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To: Bluedot Living
From: Mass Audubon
Subject: Animal Ambassadors: Felix Neck’s Critter Crew is Waiting For You
Inspiring curiosity, deepening understanding, and motivating people of all ages to protect nature and wildlife is what we do at Mass Audubon.
Mass Audubon staff are not alone in that mission. At Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary there is a coalition of creatures that help us. These Animal Ambassadors live permanently in our Nature Center and build meaningful connections between wildlife and people.
Seeing animals up close in the wild can be difficult, and sometimes dangerous, to both humans and beasts. Felix Neck’s Animal Ambassadors are acclimated to visitors as they cannot live in the wild due to imprinting, injury, or other factors. They turn nature lessons into intimate interactions that can inspire kids and adults to care about the wildlife with which we share our world.
Felix Neck’s critter crew is waiting for you. Our gregarious gang of Animal Ambassadors — Boxy, Spotty, Corny, and Tinkerbelle — hold court in Felix Neck’s Discovery Room.
Tinkerbelle, Tink for short, is Felix Neck’s newest addition — she arrived in mid-April from a family that was not able to care for her. She did not fly in from Neverland, but has brought magic with her nevertheless.Tink is a reptile, a female painted turtle. She is a big’un, and as with most adult painted turtles, she is larger than her male counterpart. This size variation, along with her claws (longer for males and shorter for females) helped us to determine Pinkletink’s sex.
Turtles are well represented at the Sanctuary both outside and inside. In addition to Tinkerbelle, we have Boxy and Spotty, named by our young campers after their most obvious characteristics.
Boxy is a box turtle, a name that describes its dome-like shell or carapace which can close almost completely to protect the turtle from danger. This species is facing conservation challenges across the Commonwealth and is protected under the Massachusetts Endangered Species Act. Boxy leads a double life, spending the winter brumating (hibernating in turtle-speak) in her indoor enclosure and once it warms up, sunning in her outdoor habitat.
Spotty, if you haven’t already guessed, is a spotted turtle. Spotted turtles are one of North America’s smallest turtles and can be identified by the yellow spots on their shell. When born, hatchling spotted turtles usually only have one spot per large scute, the bony plates that make up the shell. As they grow, the number of spots increase and complement the orange/yellow coloration of their head, neck, and forelegs.
Wander the Sanctuary’s Discovery Room at a turtle’s pace to see all of Felix Neck’s reptilian friends and when you are ready, slither on over to our largest tank to find Corny, the Sanctuary’s only non-native Animal Ambassador.
Corny is a corn snake, a variety that lives south of Massachusetts and as far north as New Jersey. Her ruddy coloring and pattern is similar to a copperhead, a venomous snake not found on the Island that can and does bite. Our local milk snakes share a resemblance and are in the same family as the corn snake. Milk snakes do not do well in captivity, so Corny is a similar stand-in that likes to squeeze her way into our hearts and around our wrists.
While we don’t have any live birds in our Discovery Room, we do have live bird cams that showcase two of the Sanctuary’s avian residents.
Hoo better than to represent birds than the barn owl. A barn owl resides in a constructed nesting box in the dormer of the Nature Center, and the owls have graciously allowed us to install a camera to view them as they live their everyday owl lives. They are wholly wild birds, not fed or cared for by our staff.
Starting in the spring, you can watch a family of ospreys through our Osprey Cam. From the arrival of the male bird early in the season, and the female soon after, you can watch their courtship, egg laying, and incubation. After the eggs hatch in June, you’ll see the chicks grow up and fledge, or fly, in real time. You won’t want to miss a minute of this must-see TV.
Enjoy Felix Neck year-round and visit with our enigmatic envoys. While they can’t speak for their species, their presence and impact on thousands of Sanctuary visitors speaks volumes.
