Page 8 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – WEDnESDAy, JUly 3, 2024 Sunday morning birding at the Saugus Iron Works Special program reaches out to birders with all abilities to make nature more accessible to “everybody” and “every body” By Laura Eisener O n Sunday morning, a special program was held to encourage awareness of birding and to provide helpful information for birders of all abilities. In addition to the National Park Service, Environment for the Americas (EFTA) and Birdability contributed to the event. EFTA interns Valeria Caballero (Latino Heritage Intern) and Shane Cremmen (Accessibility Intern) presided over an outdoor information table with information, such as bird identification pages in braille, tactile bird drawings, which featured raised outlines so people could feel the bird shape, brochures in English and Spanish describing several commonly seen local birds, a 3D bluebird model, various fi eld guides for visitors’ viewing and binoculars to lend for seeking out birds on the site. Park ranger Fernando Pacheco used the birdsong app Merlin to identify song sparrow, house sparrow, downy woodpecker, and blue jay in just a few minutes. These birds were all singing in the nearby trees. Several experienced birdA key identification feature of barn swallows is the forked tail. ers showed up for the event. Saugus birder Charlie Zapolski brought several of his bird pictures from his scrapbook showing Saugus’ eagles and ospreys, hummingbirds at his home feeder and other birds he has seen in his backyard and around town. Photographer Jim Harrington took some wonderful video footage of the barn swallow chicks being fed in their nest and posted it on the Facebook On Sunday morning during the birding program at the Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site: Left to right: Iron Works Park Rangers Fernando Pacheco and Paul Kenworthy, Environment for the Americas Interns Valeria Caballero and Shane Cremmen and Birdability State Captain Rebecca Geekie discussed birds and making nature accessible. (Courtesy photo of Laura Eisener) group “Birds of Saugus” page. Rebecca Geekie of Melrose, Massachusetts, state captain for Birdability, stopped by and gave a bit more information about this organization, which strives to make birding available to “everybody” and “every body” and strives to provide solutions for birding challenges. Citing the importance of nature to mental and physical health, it strives to remove barriers to enjoyable birding. Due to its location on the river and to several buildings and trees which provide birds with a variety of nesting locations, Saugus Ironworks National Historic Site off ers great opportunities for birding. Visitors on Sunday especially enjoyed viewing the barn swallows feeding their babies. Barn swallows return to the Iron Works every season and help keep the site free of mosquitoes, which would otherwise be abundant along the riverbanks. Park Ranger Paul Kenworthy Barn swallow parents – female on the left with lighter breast, male on right with darker orange breast – perch briefl y on a Saugus Iron Works cable. Everett Aluminum 10 Everett Ave., Everett 617-389-3839 “Same name, phone number & address for over half a century. We must be doing something right!” •Vinyl Siding •Carpentry Work •Decks •Vinyl Siding •Carpentry Work •Free Estimates •Fully Licensed •Roofing • Fully Insured • Replacement Windows www.everettaluminum.com •Free Estimates •Fully Licensed Now’s the time to schedule those home improvement projects you’ve been dreaming about all winter! Barn swallow nests are built every summer in the Iron Works forge building. Celebrating 66 Years in Business! S mentioned that wading birds like herons and egrets are often seen at the Iron Works. A great egret has been seen almost every afternoon for the past several weeks feeding in the Saugus River. Eagles and ospreys are also often seen fl ying over the river and sometimes perched in trees. Almost always, there are ducks and Canada geese swimming in the river as well. Summer is Here!
9 Publizr Home