J. Dombrowski - Griffin's Farm Wildlife
Veterans Memorial
Town Library
Our Town:
Abington
Massachusetts
Town Offices
Town Hall
781.982.2100
Griffin's Farm Wildlife.


Wildlife is always fascinating to sit and watch as they hunt for food or make a new home. Have
you ever considered the wildlife that goes beyond the Deer, Turkeys, Coyotes, Foxes, Red
Tailed Hawk and more?

Have you ever considered the species that might be ENDANGERED, THREATENED or of
SPECIAL CONCERN?

How about the Holstein Cow. That is now EXTINCT in the Town of Abington and as more and
more farm land disappears from their territorial range, they too will be gone from the State of
Massachusetts. We have already witnessed the disappearance of the Dairy Farmer in Abington.

One program that is administered by the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife is the
Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program.  Massachusetts Natural Heritage Program  
This site is GREAT if you would like to learn more about ANY species that may be contained on
the State's list of rare plants or animals.

While at the present time NO rare species have been mapped as having made Griffin's Dairy its
habitat,  I would like you to concentrate on the value of the habitat that currently exists and the
POTENTIAL that species that are contained on the Endangered Species List may or could
potentially exist on the dairy.

I have personally viewed a Harrier Hawk flying overhead on Griffin's Farm, but I have not
observed it nesting within the area of Griffin's Dairy. The same can be said about the
Sharp-shinned Hawk as many abutters have reported seeing it sitting on their decks or BBQ's.
How about the Upland Sandpiper?

Each of these bird species are in the area from Weymouth, Rockland and Whitman.

When someone mentioned they observed a Bobolink nesting off Bellows Circle, some members
of the Middle School Site Selection Committee, which wants Griffin's Dairy for a school, scoffed at
the mention of this species. No!  It is not on the Endangered Species List, but it clearly
demonstrates that ground nesting birds can and have found Griffin's Dairy as their habitat and it
clearly demonstrates that the Upland Sandpiper could also.

So much for the birds how about things the kids find! Turtles! Have they ever come home with an
Eastern Box Turtle or how about a Wood Turtle?

What do these species have in common? They are all on the Endangered Species List for
Massachusetts and the type of habitat that Griffin's Dairy offers, they just so happen to favor.

Northern Harrier                Northern Harrier Hawk Photo Gallery by Chris P. at pbase.com

Sharp-shinned Hawk        Identifying Cooper's and Sharp-shinned Hawks

Upland Sandpiper            NHESP Turtle Information

On the western side of Plymouth Street we have the large expanse of Mt. Vernon Cemetery. On
the eastern side of Griffin's Dairy is the Rockland Golf Course and 30 acres of wooded wetlands
of the dairy. In the middle is the open fields of the heart of the dairy. All people have to do is
LOOK. Who knows what you will find!

I guess it is real hard to envision an old farm and an old barn having a local 4 H program run out
of it. It's hard to see animals in a fenced in area grazing the land or the sounds of animals that
are familiar to a farm cry out. I guess it is hard for some who has grown up in the city and has
moved to Abington thinking it was country. "HEY! Let's pave that area and build over there. Let's
fill in that spot. Ahh life is good in the country".

Let's teach our children that there is more to the earth than asphalt and concrete and that there
is a world to be learned about our resources that we so blindly take  advantage of. I would be
curious to know how many Abington Graduates went on into the environmental world to become
a Biologist, Botanist or heaven forbid an Environmentalist.

Griffin's Dairy could be a great educational opportunity. It doesn't need to have a school built
upon it to accomplish that task! Let what exists be the classroom.

SAVE GRIFFIN'S FARM
Preserve open space

Jim Dombrowski