THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2022 Page 9 A CLOSE-UP VIEW: Glass eels can be easily seen in a small jar prepared by Park Ranger Bill Fuchs. (Cour tesy photo to The Saugus Advocate by Laura Eisener) ENJOYING NATURE: Lined up at the display tent are (left to right) Selectman Debra Panetta, volunteers Jenny and Dave (who requested their last names not be used), seasonal ranger Paul Kenworthy, Park Ranger Bill Fuchs and visitor Joanie Allbee, along with Siberian husky Siku. (Courtesy photo to The Saugus Advocate by Laura Eisener) Nature on Display A day of discovering wildlife and plants close-up at the Saugus Iron Works By Laura Eisener O n Sunday, May 1, the Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site and the Saugus River Watershed Council held a City Nature Challenge event which was attended by visitors from Saugus and several other towns. Park staff and volunteers at a resource table made suggestions and encouraged families and individuals to photograph and explore the park. Tanks in which were displayed some small aquatic creatures, such as glass eels and scuds, gave people a look at some of the inhabitants of the river. Bill Fuchs of the National Park Service provided macro lenses for cell phones and introduced visitors to iNaturalist. Selectman Debra Panetta spent several hours sharing information with visitors and orienting them to the park. Visitors traded stories of plants and animals they had seen at the Ironworks, and many visitors photographed what they observed that day using their own phones and cameras. The City Nature Challenge is an international eff ort to document all forms of life (animals, plants, fungi and more) between April 29 and May 2, 2022, all over the world. The iNaturalist app (free and available for both Android and iPhone) can be used to identify plants and animals from a photograph. The activity’s purpose is to encourage people to observe and document urban biodiversity, and appreciate the wide range of life forms that exist around us. A few of the animals seen that day were one snapping turtle, several ducks, geese, crows, robins, barn swallows, herring gulls, one egret, two hawks and small marine life. Plants in bloom included wood anemones, wild strawberries and crabapple trees near the nature trail and tulips, daff odils and lilacs in the Everett Aluminum 10 Everett Ave., Everett 617-389-3839 Owned & operated by the Conti Years! “Same name, phone number & address for over half a century. We must be doing something right!” f www.everettaluminum.com Spring is Here! gardens, but the total number of plants seen on the site was much more.
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