Harbour Seals and Raptors!

When I started this blog I decided to write it entirely through my iPhone in an attempt to
be efficient. Right now I am at URI waiting to meet with a financial "advisor" to determine how much I can take out for a private loan. The max college loan amount from a private institution is normally the tuition subtracted from the University determined total expense for the year. Ugh. Anyways.

Lots of birding these days. I saw a super neat bi-colored seal at Rome Point the other day. I was able to Digi-iPhone her (at 60x, though it looks further away than it would if you were just looking through the scope). There were ~60 seals hauled out. I am looking forward to hearing the noisy seal choruses that occur when there over 100 hauled out. I was hoping to see a Rough-legged Hawk and the short-eared owls at Sachuest NWR but instead there were 2 Red-tailed Hawks and 2 Northern Harriers. I Digi-iphoned one of the Red-tails at a fairly close distance. So beautiful.

















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Short-eared Owls!

I have been birding fairly intensely the past few days and my effort has resulted in a few amazing encounters. I fell in love this Sunday with a Short-eared Owl . She was hunting in a field with two Northern Harriers at Sachuest NWR. Absolutely amazing! Watching a Short-eared Owl through a scope is a magical and life altering experience. Apparently the next evening there were 4 Short-eared Owls, 2 Red-tailed Hawks, and 3 Northern Harriers are in the same field!!! I was tempted to drive over there but I was busy birding Jamestown and was spellbound by a coyote that was hunting around Fox Hill Pond/Salt Marsh (Fort Getty). I wish that Coyote was a Wolf but I am glad that we at least have Coyoti. It is a botanist's and ecologist's dream to have Grey Wolf back in the Northeast. The deer are overabundant and are destroying native flora and negatively impacting forest regeneration. Not only do they spread invasive species but their overabundance leads to extensive herbivory and browsing. Enough ranting... For the Birds- Ryan

This Fall and my RI Big Year!

So I have not updated this blog in quite sometime. I got pretty wrapped up and absorbed in my studies this last semester. I finished with a 3.94 which raised my gpa by .01 (Bringing it to a 3.9). My classes were challenging, relevant, and exciting! Field botany was a dream! Squeezing in work was a challenge and required alarms set to 5:00 am and bushwhacking runs through the forest. I finished vegetation classification surveys for three locations and surveyed over 60 transect points. The surveys were to monitor landbird
habitat and each transect was located at a breeding bird survey point. Currently I am working on the New England Cottontail survey effort which requires searching for and collecting pellets when the weather (snow) cooperates and trapping when it doesn't. Super fun work!!! I absolutely love it!
I decided to do a RI big year! A frivolous incentive to go birding, chase down birds, and have adventures. I am sitting in my car writing this, waiting for a pair of Tundra Swans to show up(it's 5 degrees F). I am hoping to get a lesser black-backed gull later at Ninigret NWR. As of now I have 77 species and I am looking forward to picking up more including some lifers. The listing excitement can be followed on http://ybl2011.ribird.org/lists
I have been filling the surf void with birding. RI has been flat for weeks and thus I have not surfed in weeks, anxiously awaiting swell!
Always chase your dreams and fight for your happiness! -Ryan

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