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By Laura Drinan
Hometown Weekly Reporter
“The woods are lovely, dark and deep…”
I thought of Robert Frost’s renowned poem as I walked through the trails of Bird Park, some glistening with ice and snow.
While I didn’t have promises to keep, I did have reindeer to find at the park’s first self-guided Reindeer Quest.
Although I grew up playing in the park, I’m usually disinclined to visit the park in the chilly winter weather. Despite my familiarity with the winding trails, I decided to visit Maura O’Gara of the Trustees of Reservation to know what to expect from the quest.
Birdy, one of four reindeer at Bird Park’s Reindeer Quest peeks out of the greenery.
Standing tall on one of Bird Park’s hills is Anna, one of the reindeer hidden for the park’s Reindeer Quest.
The wood-carved reindeer, Billy, hides in Bird Park for the first ever Reindeer Quest.
“It’s the first time it’s happening here at the park, and we were fortunate enough to find a volunteer who was willing to make the reindeer,” Maura explained, adding that there are four reindeer sculptures in Bird Park and another four in Medfield’s Rocky Woods, created by Benjamin Cross.
“It is an activity that had been done on another property, and they said it was very popular, so it seemed like a good idea to bring it to the park.”
Hidden throughout the 89-acre land were two large reindeer sculptures, Charlie and Anna, named after Charles and Anna Bird, who endowed the park in 1925 in memory of their son, Francis William Bird, after whom the reindeer Billy was named. For the fourth sculpture, Maura decided to simply name it Birdy, and even led me to his hiding spot.
So, with one reindeer found, I set off on my own to find the other three.
I continued along the path, pulling my hat down over my ears and keeping my eyes peeled for any reindeer-like shapes in the woods.
Suddenly, a squawking crow interrupted my thoughts and disturbed the park’s serenity. I scanned the bare branches for the feathered culprit, but out of the corner of my eye I saw a bright red ribbon. There he was: Charlie. I shuffled through crunchy leaves to reach the little notebook by his side, signing my initials underneath the others that had found Charlie.
I followed the trail’s twists and turns until I came to a fork in the path. I stopped on the diverging road, looking both left and right before taking what I expected to be the road less traveled by.
In the distance on top of a slight hill, I saw a peculiar shape.
I approached the figure, and it was Anna. Again, I signed the miniature notebook and excitedly hurried down the hill, knowing that Billy was the only one still hiding.
Certainly, I had been celebrating too early, as Billy was nowhere to be found. I walked around in circles, again and again, with no sight of the sculpture. I was suspicious of all the birches bent left and right, but they weren’t Billy.
After perhaps my fourth fruitless lap through the trails, I shoved my nearly frozen hands in my pockets and headed back to the Trustees Office, admitting that I needed a hint to find Billy.
With Maura’s directions for his tricky hiding spot, I finally found Billy, his birch bark camouflaging him perfectly with the surrounding trees.
Although the cold nipped at my nose and my toes ached for warmer socks, my time in Bird Park gifted me tranquility and a sense of closeness with nature in the otherwise hectic season.
“Really, it’s just an excuse to get outdoors in the winter and have fun exploring the park,” said Maura.
The reindeer will be hiding in Bird Park until January 7 for all to discover in Walpole’s most beloved outdoor space.
