This is a copy of Steve's Grinley's “Words on Birds” newspaper column that addressed the North Pool issue.
Fresh water marshes are becoming scarce in eastern Massachusetts. Healthy, fresh water marshes that can support marsh birds such as rails, bitterns and moorhens are becoming all too rare in this area. Thus, so are these birds. So it is rewarding for me to see, for the first time in decades, king rails in the Newburyport area. The first king rail that I saw was more than thirty years ago in a fresh water marsh on Hale Street in Newburyport, near the Route 95 bridge. This is on the south side of the road, across from the Little River Trail. That wetland has deteriorated considerably, due in part to Route 95 and the addition of industrial buildings over the years along Hale Street. There have been few king rails reported in Essex County since.
There are now, however, king rails in the Bill Forward Pool and in the North Pool, both currently fresh water areas, on the Parker River Wildlife Refuge on Plum Island. Despite the heavy rainfall this spring, the refuge management has kept the water level in the Bill Forward Pool at a low enough level where rails and other marsh birds can thrive. The king rails have, in fact, been putting on quite a show for birders. Those birders that are patient, can view these large rails from the impoundment behind the Hellcat Nature Trail, as the rails peek out from the marsh grasses at the edge of the water. It is amazing how these chicken-like birds can move through the grass without moving a blade. (Thus came the expression "thin as a rail.") We were lucky enough on my Sunday evening walk to get excellent looks at a male and female bird through the spotting scopes. The bright, rusty male posed for a long time in the open and the paler female even took a bath in the open, at the edge of the water. The day before, the rails were seen copulating, so perhaps there will be little "prince and princess rails" running around in a few weeks. The rails have been very vocal, and many have only heard these birds calling from the marsh grass. There have been as many as four king rails seen, including others seen and heard in the adjacent North Pool. Though the wind, cold and rain prevented us from hearing much on Sunday night, other birders have reported Virginia and sora rails calling from the North Pool, as well as American and least bittern. These smaller rails were once abundant in such places as the rice marshes along the Merrimack River in West Newbury, but hunting brought down their numbers considerably. They can still be found near the Artichoke Reservoir and the Ash Street Swamp in West Newbury, as well as other areas around Essex County. But is nice to hear them on Plum Island once again.
The American bittern and, especially, the least bittern has become increasingly difficult to find in the County. Least Bitterns, rails and the rarer (in this area) moorhen used to breed in Stage Island Pool, a fresh water pond near the south end of the Parker River Refuge. Years ago, we used to watch from the steel tower across from Lot 7 as their little "fur ball" chicks would come out onto the mud flats. The water levels in this pond are now managed too high or two low to support habitat for these birds. The soft "poo-poo-poo" call of the least bittern and the pumping sound of the American bittern, heard much less often these days, are now absent from Stage Island Pool. So it is refreshing to hear them again in the North Pool.
The North Pool has received much needed fresh water from the heavy spring rains and the added fresh water has enabled it to come back to life in terms of attracting more of these marsh birds. Even river otters have been seen in the North Pool lately! So I am concerned to hear that the refuge is doing a feasibility study to return the North Pool to a salt water marsh. With thousands of acres of salt marsh, the Great Marsh, stretching from Gloucester to Great Bay in New Hampshire, why give up this rare fresh water oasis? Now that the king, Virginia and sora rails, along with the American and least bitterns have found a new home, why displace them again? I will be monitoring the feasibility study process closely, as there will be public meetings and a public review of alternative proposals. The refuge invites public comment and I will certainly let my views be known. I hope that you will do the same.
Save the North Pool web site: http://bartonstreet.com/npool/.