When our co-op gets together on Adventure Tuesdays, we tend to mix it up each week going to a variety of different places. Popular destinations for the kids are hiking spots, museums, and playgrounds, but one Tuesday in early December we had an absolutely magical experience feeding wild birds! The Mass Audubon Ipswich River Wildlife Refuge is an incredible place with so much to offer. Not only are there hungry birds that want you to feed them, but there are beautiful hiking paths and a rock grotto to play in and on – a trip that you can’t pass up!
It must have been the warm-ish weather for December, and that the birds were hungry because it was winter time, but we had the most perfect timing for this meet up. Our group checked in at the main office where you pay a small fee ($10/car) to park and took a few minutes to look around the nature center and gift shop they have. There was information and exhibits about all sorts of birds and a whole bunch of bird books to take a look at! My oldest found a Mass Audubon passport book, where you can keep track of all the wildlife sanctuaries you visit. If you collect stamps at the participating locations, you can earn a prize – a pretty great prize if you ask me!
We started down the Rockery Trail, which is the most popular trail at the property. I’ll tell you what – we’ve been to a lot of really neat places since we started homeschooling, but this really stands out as being one of the most memorable and special experiences we’ve had. We’re walking along this beautiful path, kiddos running up ahead, and my friend just stops at a bush where there were several chickadees and puts her hand out, full of birdseed. I could not believe my eyes when the little chickadees started flying closer and closer and eventually landing on her hand, just for a split second to grab a seed, and then flew away. It was such a Cinderella moment – feeding wild birds out of your hand!
When we caught up to the kids we could see that they had caught on too. With their little bags of birdseed in hand, they were standing by the edge of the path so quiet and so still, and birds were coming to them to take the food as well! The looks on their faces when a bird came to them – priceless! You can study birds all you want – you can paint them, read about them, watch videos about them, but feeding them yourself with your own hand is an experience you can not replace. There were Black-capped Chickadees, Nuthatches, Finches and Tufted Titmice. We also saw from a distance a couple of Northern Cardinals and Woodpeckers, though they were a bit more cautious and didn’t venture too close to us.
Further down the trail, we found the rock grotto, an amazing elaborate tunnel/cave rock structure that provided at least an hour of entertainment for our group. The kids loved imagining it was their castle and they were watching out for enemy intrusions. They were running through the tunnels and playing tag, climbing the walls, and many were still feeding the birds because, well let’s face it, it was a pretty unbelievable experience! We stopped for lunch at yet another neat spot where there was a great climbing tree area, and a lovely view for us moms to enjoy while we sat for a moment and chatted about all the things.
On our way back, we saw Mallard Ducks swimming in the little pond, there was a lot more bird feeding and the kids loved that they knew the way. Just when we thought it couldn’t get any better, it did! The kids found a cute little playground area near the parking lot that they wanted to check out before heading home. There were kid-sized logs for building a log cabin, a cute slide and a little climbing structure. It’s a perfect spot to end the visit as the parking lot is right there when you’re ready to head out.
This outing was absolutely one of my favorites, and one that would be fun to visit in all seasons. Our co-op had just done a week on Winter Birds with our Treehouse Schoolhouse curriculum, and seeing the kids apply what they learned about birds to the birds they were feeding was a huge win for us. They are constantly asking to go back, so we will have to plan a return trip soon to again relive the magic of this special place. Looking for other Mass Audubon places to find incredible learning experiences? Check out my post on Drumlin Farm!
