Fort Nature Refuge,North Smithfield, RI

Fort Nature Refuge

North Smithfield, Rhode Island

Fort Trail Map (42.55 kB)

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Howdee all,

This past weekend Jeff and I visited our daughter in Rhode Island. We share a love of the outdoors and hiking,so we chose this Audubon Refuge for our hike of the day.

 The Fort Family donated the land to the Audubon Society after they had created a nature refuge for themselves, Ruhren said. Trails wind through a forest of hardwoods, mixed with evergreens. In some places, there are stands of healthy hemlocks and patches of planted pines, white and red. via the ProjoA stream connects three ponds, creatively named First, Second and Third. They are the headwaters of the Woonasquatucket River which flows down to Providence and into Narragansett Bay.via The ProjoWe did a loop starting with the Blue trail..yellow, red and back to the blue.

Most of the leaves had fallen…

A bench in the waterGuess we wont be sitting here..Quartz still life..Pinkness…Anyone know what type of bee/hornet lives here?

We walked on crispy crunchy Through the forest to vernal pools..The water here is flowing over the road..good thing the trail didn’t go that way..Beautiful reflectionsDuckweed, leaves and Pine needles in water…I flipped this image…the reflection of the trees taking back their watery leaves and needles..We found signs of Beaver in the forest..downed trees, and worn areas where they crossed the path.Still some nice color..Looking for Birds…

Samarrah and Jeff discussing the routeA Green Island..with mini pine treeLuscious Loveliness Amazing natural rock CairnsPine needles cushion the ground..The sun comes out and shows us blue skies reflecting in the water..

Everywhere I look…Beauty

Beauty is Before Me

by Navaho (Anonymous)
(19th Century) Timeline

Original Language
Navaho/Dine

Primal/Tribal/Shamanic : American Indian

19th Century

Beauty is before me,
And beauty is behind me.
Above and below me hovers the beautiful.
I am surrounded by it.
I am immersed in it.
In my youth I am aware of it,
And in old age I shall walk quietly
The beautiful trail.

In beauty may I walk.
All day long may I walk.
Through the returning seasons may I walk.

Beautifully will I possess again.
Beautifully birds . . .
Beautifully joyful birds

On the trail marked with pollen may I walk.
With grasshoppers about my feet may I walk.
With dew about my feet may I walk.

With beauty may I walk.
With beauty before me, may I walk.
With beauty behind me, may I walk.
With beauty above me, may I walk.
With beauty below me, may I walk.
With beauty all around me, may I walk.

In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, lively, may I walk.
In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, living again, may I walk.

It is finished in beauty.
It is finished in beauty.

A Navajo Indian Prayer of the Second Day of the Night Chant (anonymous)

When I saw these mushrooms I thought Morels, of course I knew they weren't morels..as Morels are a spring mushroom and these looked a bit different.

On closer inspection I saw that this mushroom came out of an egg shape..below the ground.Stinkhorn mushroom

by Michael Kuo

Stinkhorns are amazing mushrooms, notorious for popping up suddenly and unexpectedly in urban settings. They are very diverse in appearance, but all of them share at least two features:

Some part of the fruiting body, at some stage in development, is covered with a foul-smelling slime.

The fruiting body arises from an "egg," traces of which may disappear by maturity.

Beyond these shared features, however, just about anything goes, and stinkhorns range from looking rather like Morels to appearing like, um, a portion of canine anatomy, or odd marine creatures with tentacles, or crab claws, Wiffle balls, Chinese lanterns, and so on. Via Mushroom Expert.com

 We had a wonderful walk..Its so nice sharing our love of nature..…

What we weren't happy about was the ticks we found..both Samarrah and I found ticks..and I was bitten three times by the same tick I actually felt it biting me ..but didn’t find it till after the third bite…lets hope I don’t get Lyme Disease again….ugh..

Happy Autumn

Watch out for Ticks…

BwBTC Charlestown, RI

Howdee all,

How many photos do you take before you get it right?

I have a two second timer on my Canon camera…I forgot to bring my wireless remote.

I knew I would never be able to make it back and pose for the photo in 2 seconds.

So my hubby Jeff volunteered.

The one below is one of about four that he didn't quite make it back in time.

    Finally a group photo.

From top left to right

Cindy from Living in Brooklyn and Longing for Maine

Cindy @gemswinc on twitter

Larry from the Brownstone Birding blog

Jane (waiting for her blog name)

John(Tucker)  from The Birdman of Bridgewater

Bottom left to right

Yours truly

Cathleen Ellis from Birdingirl blog

Dan @Docforestal on twitter/ Nature Observances by Forestal

Hubby Jeff

…………………………………………

Missing from the photo were

Susan from The Nature of Framingham her husband Tom and her son Pete who met us later in the day.

…………………………….

I will do another blog post about our outing…until then

Read Dan’s account of the Day

BwBTC Birding Charlestown, RI

Howdee all,

There's still time to join us for a fun filled day of Birding…just comment below or send me an email to Nobbiecat@gmail.com

 Birders who Blog, Tweet and Chirp Charlestown, RI

Come Bird with us, let's bird, let's bird away
If you can use some exotic Birds
There's a bird in Charlestown Bay
Come Bird with us, let's bird, let's bird away

BwBTC Charlestown, Rhode Island~Saturday August 28th.

Click on the map below to see details of the meeting area.

View Charlestown Breachway BwBTC in a larger map

Meet at the Flip Flops restaurant parking lot, 1 Charlestown

Beach Rd.

I thought we should be ready to go at 8am sharp.

Let me know if the time doesn't work for you..or if you prefer to start earlier..majority rules here…If I don't hear from any of you we will be ready to rock and roll at 8am.

You can arrive a bit earlier and grab a coffee and breakfast treat at The Bakery across the street from Flip Flops…I checked it out.they open at 5:30 for early birds...they have nice Organic coffee and awesome looking pastries and muffins. Click on the link above to see a sample of what might be there.

We will start the morning by Birding the Breachway. We will carpool from Flip Flops parking lot. Parking at the Breachway is 14 dollars a car.

Expect to get wet knee deep..I spoke to a local birder/photographer..all gear can be carried safely above the waist. If you are worried about your gear bring waterproof bags.

Wear water shoes…and bring a change of clothes,just in case.

There are restrooms in the campsite area that we can use to change in.

Click the Map below to read about the Breachway and the Birds we may see there.

After the breachway, we can stop for lunch at The Corner Deli, which is next to The Bakery.

Then onto birding Trustom Pond NWR

View Trustom Pond in a larger map

 

After Trustom, if time, we can bird other places in the area.

We plan on having dinner at Flip Flops, around 7:30 or so….Check out the link to look at the menu.

If you want to join us for dinner,let me know. I need to make reservations, if we have a large group.

Also let me know what time you prefer for dinner.

The menu looks good…Jeff and I had dinner there a few weeks ago and had a nice meal…though, portions are on the small side.

 

That's all for now…If anyone has anything to add you can comment below or email me at

Nobbiecat@gmail.com

 

Some links

Birding on the net..area birds being seen.

Bird Checklist you might want to print this out.

RI Birding link

 

  Cast of Characters 

Jeff and Dawn @DawnFine on twitter/Dawns Bloggy Blog

Christopher @Picusblog on twitter/ Picus Blog

Dan @Docforestal on twitter/ Nature Observances by Forestal

Larry from the Brownstone Birding blog

Cindy Cage from Living in Brooklyn and Longing for Maine

Cathleen Ellis from Birdingirl blog

John(Tucker)  from The Birdman of Bridgewater

and his sister who knows the area well.

Lowie @lakras on twitter/ A Worn Field Guide

Susan from The Nature of Framingham and Cathleen's cousin

Cindy @gemswinc on twitter