Today I headed east on Route 1 into Rhode Island to check out the Trustom Pond Nat'l Wildlife Refuge near Charlestown. It was an overcast, grey day, but I was enjoying driving through the countryside of Southern RI (as always). As I'm cruising down Matunuck School House Road I see a big silhouette dive down out of a tree and up again. I quickly pulled to the side and saw a large owl perched up in the branches. I grabbed my new 16x binoculars (a Christmas present from mom and dad - thanks!) to get a better look. This creature was beautiful, and I couldn't believe how lucky I was to see it on the move. When it was perched, you could barely see it at all due to its clever coloring. I grabbed my field guide and flipped to the owl section and saw that it was a Barred Owl. Beautiful. I followed it down the road a ways, as it would occasionally glide to another perch. Then finally snapped a quick photo with my iPhone through my windshield as it dove into a nearby field.
Just down the road a bit was the entrance to Trustom Pond. Even with the miserable weather, I was really impressed with this place. Apparently it was a large farm donated by a woman in the early 1970s, and has since grown many native grasses and has harbored all sorts of wildlife. It's an area of forest and fields that leads down to marshes, ponds and eventually the barrier beach, which has also been left undeveloped. The beach is Moonstone Beach, which I drove around to before heading home, and it looked like a great area to explore. Another time.
There were a ton of geese (hard to see in the photo), the usual gulls and some ducks. I'm sure with better weather there would be a greater variety. I walked out to Osprey Point, had a Christmas puff on my pipe and headed back through the woods. It was a good day.
No comments:
Post a Comment