Knowledge takes flight as children visit Bird Island

May 3, 2022

MARION   —  Area youngsters headed to the islands recently and they didn’t even need a passport. 

Marion harbormaster Isaac Perry and his staff recently brought the Marion Natural History Museum after-school group to visit Bird Island. The island is located at the entrance to Sippican Harbor and takes its names from birds that have been nesting there for years.

The young participants viewed the nesting boxes that have been set up by the state for roseate terns, which should soon arrive on the island, to use as a safe place to raise their young.

The students also had a chance to climb to the top of the Bird Island lighthouse to view the bay.  

The next day’s weather was a little too rough to reach Bird Island but the students enjoyed a close up look at some of the hard-to-reach spots within Sippican Harbor, and collected seashells on Meadow Island. 

They also had an opportunity to learn how to steer the harbormaster’s boat and caught some close-up views of two Ospreys fighting over a fish. 

The museum staff was grateful to the harbormaster’s crew for the opportunity to learn a little more about Marion’s harbor and bay.