You can hear them on a mild spring night: what sounds like a flock of ducks, quack-quacking from a nearby freshwater pool. But these are no ducks; instead, they are Wood Frogs, calling out to invite females to have a mating swim in the pool. Wood Frogs are typically the first inhabitant of the pools heard in the springtime, even before the more popular Spring Peeper toad. It means that […]
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2 Comments 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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No Comments 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!
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No Comments It’s been done using decommissioned ships, oil rigs, and even subway cars. Now it’s being done for the first time in Rhode Island. The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and RI DEM have teamed up to create the state’s first artificial reef, situated off Sabin Point in Providence. TNC’s communications manager Tim Mooney says the hope is that adding complex structure to the floor of Narragansett Bay will improve recreational fishing and […]
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No Comments 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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3 Comments 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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No Comments 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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No Comments 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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No Comments 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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4 Comments What do you do when you’re being haunted by a recently deceased relative who doesn’t realize they’re dead? Or your camp is being invaded by a six-legged polar bear with a taste for human flesh? Or there’s a human-ish creature pulling a wagon load of disease headed your way? The answer to all is simple: fungi. And ethnomycologist Larry Millman, who spent years in the northern parts of the world […]
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