Feeding Birds (Mass Audubon Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary, Topsfield, MA)

Date Of Visit: Nov. 8, 2025

Location: Mass Audubon Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary. 87 Perkins Row, Topsfield, MA (30 minutes northeast of Boston, MA)

Cost: $7 for adults, $4 for children seniors. Memberships are also available.

Hours: Trails are open dawn until dusk

Parking: There are about 50 free parking spots for visitors

Dog Friendly: No

Universally Accessible: Yes, while some trails may be challenging, the Audubon has an ADA-compliant, universally accessible All Persons Trail. Also, a rollator is available for loan upon request

Summary: The Mass Audubon Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary in Topsfield, MA, has many features and natural beauty. But, it’s an especially magical this time of the year when they\ hungry birds enjoy hand fed treats.

As the temperatures dip and food becomes less available, you may be surprised by how friendly the wildlife can be. Especially our feathered friends.

There are only a few spots in Massachusetts where birds will eat of your hand. And, only a few birds that will be bold and trusting, or hungry, enough to do so. In fact, some of the birds are so bold it almost feels like you’re in a Alfred Hitchcock movie (I’m looking at you, Black-Capped chickadee).

The Nuthatch, like the one featured above, is one of these birds that will eat right out of your hand. I especially like how they show you the seed before they begin their takeoff from your hand. As if to say, “Look what I have!” or “Thank you!”

If you enlarge the photo below, you can see the tongue of the Nuthatch picking up and bringing the seed into their mouth,

The Black-Capped Chickadees at the sanctuary are very friendly and not very shy. In fact, one of them landed on my cellphone as I tried to photograph the bird. This one had to tell a fellow Chickadee, “I was here first!”

But, my favorite and at times the most elusive bird there is the Tufted Titmouse.

While their claws may look sharp, and they can be, the birds don’t hurt the people feeding them. At least not usually. The person I photographed feeding the birds said they felt soft and light and you could barely feel the claws. And don’t bring just any seeds. The birds seed of choice is the Black-oil Sunflower seed which provides significant energy for the birds due to their high oil content. They won’t even touch some of the other types of seeds. In fact it can’t be just any Black-oil Sunflower seed. Some of the Black-Capped Chickadees would pick through the Black oil Sunflower seeds just to find the right one.

This sanctuary, which I may not be able to photograph much longer (more on this later in the post), has been my go to sanctuary for the past few years. In fact, there always seem to be something interesting to photograph there, like this Red Tailed Hawk I saw during my visit.

Also there was a little mist on the water during my photo shoot.

You may have noticed I haven’t been posting as often as usual. Which brings me to my big news! I am in the process of moving which has been a long and time consuming process. But, I will still remain in the New England region (western MA to be more specific)!

I have still been out there photographing things. So, I do have a lot of photos to process and post. I hope to post more frequently once the move is complete, hopefully in December!

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