William Freedberg

About William Freedberg

Studies indicate that Will Freedberg occupies the ecological niche of a semi-nocturnal generalist. His habits change seasonally, doing fieldwork and bird surveys in the summer, but also blogging, coordinating volunteers, taking photos, and doing background research. Life history traits include growing up in Boston and reluctantly graduating from Yale College. Behavioral research shows that William occasionally migrates to the tropics to seek out Hoatzins, pangolins, and sloths, but mostly socializes with his age cohort in urbanized areas of eastern North America. He is short-sighted, slow to react, and a poor swimmer.

Mass Audubon protects dozens of endangered species with different strategies from habitat protection, science-based management plans, and advocacy. Here are just a few of the ways we’re watching out for rare and declining wildlife.

Helping Shorebirds Share the Beach

Piping Plovers and Least Terns nest on the ground along Massachusetts’ sandy beaches, but they need space to raise their fluffy, tennis ball-sized chicks.

Mass Audubon protects nearly half of the state’s Piping Plover and Least Tern population from shoreline development and human disturbance, and works with the state to manage the rest under our Coastal Waterbird Program.

While most people notice Mass Audubon’s effort to directly protect shorebird nests—sometimes including ranger patrols or symbolic fencing to keep beachgoers a healthy distance from nests— the Costal Waterbird Program also works through environmental education and science-based political advocacy.

Thanks to these efforts, Piping Plovers have rebounded from 135 pairs in 1986 to more than 800 pairs in 2020, and they’re still on the upswing!

A Piping Plover parent and chick. Photo: Pat Ulrich

Keeping Sea Turtles out of the Cold

Every November, volunteers and staff from Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary rescue cold-stunned sea turtles from the chilly shores of Cape Cod Bay. Most of them are the smallest and rarest of the sea turtles, the Kemp’s Ridley, which are already threatened by abandoned fishing gear and plastic pollution.

Climate change is driving an increase in autumn strandings. Ironically, warmer waters in summertime mean more Kemp’s Ridleys—which normally stay south of Cape Cod— are migrating further north. When waters cool and turtle instincts say “go south,” turtles are trapped by the unique shape of Cape Cod and often become hypothermic before they make it around the tip of the Cape.

Since the 90s, the average number turtles in Cape Cod Bay—and the average number of strandings—has skyrocketed. Normally, Mass Audubon partners with the New England Aquarium to rehabilitate and release cold-stunned sea turtles. This past winter, there were so many strandings that we had to send them to facilities as far away as Houston for treatment and release!

Volunteers work to keep a cold-stunned Loggerhead turtle— one of the larger sea turtles that strand on Massachusetts beaches— out of the wind. Photo: Will Freedberg

Advocating for Legal Protections

While many species are threatened or declining, the word “endangered” only refers to a species that’s protected under the federal Endangered Species Act (or the Massachusetts Endangered Species Act, which protects species at risk locally in Massachusetts). These laws require the state and federal government to monitor and conserve habitat for species at risk of extinction

Outside of directly protecting rare wildlife on our sanctuaries, one of the most powerful things we can do for rare species is advocate for their legal protection. After our Breeding Bird Atlas showed precipitous declines in Saltmarsh Sparrows, American Kestrels, and Eastern Meadowlarks, Mass Audubon petitioned the state to list each species as Endangered. We also stand up for the both the federal and Massachusetts Endangered Species Acts when they’re under attack.

Some resident birds start singing their spring songs in late February and early March like clockwork, no matter what the weather is doing.

Even when winter keeps its grip on Massachusetts with snow and freezing temperatures, these birds mark the lengthening days with songs to attract mates, define their territories, and prepare for breeding season.

Early songsters respond to the amount of time between sunrise and sunset—called the photoperiod—and shift their behavior towards spring patterns accordingly.

Here are some of the earliest sounds that prove spring is just around the corner.

Black-capped Chickadees whistle a thin, pleasant “fee-bee!”:

Northern Cardinals give high, piping warbles from exposed perches:

Mourning Doves make low, resonant coos throughout the day:

A week or two after these birds start sounding off, the earliest short-distance migrants arrive from the southeast part of North America: Common Grackles and Red-winged Blackbirds.

Blackbirds’ jangling, metallic song is most often heard in marshes and wetlands:

Grackles give a chorus of creaks and harsh “chack!” notes in large, transient flocks:

The arrival of spring accelerates after the first few migrants arrive, with skunk cabbage poking through the soil in wetlands and more birds like Ruby-crowned Kinglets to Yellow-rumped Warblers showing up.

All of these species are out and singing by the second week of March. Which ones have you been hearing so far this year?

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