Fort Wildlife Sanctuary

Today was a beautiful November day here in New England. It was comfortable enough for just a sweatshirt this morning. By afternoon the temperature was in the sixties. I was working outside in just shorts and a T-shirt. It was so nice, I tried to get my work done early so I could enjoy some of the nice weather before the onset of darkness.

I decided to go to a Rhode Island Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary in North Smithfield, RI. Fort is the last name of a couple and not as the name suggests the remnants of an old fort. I had never been to Fort before. I had downloaded a map, and wrote down the directions. I didn't know what I would find other than some nice late fall weather.

The parking lot is just off the Providence Pike (Route 5). It was easy to get to and only about 20 minutes from my house. When I got there I noticed a sign on the kiosk. The refuge is bisected by some power lines. The sign said that trails past the power lines are temporarily closed because National Grid was in the process of replacing all the wires in the state. This meant that I could only walk about half the trail system. Also, two of the ponds are past the power lines, so I was also going to miss some pretty scenery

I set out on the trails. For the most part, the trails go through a woods mixed of white pines and deciduous trees. I could tell that a large area to my right was a dried up swamp. I came across the one pond on my side of the power lines. At one end was a beaver lodge. Many of the trees around the pond were dead. I take this as a sign the beavers raised the water level with their dam and drowned the surrounding trees. I saw a woodpecker in one of the dead trees.

All total, I probably only walked about a mile and a half on the blue loop trail. Given that I was fighting darkness from the moment I got there (parked car at 3:40, sunset was at 4:38) I really couldn't have done much more anyway.

By far the highlight of my day was seeing a barred owl. I was trying to call in some little birds. As I was doing this an owl must have heard me. It flew to a tree about twenty feet away and perched about 20 feet up. It looked at me for some time. I'd say I watched it for a solid fifteen minutes. My presence clearly did not bother it. It would look right at me then look away when it wanted. I sat on some leaves and just enjoyed the encounter. After about fifteen minutes it flew off. It dropped to within three feet of the ground and flew gracefully through the undergrowth, Owls do not make a sound when they fly. Watching such a big bird fly in silence will make you question your hearing. It was really neat.

After the owl flew off, I made the loop around the blue trail getting back to my car a few minutes before dark.The walk and especially the owl made for a nice afternoon after work.

Pond, beaver dam and lodge are at the
far end out of the picture

Neat rock formation

Bald Eagle I saw at Wachusett,
I wanted to share the picture