Spike in Sea Bass Numbers Sparks Skepticism
By     |    Mar 9, 2017
Posted in: Natural Science, Uncategorized     |    4 Comments

Spike in Sea Bass Numbers Sparks Skepticism

Recreational and commercial fishermen reporting dramatic increases in the number of black sea bass (BSB) had their observations confirmed at a recent Rhode Island Natural History seminar. However, getting people to believe the numbers and forecasts is no easy task. Dr. Gary R. Shepherd, fisheries biologist with NOAA’s Fisheries Science Center, attributes the apparent spike to increasing water temperatures in the northeast. “We’ve seen a sharp northern redistribution of BSB […]

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By     |    Feb 12, 2017
Posted in: Uncategorized     |    8 Comments

Thunder Snow

At its most intense, last Thursday’s snow storm was piling on flakes at a rate of two inches an hour. In those whiteout conditions, many people online began to report hearing a strange sound. Some initially thought it was snow plows rumbling through the neighborhood. A few reported flashes of light, and wondered whether those might have been electrical lines blowing. Neither of those occurrences would have been unusual for […]

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By     |    Jan 23, 2017
Posted in: Uncategorized     |    No Comments

Carter Preserve and the Railroad: Concern, not Panic

The map tells a disturbing story: a proposed railway change slicing The Nature Conservancy’s Carter Preserve in Richmond in half, effectively eliminating it as a recreation area. The Federal Railway Administration (FRA) has proposed the change as part of a controversial plan to shave time from the Northeast Corridor commuter rail system. As it stands, the proposal will affect conservation areas, Narragansett Tribal land, historical farms and a host of […]

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Self-Improve with Conservation
By     |    Dec 29, 2016
Posted in: Uncategorized     |    2 Comments

Self-Improve with Conservation

At holiday time, life is a flurry of activity, followed by a period of hibernation. We busy ourselves now with buying, giving, and celebrating. Then, with the start of the New Year, we resolve to somehow do better. To lose weight, to read more, to self-improve. Perhaps we look ahead to the changes in politics and wonder what that future will hold; a time of change in social, economic, and […]

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Save the Bay Cruises for Wildlife
By     |    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     |    No Comments

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 […]

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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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Audubon and Providence Parks bring nature to the neighborhood
By     |    Sep 11, 2016
Posted in: ASRI, Audubon Society of Rhode Island, Uncategorized     |    No Comments

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 […]

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New Hope for Urban Waterways
By     |    Jul 2, 2016
Posted in: 41 North Magazine, Natural Science, Outdoor writing, Rhode Island Sea Grant, URI, URI Coastal Institute, URI Graduate School of Oceanography     |    No Comments

New Hope for Urban Waterways

Note: This is a .pdf file from 41N Magazine, a publication from Sea Grant and the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography. 41N_Summer16_Urbanwaterways

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Wood Thrushes and Big Brown Bats: BioBlitz is 24 hours of natural wonders
By     |    Jun 12, 2016
Posted in: Uncategorized     |    5 Comments

Wood Thrushes and Big Brown Bats: BioBlitz is 24 hours of natural wonders

It is early evening on a cool early summer night. Ten people stand in the woods, peering through the dense vegetation. Dan Berard, captain of the Birding Team, shines a green laser pointer on a tree twenty feet away. “Now, if you’ll look to the right and behind the tree where my laser is pointing, you can see a female Wood thrush sitting on a nest with several babies in […]

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Now is the time for the Great Swamp
By     |    Jun 3, 2016
Posted in: National Audubon Society, Rhode Island DEM, turtles, Uncategorized, US Fish and Wildlife     |    2 Comments

Now is the time for the Great Swamp

  Now is the time. No too hot yet, not too buggy. Tree leaves haven’t quite bloomed, so there is a bit of shade, but not enough to obscure the view. There’s an awakening that is taking place among the residents, and more company arrives every day. Some will stay, some will pass through to cooler climes. But now is the time. The Great Swamp Management Area (GSMA) in South […]

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