Find Nature In Massachusetts

Additional Wildlife of Massachusetts

To flesh out your understanding of the region’s natural history, here is a breakdown of the specific taxa you can expect to encounter in the Bay State.

Birds (Avifauna) Massachusetts is the seasonal home of the Roseate Tern, a federally endangered seabird that nests on a few protected islands (like Bird Island in Marion) where it can avoid predators. The recovery of the Wild Turkey is a massive success story here; extirpated by 1851, they were reintroduced in the 1970s and now thrive even in suburban Boston. The state bird is the Black-capped Chickadee, a hardy resident that uses regulated hypothermia to survive the freezing New England nights.

Mammals The waters of Cape Cod Bay are one of the most critical habitats on the planet for the North Atlantic Right Whale. In late winter and early spring, a significant portion of the remaining population (fewer than 340 individuals) gathers here to feed on copepods, often visible from the beaches of Provincetown. On land, the Fisher has recolonized the suburbs, controlling the gray squirrel population. The Gray Seal population has exploded on the outer Cape, creating a robust predator-prey dynamic that has drawn Great White Sharks back to the inshore waters.

Insects The Karner Blue Butterfly was historically found in the pine barrens but is now extremely rare or extirpated, while the Frosted Elfin is a species of special concern that relies on the Wild Indigo plant in open, brushy habitats. Massachusetts is also famous for the Monarch Butterfly migration along the coast in September, where thousands of individuals roost in seaside goldenrod and pines before crossing the ocean gap. The Periodical Cicada (Brood XIV) makes rare appearances on Cape Cod, emerging every 17 years to overwhelm predators.

Plants The Mayflower (Trailing Arbutus) is the state flower, a lowly, creeping evergreen with fragrant pink flowers found in the sandy woods. The American Elm was once the hallmark of every Massachusetts town green until Dutch Elm Disease decimated them; survivors (Liberty Elms) are now carefully cultivated. The Cranberry is a native bog plant that drives the agriculture of the southeast; these bogs, whether natural or commercial, provide a unique wetland habitat for specialized spiders and bees.

Fungi The mixed oak and pine forests of the Cape and islands are prime hunting grounds for the King Bolete (Boletus edulis), often found growing in the sandy soil under pines. Hen of the Woods (Grifola frondosa) is a staple autumn fungus found at the base of the massive oaks in the central part of the state. In the historic cemeteries and mossy lawns of older towns, you can often find colorful Waxcap mushrooms, which are indicators of undisturbed, nutrient-poor grassland soils.

Massachusetts Biodiversity Profile

Massachusetts is a state shaped by the retreat of the Wisconsin Glacier, which left behind a distinct west-to-east ecological gradient. The defining feature of the coast is Cape Cod and the Islands, a massive glacial terminal moraine jutting into the Atlantic. This sandy, hook-shaped peninsula creates a unique maritime ecosystem dominated by Pitch Pine and Scrub Oak barrens. These “pine barrens” are fire-dependent and host rare species adapted to nutrient-poor, sandy soils. The shoreline here is dynamic, constantly reshaped by winter Nor’easters, creating barrier beaches that protect vast salt marshes—most notably the Great Marsh on the North Shore, the largest contiguous salt marsh in New England.

Moving inland, the Connecticut River Valley splits the state. This ancient rift basin is filled with rich, sedimentary soils that support the state’s best agricultural land and floodplain forests. Rising abruptly from the valley floor are the Metacomet Ridge (Holyoke Range), a series of basalt trap rock ridges. These dark, sun-baking cliffs create microclimates that are significantly warmer than the surrounding area, allowing southern plant species to reach their northern limits.

In the central part of the state lies the Quabbin Reservoir wilderness. While the reservoir itself is man-made (created by flooding four towns in the 1930s), the surrounding watershed is a massive, protected “accidental wilderness.” It serves as the primary water supply for Boston but biologically functions as a contiguous forest block large enough to support forest-interior species that cannot survive in the fragmented suburbs.

To the far west, the Berkshires connect the state to the Green Mountains of Vermont. This is a highland region of Northern Hardwood forests—sugar maple, beech, and yellow birch. The limestone bedrock in the valleys here creates “Rich Mesic Forests” and calcareous wetlands (fens), which are hotspots for rare orchids and calcium-loving ferns that cannot grow in the acidic granitic soils found elsewhere in the state.