufted Titmouse
1 Red-breasted Nuthatch
5 White-breasted Nuthatch
3 Brown Creeper - (Audubon)
1 House Wren
1 Carolina Wren
1 Eastern Bluebird
4 Veery
5 Wood Thrush
15 American Robin
10 Gray Catbird
7 Cedar Waxwing
17 Ovenbird
3 Worm-eating Warbler - Ovenbird Trail (Audubon)
5 Blue-winged Warbler
2 Black-and-white Warbler
8 Common Yellowthroat
3 Yellow Warbler
6 Pine Warbler
4 Prairie Warbler
11 Eastern Towhee
15 Chipping Sparrow
1 Field Sparrow
2 Song Sparrow
3 Scarlet Tanager
6 Northern Cardinal
7 Indigo Bunting
6 Bobolink
4 Red-winged Blackbird
5 Common Grackle
8 Brown-headed Cowbird
8 Baltimore Oriole
1 House Finch
4 American Goldfinch
This trip summary was created using the BirdLog app for iPhone and iPad.
See BirdLog for more information.
Vin Zollo
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