Tag Archives: animals

Unusual Day At Oliver Mill Park

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I’ve been keeping an eye out for my friend, the Great Blue Heron, that hangs out at the herring run in Middleboro. Since there are actually 2 of the “herring runs” in Middleboro I like to refer to this one off Rt 44 as Oliver Mill Park. After all, there a sign there that calls it that.

A few days ago I saw a large number of photographers all running around with their gear and tripods trying to get pictures of “Blue”. Since then “Blue” hasn’t been around. I figured he felt harassed by all the attention and was giving us the cold shoulder. Now with rain keeping all but the most intrepid away, he was back.

I couldn’t pass up the chance for a couple of shots even though I didn’t have the big telephoto with me. He watched me as I made my way down to the sandy part of the river bank.

 Once there we were eye-ball to eye-ball, mono a mono so to speak when I got dive bombed by something! My first reaction was to swat it away which I now regret. I wish I’d tried to grab it instead because it was a little bird. A few minutes later one zoomed over  “Blue’s” head so close he ducked!

The birds reminded me of the swallows I see at Daniel Webster but they didn’t have the “V” tail like a swallow. They were swooping all over the place. I took my pictures and left “Blue” alone. I stopped on one of the little bridges and took a picture of the miniature waterfall. Then I headed back to the car.

I was almost in the parking lot when I saw one of the Canada Geese families. They were paddling around the upper part of the river were the water appears to be smooth.

As I watched they swam really close to the top of the fish ladder and sure enough, one of the little goslings got sucked over the edge. Now he could have just continued to float down the ladder and he would have ended up on the sand where the family could reunite but these aren’t people and all they could think to do was get back together.

So the little gosling struggled and the parents honked. Finally one of the parents went over the edge too and swam  to the gosling as if to push it up but that didn’t work. It took the adult goose several tried to get back above the ladder and the baby was still stuck.

About then we humans had seen about all we could take. One guy headed for his car to get a golf club to try to push the baby up. I was getting a shovel out of my car when the men in the 3rd car yelled that the baby had finally made it.

Mama & Papa Goose wasted no time in getting everyone away from the top of the fish ladder then. We humans were relieved that the little drama had ended well.

That sums up my unusual day at Oliver Mill Park. It isn’t every visit that I get dive bombed by a tiny bird and get to see a life and death struggle play out right in front of me.

Spring Exuberance

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While we were enjoying our soft serve and the flowers at Ward’s Berry Farm we decided to check out the 4H buildings. Ward’s supports the 4H Clubs of America by allowing them to have some of their livestock there. We’ve seen the little lambs in the past and the miniature horses but today the goats stole the show.

The first one we saw was the old guy. 🙂 I don’t know his real name but I called him Billy Goat Gruff.

Give him a good scratch and he just about falls asleep. Can’t you just hear the contented sigh?

Next to him was another pen where a Mama goat was resting. We didn’t spot the kids until we went around to the back of the shed. That’s when we got the springtime show!

Man, those little guys were fast and like kids everywhere, into everything! 🙂

Ecotarium

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It was a beautiful day for an adventure with the kids. My friend Nancy’s kids that is. I picked up Nancy and her daughter Dawn and son Alex at 11:15 for the drive to Worcester to the Ecotarium. We’d checked out the website but still weren’t sure what we would find.

When we reached Worcester we decided to stop for lunch before we went on to the Ecotarium. We had a nice (if slow) lunch at a Friendly’s Restaurant. They were doing a good business but were clearly under staffed. I have to give our harried waitress a pat on the back. In spite of being pulled in many directions she maintained her pleasant attitude.

Finally out of the restaurant we found we were just around the corner from the Ecotarium. Worcester streets are not easy to navigate but we finally found it.

You buy your tickets at the gate as you drive in. Then follow the signs to the parking area. There was ample parking while we were there. There were several trails out of the parking lot. The one we took led to the main visitor center. As we passed along the trail we stopped to look at the Bald Eagles and 2 Barred Owls. All of the animals here are rescues. They have some injury that has healed but was severe enough that it left them crippled. The Ecotarium tries to give their animals a good quality of life.

Eagles mate in the air but these two are unable to fly so it makes mating difficult. The female eagle is currently sitting on a nest and has laid eggs. This has happened before but the eggs have always been infertile. It is too early to tell about this year’s clutch.

The owls also have a handicap so will not be released and will live out their life here in their habitat.

At the courtyard in front of the Visitor Center there was a sundial and another sculpture made of different sized pipes. You can blow in the pipes or hit the tops of the pipes with an over-sized sandal to see how different sized pipes create different tones.

As we entered the Visitor Center we were assaulted by the noise. I think it would be safe to say we had found the other families! There were tons of exhibits ranging  from a terrarium where you can put you head in from he bottom to a hurricane wind chamber. There was a machine that made mini tornado and an interactive room for budding engineers.

There was a rock wall for climbing and at the top of the wall a mountain lion was waiting.

There were programs and presentations, a chess board, a live parrot, a huge taxidermy bear.

The Africa gallery was a beautifully done series of dioramas.

The kids were running from one exhibit to another. They were being exposed to science without even realizing it. Everything was interactive so they could try it and to them it was just fun.

Eventually we got outside to another walking path. The animals along this path were skunks, porcupines and a large ‘possum. Near the playground were two gorgeous red foxes. From the Red Fox enclosure we walked down to the “pond”. We could see loads of fish swimming in the tea colored water.

By now it was almost 4:15 and the last chance to grab a ride on the little steam engine so we hustled back to the station. That was a fun ride. It even went through a tunnel.

Ride over, we made a quick stop at the gift shop as they were getting ready to shut down. We took the long path back to the car so that we could go by the otter habitat. Unfortunately the otters were in hiding but as we crossed the wooden bridge over the marsh we could see loads of frogs. A lady was there with a net trying to catch tadpoles.

Our final stop before leaving was at the stegosaurus. What would a museum be without a dinosaur?

If you are looking for a Zoo you will be disappointed. There are only a limited number of “live animal” exhibits but if you are looking for a nice day with lots of “hands on” exhibits and some lovely walking trails I would give the Ecotarium a big thumbs up!