Highlights
June 2018 - Turtle Walk,Animal Babies,Rail Trail Documentary
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ACTIVITY ALERT - June's Exploring the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve - The Turtle Walk  This appropriately named turtle invites you to snap up the chance to go on the annual June Turtle Walk. In our neck of the woods late May and early June finds most local female turtles out and about searching for a sunny sandbank, road edge or even a suburban backyard where they can dig a hole and lay their eggs. June 2, Saturday, 6:30 p.m. at Fish and Wildlife's Mill Brook Wildlife Management Area (WMA) within the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve, Howland Road, Freetown MA. Small dirt parking lot is on the south side of Howland Road, adjacent to the large cranberry bog you can see behind the houses that front the road.
Directions: From Assonet Four Corners, Freetown. Route 79 approximately 3/4 of a mile to Forge Road. Right, east, on Forge Road to next right, Howland Road. East on Howland Road approximately 2 miles.
From East Freetown, Route 140, County Street Exit. County Street west, take left, onto Freetown Street. Freetown Street, south, to Howland Road. Right, west, on Howland Road. WMA parking are will be on your left, south, side of Howland Road. Approximately 7 miles from Rote 140 exit to WMA parking area.
Approximate length of walk 1 to 2 miles. Insect repellent containing DEET a good idea. Rain cancels walk. Drizzle okay.
 Past Turtle Walks have been near North Watuppa and Pond Swamp. Over the past twenty years of going on Turtle Walks we've often encountered this old female box turtle searching for the ideal location to lay her eggs. Last June we discovered her in the act of digging an egg chamber. New England turtle species always dig these chambers with their back feet.  Another year found the same box turtle, the one in the photo above, eyeing us warily. Once egg laying begins, most turtles become oblivious to their surroundings. We've seen raccoons, sitting quietly by, watching an egg laying turtle intently. The turtle, solely focused on laying her eggs, little realizes that as soon as she finishes her task and leaves the site the patient raccoon will have eggs for breakfast.  Box turtles are terrestrial, lay few eggs and suffer tremendous loses due to land use changes and road mortality. It won't be long until they are only found as relic populations on a few large sanctuary areas here in Massachusetts. A young box turtle is a rare find and as beautiful as any any oriole, scarlet tanager or native wildflower.  Mom snapping turtle takes a rest after laying her eggs and maybe thinking of going to a spa and getting a facial. |
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ACTIVITY ALERT - June's Turtle Walk and next Exploring the Southeastern Massachusetts Walk in July Perfect weather, hot and humid this past Saturday, June 2, to find our local southeastern Massachusetts turtles out laying their eggs. Early morning reconnaissance showed dozens of snapping turtles out looking for sites to dig a hole in which to lay their eggs, actually in the process of depositing eggs, or finishing up and heading back to their home water source for a well deserved rest.
This year the Turtle Walk was conducted at MassWildlife's Mill Brook Wildlife Management Area (WMA), a part of the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve in Freetown. Unfortunately, except for one snapping turtle we found in that area earlier in the day, we did not see any turtles out and about during our evening walk. One problem was that the flashboards had all been removed from the old cranberry bog reservoir and there was very little turtle holding water remaining . Another was that the temperature had dropped considerably from earlier in the day and turtles may have chosen to remain in the warmer water waiting for a more opportune time to traipse about the landscape looking for an egg laying site.
We've had better turtle viewing luck in the past at our former Turtle Walk location in the Watuppa Reservation section of the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve. Looks like we'll return there next June for Turtle Walk 2019.
Here are some photos from this year's Turtle Walk:
 Turtle walkers looking for turtles at the Mill Brook Wildlife Management Area
 Best vantage point, if you can get it, to view the surrounding landscape for nesting turtles  The turtle found earlier in the day at the Mill Brook WMA laying her eggs.
July's Exploring the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve Walk will be July, 14, Saturday, meet at 8 a.m. Location still to be determined. Watch for more info on this walk the last week in June
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INFO ALERT - June is all about wild babies - If you care, leave them there Wild babies, especially baby birds, appear often unexpectedly just about everywhere this time of year. Many wild babies are watched from a distance by their mothers. Many well intentioned people think any wild baby they see needs to be rescued. No, they don't! They have not been abandoned by their parents and do not need to be "saved."
If you encounter a wild baby while hiking in the forest take a look and move on. The mother is probably close by and frantic with worry. If a baby bird is found in the city or in your backyard, leave it alone and keep cats, dogs and kids away. Many young birds when first learning to fly crash soon after take off. The parents are usually close by continuing to feed and encourage the youngster to try again. If you see a newly hatched bird that has fallen out of its nest, you can place the baby bird back in its nest. Bird parents do not abandon babies that have been handled by humans.
We once found a road-killed raccoon by the side of the road with her babies sitting near her body waiting for her to move. In situations like that and for injured wildlife that you might encounter at any season of the year there are licensed wildlife rehabilitators who are qualified to care for injured and truly orphaned animals.
To find a wildlife rehabilitator in Massachusetts go here: https://www.mass.gov/service-details/find-a-wildlife-rehabilitator
In Rhode Island, here: https://www.riwildliferehab.org/
All babies are beautiful. Here are photos of some local wild babies:
  Goose family enjoying their day at the Alfred J. Lima Quequechan River Rail Trail.
 A fawn steps off a Bioreserve trail to allow hikers to pass.  A mother woodchuck, aka groundhog, out with her kit at the Alfred J. Lima Quequechan River Rail Trail.
 A hen wild turkey and her poults walking along the Alfred J. Lima Quequechan River Rail Trail.
 Attractively patterned baby milk snake explores the forest out in the Bioreserve.
A beautiful juvenile box turtle out for a walk on a sunny day.
 Red fox pups playing outside their den.
 Sunlight blends with the fawn's dappled coat helping it stay hidden on the forest floor.
 An eastern cottontail bunny having clover for breakfast.
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INFO ALERT - HOLA! HELP SAVE THE ALFRED J. LIMA QUEQUECHAN RIVER RAIL TRAIL
For Immediate Release
Salud America! to Film Documentary on the Alfred J. Lima Quequechan River Rail Trail
June 25, 2018
Contact: Cliff Despres, Communications Manager, Salud America! At UT Health SA
UT Health San Antonio
Phone: 210-562-6500
Email: despres@uthscsa.edu
Fall River Massachusetts: Salud America!, a national Latino health promotion program based at UT Health San Antonio, has announced it will film a documentary about the inner city multi-use rail trail known as the Alfred J. Lima Quequechan River Rail Trail.
Filming will take place on Thursday, July 5, 2018.
Several key topics will be covered such as the history of the trail and the river that gives it its name, the importance of the trail for the low-income neighborhoods it travels through, the use of the path to improve the lives of the people who utilize it and the fight a local citizen’s group has taken up to protect the path from a proposed construction of a private road that would cross and run parallel to it.
Salud America! already has written about the efforts to protect the trail: https://salud-america.org/residents-unite-prevent-private-road-cutting-off-trail/.
Salud America! now plans to film interviews with citizens who are leading the fight to protect the trail and users of the trail.
The documentary video is expected to be released in September 2018 at www.salud-america.org.
About Salud America!
Salud America! is a national Latino-focused organization that creates culturally relevant and research-based stories, videos, and tools to inspire people to start and support healthy changes to policies, systems, and environments where Latino children and families can equitably live, learn, work, and play. Latinos are a rising U.S. powerhouse, but they face barriers to be their healthiest and suffer high rates of obesity and other health disparities. Salud America! and its award-winning multimedia communications help our social and online network—more than 200,000 moms and dads, providers, researchers, and community and school leaders—push for healthy changes in schools and communities for Latino and all kids. Salud America! is led by health disparities researcher Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez and supported by a passionate team of communicators at UT Health San Antonio, thanks to funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Visit Salud America! at salud-america.org or on social media @SaludAmerica.
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Sunset/Moolight Ride - Bike Fall River
Friday was a perfect night for an evening ride. The evening was pleasantly warm and the humidity cooperated for a good viewing of both the sunset and the moonrise.
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