By Hugh | 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 |

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 […]

By Hugh | Dec 21, 2019
Posted in: 41 North Magazine, ASRI, Audubon Society of Rhode Island, Natural Science, Ningret Wildlife Refuge, Rhode Island DEM, Rhode Island Sea Grant, RINHS |

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Building Resilience: 41 North Fall 2019

Read the latest issue of 41° North here and find out how Rhode Islanders are responding to climate change. Included in this issue are two stories of mine. Enjoy!

By Hugh | Jul 2, 2019
Posted in: ASRI, Natural Science, Ningret Wildlife Refuge, Rhode Island DEM, RIDEM, RINHS, Trustom Pond National Wildlife Refuge, Uncategorized, US Fish and Wildlife, USFW |

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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 […]

BioBlitz: Counting All Creatures Great and Small

By Hugh | 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 |

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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 […]

Burn it down to build it up: Controlled burns at Trustom

By Hugh | Apr 30, 2017
Posted in: ASRI, National Audubon Society, Ningret Wildlife Refuge, Rhode Island DEM, RIDEM, The Nature Conservancy, Trustom Pond National Wildlife Refuge, Uncategorized |

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Burn it down to build it up: Controlled burns at Trustom

Trustom Pond has been scorched. The path that normally leads visitors to a lush meadow now leads them to a scar that blackens a third of the field. The smell of burnt grass and brush can be pungent, and the rectangle is almost offensive in contrast to the rest of the region. Yet the scar is not the result of vandals, nor even of a lightning strike. The burn at […]

PROTECTING PLOVERS: USFW calls for volunteers

By Hugh | 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 |

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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 […]

By Hugh | Nov 20, 2016
Posted in: 41 North Magazine, ASRI, Audubon Society of Rhode Island, BioBlitz, Natural Science, Outdoor writing, Save the Bay, Uncategorized, URI Coastal Institute, URI Graduate School of Oceanography, US Fish and Wildlife, USFW |

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Save the Bay Cruises for Wildlife

It’s November, and it feels like it. Though it’s sunny and the wind is calm, aboard Save the Bay’s educational vessel Elizabeth Morris, the passengers wisely left their boat shoes and shorts at home and wore winter coats and hats instead. Perched on a rock in the Pawcatuck River is a Harbor seal. The first-year plump, gray animal is happily ignorant of the chilly temperatures, lying on its side with […]

Audubon and Providence Parks bring nature to the neighborhood

By Hugh | Sep 11, 2016
Posted in: ASRI, Audubon Society of Rhode Island, Uncategorized |

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Audubon and Providence Parks bring nature to the neighborhood

The line of a dozen children has traveled all of 100 yards when one child calls out, “I don’t know where I am!” Kimmie Lavoie, assistant camp director, has just the answer. “Come here,” she says, leading the group of six- to eight-year-olds to a map painted on a building. She points out the different trails, as well as habitats and animals likely to exist on their hike. The […]

By Hugh | Sep 19, 2015
Posted in: ASRI, Audubon Society of Rhode Island, Uncategorized |

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Raptors Invade ASRI’s Education Center

Follow Science and Nature for a Pie on Facebook here. Some feed on insects, others on mice. Still others dine on ducks, and a very few are capable of making off with Pepe the Chihuahua. Some have a punch that packs a wallop, and most could spot a vole a hundred yards away. What they all have in common is that they are all raptors, and they all came to […]

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 […]

Ospreys Return

Building Resilience: 41 North Fall 2019

DEM’s Canada Goose Roundup

BioBlitz: Counting All Creatures Great and Small

Burn it down to build it up: Controlled burns at Trustom

PROTECTING PLOVERS: USFW calls for volunteers

Save the Bay Cruises for Wildlife

Audubon and Providence Parks bring nature to the neighborhood

Raptors Invade ASRI’s Education Center

Fly like an Eagle: The Surge of an American Icon

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