The Grasslands of Crane and Francis Carter

Grasshopper Sparrow, Crane WMA

 The last couple of weeks I have spent some time in large fields in southern New England. Large field habitat is very rare in our area. Most of the uninhabited land is forest. Leave a field or meadow alone for a couple of years and it will begin to grow into a forest very quickly. If you want open field habitat in New England, it needs to be maintained. I went to a couple of these places in the last week. 

   Camp Edwards Army Base in Bourne has a huge area of fields and meadows. During the spring, they run bird walks a few times. I went on one of these walks with Danielle Stebbins and Mike Tucker. Unfortunately it was raining the whole time. The leader of the walk, Jake, is an unbelievable naturalist. He told us a ton of interesting stuff from moths to Upland Sandpipers. I highly recommend you sign up for one of these walks next year. However, because of the rain, all we really had was Grasshopper and Field Sparrows.

   Crane Wildlife Management Area, MA

   After we left Camp Edwards we went to Crane WMA. It had stopped raining and we walked the trails. Crane  is huge at over 2400 acres. Much of it is open fields. Crane has an amazing amount of nesting bird species. There is a pair of Blue Grossbeaks that nest there. Grasshopper Sparrows, Kingbirds, and Orchard Orioles are common sights. We got to enjoy an Eastern Meadowlark singing on a tree branch. Last year, Mike and I saw baby Killdeer. This trip besides the birds listed above, we saw tadpoles (I believe from toads) and Baltimore Checkerspot Caterpillars. Crane has multiple entrances. We used the one by the ballfields. 

Baltimore Checkerspot Caterpillar

Francis Carter, RI

Grasshopper Sparrow

   Francis Carter is one of my favorite places in Rhode Island. Like Crane, it has a huge grassland. Because grasslands are so rare in New England, you will find species that are rare everywhere else in the state. Grasshopper Sparrows breed at Carter. Over the last couple of years Blue Grosbeaks have also nested there. Other common species are Prairie Warblers, Indigo Buntings, and Eastern Kingbirds. There are multiple access points but the most common are Old Mill Rd and Botka Woods Drive. There is a bathroom at Old Mill Rd. 

  New and exciting this year is a pair of Dickcissels. Tim Metcalf found one and then a female showed up. So hopefully they will breed there. 

Female Dickcissel

Male Dickcissel