Mass Audubon Blogs

In Your Words is a regular feature of Mass Audubon’s Explore member newsletter. Each issue, a Mass Audubon member, volunteer, staff member, or supporter shares his or her story—why Mass Audubon and protecting the nature of Massachusetts matters to them. If you have a story to share about your connection to Mass Audubon, email explore@massaudubon.org to be considered for […]

For the majority of Earth’s creatures, life really is “better down where it’s wetter, under the sea.” Scientists estimate that as much as 80% of life on Earth is found in its oceans. With as much knowledge as we have gained about the oceans, we have truly only scratched the surface. Here are five underwater […]

Great news – the federal lands bill that includes permanent re-authorization for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) has been signed into law by President Trump! The Natural Resources Management Act (S.47) not only reauthorizes LWCF, which expired in September, but also designates more than one million new acres of protected wilderness. Please take […]

Calling all citizen scientists near Boston! Mass Audubon needs your help monitoring an underappreciated threat to migratory birds: window collisions. We’re looking for volunteers to collect data on bird-building collisions and rescue birds that survive a strike. The Problem Window collisions are a surprisingly significant source of bird mortality in the US, causing several hundred […]

When Mass Audubon acquired land adjacent to Lenox’s Kennedy Park in 1993, the ultimate aim was to swap it for a parcel just south of Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary along the western side of West Mountain Road.  This exchange as originally envisioned did not take place, but after 26 years a slightly modified version has. […]

There are still footprints in the snow on the trails. Look closely, some have tiny black creatures the size of pepper flakes. But they jump. They’re snow fleas, Collembola, also called Springtails.  They live in the leaf litter where they’re very hard to see, except when they hop onto the snow. South winds and melting […]

Daylight Savings Time arrived on the second morning of our annual Sap-to-Syrup Farmer’s Breakfast. Hearty pancakes topped with real maple syrup alongside Drumlin Farm’s roasted potatoes and sausage were enjoyed in sunny, snowy, and muddy weather throughout the weekend. Thanks to our volunteers, staff, and sponsors that helped make this event possible, including our premiere […]

David Larson and I led this week’s Wednesday Morning Birding program around a share of Cape Ann. This was our final trip for the season to Cape Ann, ergo, no more Harlequins until November. In the meantime, we will continue to enjoy scoters, Long-tails, Buffleheads, and goldeneyes, at least for a little while, from Plum […]

Join us for our Owls Live! Festival on Saturday, March 16, 2019, from 1:00-4:00 pm. It will be an afternoon filled with fun activities and a chance to see live owls from Mass Audubon’s Blue Hills Trailside Museum. Find out what makes owls unique and which owls you can find in your own backyard! Live […]

Shawn Moriarty, Moose Hill’s Education Coordinator and Camp Director, recently attended the Un-Conference in Colorado. Curious as to what that is? Read on and learn from Shawn! My name is Shawn Moriarty and I am the Education Coordinator and Camp Director at Moose Hill Wildlife Sanctuary. Recently I attended a three day event in Broomfield […]

This post was contributed by volunteer Tim O’Brien who’s currently doing a study of eastern box turtles and works to conserve other threatened and endangered turtles. In 2018 we instituted a non-permanent paint dot marking system for the sanctuary’s eastern box turtles. Here’s why. There’s anecdotal evidence suggesting that repeated handling of box turtles over […]

This February, Wildwood partnered with Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary and Habitat Education Center & Wildlife Sanctuary to offer our first-ever vacation week Teen Adventure Trip! We spent an amazing week together exploring winter destinations throughout New Hampshire. The trip started off Sunday afternoon in Belmont with some quick get-to-know-you games in the nature center at […]