Parker River Wildlife Refuge

The Parker River Wildlife Refuge is located on Plum Island, Massachusetts by the Atlantic Ocean. Jim and I were here a few of years ago during the summer when all the trees and plants were lush. This year however, we went in the Spring before everything was grown in. It was still a treat!

It has a delightful boardwalk stroll through the woods. 

Being a refuge, this place is quite popular with the bird watchers. The day we went was windy and cold so although we heard the birds, we only saw a handful!

This time we checked out a marsh walk. This was entertaining since it felt like a lot of the boards were in need of replacing! We remained in the center which seemed like the safer thing to do.

We located a sunbather in the marshes.

We walked out to the sand dunes along the ocean.

There is the Atlantic off in the distance.

The dunes have amazing scenery along its boardwalk.

We saw these silly guys walking along the road on the way back.

Typically wild turkeys in our area get into the middle of traffic intersections and even on the freeway! So I found it funny that these guys were walking in an orderly fashion outside the traffic line.

I hope you enjoyed this peak of nature along the Atlantic. It is a place to visit for sure! Thank you for stopping by. ~Val

This Week's Blog Post

Green Aventurine Bracelet

 Here is some green aventurine! Available at Miss Val's Creations.

Parker River Wildlife Sanctuary
The Parker River Wildlife Sanctuary is a national refuge for all sorts of birds located in Plum Island, Massachusetts.

It is 4,662 acres in size!!!

This is where the Atlantic Ocean meets the mouth of the Merrimack River.

The result is over 3,000 acres of salt marshes.

It boasts over 350 species of birds. That is a crane above (difficult to see).

Although we only saw birds, this place is also home to deer, coyote, red foxes, beavers, muskrats, weasels and various reptiles.

Here are some duck butts. My bird photos were all take from afar so they are not clear.

We came across a family of Canadian geese. The mom was hissing at everyone who walked by. The babies were hanging out in the walkway and she was in charge of protective duty. You can actually see her in the photo vocalizing her frustration with the humans.

We watched them make their way into the water for a swim.

We came across a path leading to boardwalks through marshy wooded areas.

Much to our surprise, this walk became really amazing when we hiked up these steps to an amazing view of the Atlantic Ocean and picturesque dunes.

Even though this is next to the ocean it has a desert like feel!

Our initial intent was to take a morning walk on the beach which required a long boardwalk stroll. It was a cold June morning so we nixed that idea and travelled futher to the refuge.

The beach on Plum Island is a quiet, peaceful beach without the fried dough, cheap t-shirt sales, video games, etc.

I hope you enjoyed our little trip to Plum Island and its refuge! Have a great week!!!  ~Val