On July 11, I visited the Trustees of Reservations property Charles River Peninsula in Needham, MA. It’s a lovely property which I recommend. It’s an easy hike, almost entirely flat, and there is a good amount of interesting stuff to see.
As you walk down the short path from the parking lot to the peninsula “entrance”, you pass by this cache of bright-red canoes (look how verdant and beautiful the river behind them is!). I could be wrong, but my guess is that the stacks of baskets to the right of the canoes are a clue about what they’re here for: I suspect they’re used by Trustees staff or volunteers to periodically go out onto the river to collect invasive vegetation.
I found this placard posted along the hiking travel to be sufficiently interesting that I thought it worth sharing!
As the placard above makes pretty clear, most of the peninsula is covered by a big grassy field, but there’s a border of woods between the field and the river. The main hiking trail at the property goes around the edge of the field, but for much of the way around there are also other trails you can walk on in the woods, close to the river. That’s where I saw these cuties.
There are some interesting ruins in the woods.
I think this is a mullein plant?
Here’s another placard I found interesting enough to be worth sharing (and transcribing into the alt text!).
![Creating Homes for Cavity-Nesting Birds
Nest boxes help support native bird populations
Cavity-nesting birds build their nests, lay eggs, and raise young within tree cavities or holes. Unfortunately, due to habitat loss, the abundance and availability of suitable natural cavities has been declining. Introduced species like European House Sparrows also frequently out-compete native bird species for nest sites. These factors have led to population declines of some cavity-nesting birds. Nest boxes, which mimic natural cavities, offer a substitute home for breeding birds and increase the opportunity for them to successfully nest and fledge young.
(picture of a wooden bird nest box with a backdrop of fall trees)
What species do the nest boxes support?
Nest boxes are species-specific and are, therefore, not "one size fits all." At Charles River Peninsula, The Trustees uses boxes sized to support smaller songbirds such as Eastern Bluebirds, Tree Swallows, House Wrens, Carolina Wrens, and Black capped Chickadees. On other Trustees reservations with more grassland habitat, we also install larger boxes higher off the ground to support nesting pairs of American Kestrels—the smallest falcon in North America.__
Nest boxes can also be placed in other habitat types beside grasslands to support an array of other species. For example, boxes can be installed in wooded areas near water to support Wood Ducks and depending on the species, forests can be a suitable location to install owl boxes.
Conservation in Action
During the nesting season—which means from March to August—Trustees staff, with support from a dedicated group of volunteers, checks nest boxes weekly to track breeding activity. Volunteers record information such as what species are using the boxes, the clutch size (how many eggs were laid), and how many young fledge each nest. This information enables us to monitor nesting success and populations of cavity-nesting birds on our properties.
Wehn maintaining, managing, and monitoring our boxes, Trustees staff follow guidelines developed by Cornell Lab of Ornithology's NestWatch Program. NestWatch is a nationwide initiative that is studying the status and trends in the reproductive bioloty of birds. To learn more about NestWatch visit: nestwatch.org
Please note: Unless you are a registered nest box volunteer with The Trustees, please do not approach or open nesting boxes.
(picture of volunteer opening the size of a nest box to look inside)
How can you help?
The Trustees is always welcoming new volunteers into our nest box monitoring program. To learn more about getting involved visit: volunteer.thetrustees.org
Nest boxes help birds such as Eastern Bluebirds successfully fledge young:
(photo of five light blue eggs in a nest)
(photo of a small bird with an orange chest and blue wings outside the entry hold of a nest box)
(photo of five fuzzy, grey hatched baby eastern bluebirds)]](https://i0.wp.com/blog.kamens.us/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/image-6-scaled.jpeg?ssl=1)
Yet another placard you should read!
Along the north edge of the reservation there’s a dirt path about the width of a railroad right-of-way because it was in fact a railroad right-of-way before the tracks were removed. Along most of the length of the path is a wooden fence with an awesome mural painted on it. It’s way too long to capture in a single photo with any fidelity. But here’s the best I can do. There’s a video of it in the next too.
At one end of the former railroad track is an old trestle that goes over the river. They’ve done their best to prevent people from climbing out onto the trestle over the river, and I”m pretty sure you wouldn’t be able to get all the way across, but I’m pretty sure you could get at least a bit out onto the river if you were sufficiently determined and brave about it. I did not do this. I instead went around the first fence and went under the trestle.
