Browsing Category "USFW"
URI Tracks Mako Sharks

URI Tracks Mako Sharks

  First published in the Providence Journal 9/6/20. Story and photos copyright Hugh Markey. URI Professor Brad Wetherbee seems to think his favorite shark may need a better press agent. “Makos are like a high-performance car, like a Lamborghini. They’re fast, fast, fast,” he says, lightly pounding the rail of the boat for emphasis. “Certainly, these makos are impressive animals. They get to be 13 feet long and 1400 pounds. […]

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Ospreys Return

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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DEM’s Canada Goose Roundup

DEM’s Canada Goose Roundup

  It’s a warm June morning as a flotilla of five kayakers makes its way to a pond in Tiverton. They fan out across the diameter and quietly approach a small island. As they approach, a flock of Canada geese break off from their breakfast of sea grass and nervously begin to stir. The guardians stretch their long necks up, trying to assess the situation, making low sounds to each […]

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Restoring and Recycling at the John H. Chafee Wildlife Refuge

Restoring and Recycling at the John H. Chafee Wildlife Refuge

The temperature along the bank of Narrow River is in the 30’s, and gusts of wind have a way of sneaking under coats, like someone is pouring ice water down the neck. The area seems devoid of life, save for a congregation of gulls gathered around a long black tube that resembles nothing so much as a fire hose. The hose wends its way to a floating craft on the […]

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By Land, Sea, or Air, Napatree is Doing Well
By     |    Dec 14, 2018
Posted in: Natural Science, Outdoor writing, RINHS, Uncategorized, URI, US Fish and Wildlife, USFW     |    No Comments

By Land, Sea, or Air, Napatree is Doing Well

  After the summer crowds have gone and the icy winds begin to lash the sands of Napatree Point Conservation Area in Westerly, the work to care for the beach continues. Two dozen naturalists and scientists make a pilgrimage to the area in order to share the State of Napatree, an extensive document covering one of the most important natural areas in the state. The Watch Hill Conservancy is the […]

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Using Accelerometers to Track Shark Stress

Using Accelerometers to Track Shark Stress

  If we catch and release a shark, does that mean it lives happily ever after? Find out when you read my post and watch a very cool film by visiting Untamed Science. And don’t forget to follow me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/scienceandnatureforapie and on Twitter at @HughMarkey1  

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The Secret Life of Bee (Keepers)

The Secret Life of Bee (Keepers)

Childhood obsessions are pretty common. Some children love a particular line of dolls, trading cards, or teddy bears. As they grow, the obsessions are set aside, sometimes to literally gather dust. In other cases, though, the obsessions simply morph into something new. “When I was little, it was a unicorn obsession, and as I grew older it went from unicorns to something legitimate like bees.” At 26, Azure Giroux’s childhood […]

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New England’s Marine Monument under Fire: “Review” threatens preservation status

New England’s Marine Monument under Fire: “Review” threatens preservation status

Americans are proud of their land, and not just around the Fourth of July. So proud that, since 1906, they have worked with 16 presidents of both parties to designate 129 places as so important from a historical or scientific standpoint that they should be preserved for future generations. The process began in 1906 under Teddy Roosevelt to “preserve historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic […]

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BioBlitz:  Counting All Creatures Great and Small

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

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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