At the Norman Bird Sanctuary, watching same
by Mark Holland, Malawi 95-97 and a newcomer to RIRPCV
The morning of, Kristen said to me Don't go if it's raining but I went, and when she came home that night she asked for all the details. The parking lot was empty when I arrived except for a friendly man named Bill, two powerful pairs of field glasses, and a large bird watching scope wrapped in a thick weather sheath and elevated to eye level on its tripod. Looking downward with dismay I noticed the absence of even my diminutive binoculars, the gift of two friends who had come to visit me in Malawi, where there is no game. I've come to this place without even the most fundamental understanding of what I'll need while I'm here, a thought familiar from homestay. Jay, our guide, arrived, also prepared with the essentials: oilskin coat, two-day stubble, wide grin. A third drove up but Bill and Jay recognized him so I knew it could not be any of the Peace Corps group. A twenty-five-ish woman with a relaxed attitude toward couture approached on foot from the road. Gotta be! but she had no connection to Peace Corps. Several months prior she had been in the process of moving to Boston when she passed through Newport and became stuck. The rest of the story is lost to history, as near as I could make out. Two more cars, this time containing RPCVs and their immediate kin, much to my relief. Exchange of greetings, secret Peace Corps handshake, code words in several obscure African tongues, and we were ready to depart.
Piling the optics into trunks and truck beds we drove to the visitor center at Sachuest Point, stopping for a few minutes along the road at the beach for an introduction to the walk and The Gull Lecture. The latter begins There is no such thing as a seagull and I waited for Jay to clarify whether this was solipsism or Buddhist philosophy, but inexplicably he began to distinguish between Bonapartes Gull, the Ring-billed Gull, the Herring Gull, and the Great Black-backed Gull. We watched for a while as a group of birds steadily tracked what our guides said was a school of fish under the surface, and as the school compacted toward the shoreline the farther-out birds would rush in to "help". After getting down the general distinction between loons, grebes, and gulls, we moved the cars up to the visitor center and set out along the path that stretches out along the shore toward Sachuest Point itself.
The trail skirts the boundary between grassland and shoreline, a wonderful combination. A storm offshore had driven the less-often-seen ocean-going birds (pelagics, I learned) into the cove. Twenty minutes down the trail we came upon a feeding frenzy a few hundred yards off shore. It was not exactly clear to me why the school of fish under that spot did not dive or move off, but the churning and screeching and diving of the feeders went on for as long as we stood there. Inland the brush was high along the inner edge of the path so there was less to be seen, but some Carolina Wrens were very accommodating to the cameras.
We reached the outermost point and were introduced to the Harlequin Duck: These are the rock stars of the sanctuary. Apparently rare elsewhere they are common at the point. A small, dark-colored, iridescent creature, as near as I could tell it lives its whole life in the chop where the waves hit the rocks. As we watched the waves would break over a group of three or four and scatter them, or wash them unceremoniously off of a rock where they had taken perch just a moment before. When they moved it was always parallel to the shore in the worst of the slosh . It seemed to me that they place themselves deliberately in the position of maximum stress and anxiety and remain there permanently. It struck me to wonder what other species does that. I guess the food is good there.
From the point we circled over the far loop of the trail back to the Visitor's Center and said our goodbyes. You can find some nice pictures at http://normanbirdsanctuary.org, click on the link marked "Bird Droppings".
RIRPCV’s Norman Bird Sanctuary Walk-November 21, 2004
It was a crisp Sunday morning and an excellent day for a nature walk! As Mark explained in his tale, RIRPCVs gathered with other folks to hike through Sachuest Point and see all the wonderful sights of nature. I, on the other hand, was waiting patiently for one of my friend’s back in Providence and arrived a bit too late to enjoy the scenic views of Sachuest Point. Apparently bird guides are very prompt (although I was twenty-one minutes late!). My friends and I did, however, take in the sites of the paths around the Norman Bird Sanctuary. There were quite a few trails to choose from and a little confusion on which way to go, some were more difficult than the next, and some had spectacular views that were definite photo opportunities. Every now and again a neat bridge or stairway appeared on the trail to climb over and around. After a refreshing walk around the sanctuary, a gift shop awaited with all the wonders of nature you could dream of! Hopefully more RIRPCV’s can join us the next time around. Maybe someone will even be able to identify what the bushy tailed creature was that made an appearance (twice), racing across our path. Although my friends say I was crazy, I know it was there!
Enjoy the holidays and get ready for our February 9th meeting! Hope to see you all there!
Jenifer Moskalenko
RIRPCV Group Leader