Browsing Category "Ocean State Bird Club"
Ospreys Return
By     |    Mar 27, 2020
Posted in: 41 North Magazine, ASRI, Audubon Society of Rhode Island, Kettle Pond, National Audubon Society, Natural Science, Ningret Wildlife Refuge, Ninigret, Ocean State Bird Club, Outdoor writing, Rhode Island DEM, RINHS, The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America, Trustom Pond National Wildlife Refuge, Uncategorized, US Fish and Wildlife, USFW     |    2 Comments

Ospreys Return

Note: This story appeared in the Providence Journal 3/27/20, and in hard copy 3/29/20. All photos by Gary Carlson: ifishinri@aol.com. Used with permission. The human world is in turmoil, but spring is arriving unconcerned. Skunk cabbage is popping its pungent leaves through the marsh. Forsythia is only days away from its sunlight yellow show of flowers. And in the skies, the Ospreys are returning. The males come first, making a […]

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20 Years of Sorting Life with Rhode Island Natural History Survey
By     |    Jun 6, 2019
Posted in: bees, BioBlitz, Moth Mingle, Narragansett Bay Coyote Study, Natural Science, Ocean State Bird Club, Rhode Island DEM, RINHS, Uncategorized, URI     |    3 Comments

20 Years of Sorting Life with Rhode Island Natural History Survey

NOTE: This story originally appeared in RI Central Newspapers 6/6/19. David Gregg, executive director of the Rhode Island Natural History Survey (RINHS) sits under a canopy at a long table sorting ants. There are perhaps a dozen or so that he has recently collected contained in a tiny bottle. He separates them before handing them off to an ant expert who will do the job of telling the difference between […]

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BioBlitz: Counting All Creatures Great and Small
By     |    Jun 11, 2017
Posted in: ASRI, Audubon Society of Rhode Island, BioBlitz, dragonflies, land trust, Moth Mingle, Moths, Natural Science, Ocean State Bird Club, Rhode Island DEM, RIDEM, RINHS, snakes, Uncategorized, URI, US Fish and Wildlife, USFW, wasps, Writing     |    No Comments

BioBlitz: Counting All Creatures Great and Small

Picture this: you’ve been dropped into the middle of 1000 acres of woodlands, fields, and water. Your job is to count everything. Not just the birds flying by. Not just the types of trees in the forest. Nope. Your task is to count every plant, insect, fungus, bat, snake, fish, clam, flower, in fact to count every species of every living thing that calls that region home. And you have […]

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PROTECTING PLOVERS: USFW calls for volunteers
By     |    Apr 17, 2017
Posted in: ASRI, Audubon Society of Rhode Island, Kettle Pond, National Audubon Society, Natural Science, Ningret Wildlife Refuge, Ninigret, Ocean State Bird Club, Outdoor writing, Rhode Island DEM, RIDEM, Trustom Pond National Wildlife Refuge, Uncategorized, US Fish and Wildlife, USFW     |    No Comments

PROTECTING PLOVERS: USFW calls for volunteers

How do you help a bird that seems bound and determined to put itself in harm’s way? The Piping Plover, a small bird that frequents South County beaches, has a habit of building its nests right on the sand. The same camouflage that makes its eggs remarkably difficult for predators to see also means they may be accidentally stepped on by beachgoers and their pets. Fortunately, US Fish and Wildlife […]

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Stone, Sturgeon, and Golden Eyes: Celebrating RI Natural History Week
By     |    Nov 12, 2016
Posted in: Audubon Society of Rhode Island, BioBlitz, Natural Science, Ocean State Bird Club, Rhode Island DEM, Rhode Island Sea Grant, RINHS, Uncategorized, URI Coastal Institute, US Fish and Wildlife     |    No Comments

Stone, Sturgeon, and Golden Eyes: Celebrating RI Natural History Week

It lay on the Block Island beach in October, looking for all the world like a medieval missile. Four feet long, body fortified with bony plates. A shortnose sturgeon, a fish that normally resides in rivers and a species that has been cruising around North American waters for 70 million years, had somehow washed up on the beach, at least twelve miles from the nearest river.  How did it get […]

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There was an old lady who swallowed a fly…
By     |    Oct 3, 2015
Posted in: Moths, Ocean State Bird Club, Uncategorized     |    1 Comment

There was an old lady who swallowed a fly…

You DO realize SaNfaP is on Facebook, don’t you? Hit the “like” button here.   It’s dinner time, and there are two food sources in your fridge. One has spent its life eating salads. The other has grown up scavenging rotting fish and, well, feces. Choosing dinner would be simple, wouldn’t it? Except for one minor complication: the dish that holds the scavenger contains lobster. And the one holding the […]

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Fly like an Eagle: The Surge of an American Icon
By     |    Feb 25, 2015
Posted in: ASRI, Audubon Society of Rhode Island, Kettle Pond, land trust, National Audubon Society, Natural Science, Ocean State Bird Club, Outdoor writing, Rhode Island DEM, RINHS, The Nature Conservancy, The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America, Trustom Pond National Wildlife Refuge, Uncategorized, US Fish and Wildlife, USFW, Wildlife Rehabilitators of Rhode Island, Wood Pawcatuck Watershed Association, WPWA     |    No Comments

Fly like an Eagle: The Surge of an American Icon

Note one: Unlike my other stories, none of the photos here were taken by me. I have noted sources of each. Note two: This story originally appeared in the Winter 2015 edition of the Audubon Society of Rhode Island’s Report. Along the Seekonk River, the wind sweeps bitterly cold air into the cloudy day. If it was chilly and breezy inland, it’s downright windy and freezing here. This is an […]

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FEEDER FACTS AND FALLACIES Part Two of Two
By     |    Jan 27, 2015
Posted in: BioBlitz, Bird Feeder, Born to be Wild Nature Center, Franklin Farm, Kettle Pond, National Audubon Society, Natural Science, Ningret Wildlife Refuge, Ocean State Bird Club, Outdoor writing, Red Bellied Woodpecker, Rhode Island DEM, RINHS, The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America, Trustom Pond National Wildlife Refuge, Uncategorized     |    No Comments

FEEDER FACTS AND FALLACIES Part Two of Two

Last week, we covered bird feeder topics including choosing a feeder, what seeds work, and where feeders should be placed. If you missed it, check the archives. And don’t forget to follow SaNfaP on Facebook! 4. BREAD IS NOT GOOD FOOD FOR BIRDS. Sorry, but it’s true. Bread comes with several problems: it gets moldy, which is not good for birds at all. Second, like bread for humans, it’s really […]

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FEEDER FACTS AND FALLACIES: Part one of two
By     |    Jan 21, 2015
Posted in: Bird Feeder, Central Fall Middle School, Kettle Pond, Natural Science, Ningret Wildlife Refuge, Ocean State Bird Club, Rhode Island DEM, RINHS, The Nature Conservancy, The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America, Trustom Pond National Wildlife Refuge, Uncategorized, Wildlife Rehabilitators of Rhode Island     |    No Comments

FEEDER FACTS AND FALLACIES: Part one of two

Science and Nature for a Pie is on Facebook! Click the “Follow” button  for photos, facts, and other goodies. http://facebook.com/scienceandnatureforapie . Local winters can seem like a photo of a parade from a century past: long lines of gray, slightly out of focus, and vaguely depressing. Leaves are long gone, flowers are a memory. Is there any life outdoors in winter? The answer is yes. One of the best ways […]

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Which hawk is that? Ocean State Bird Club workshop says behavior may hold key
By     |    Dec 21, 2014
Posted in: Born to be Wild Nature Center, National Audubon Society, Natural Science, Ocean State Bird Club, Outdoor writing, Rhode Island DEM, RINHS, The Nature Conservancy, The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America, Trustom Pond National Wildlife Refuge, Uncategorized, Wildlife Rehabilitators of Rhode Island, WRARI     |    No Comments

Which hawk is that? Ocean State Bird Club workshop says behavior may hold key

At 65 mph, the car is zipping too quickly down route 95 to observe much, and overcast skies obscure most color. The car passes beneath a light pole. At the top, a bird roughly the size and shape of a football perches, eyes fixed on the grass below. There’s a black line, a “belly band”, across its middle. Nearby is an open patch of grass. Is it a pigeon? A […]

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