Month: October 2022

Natural Learning

/ Jason Major / Leave a comment
Billy in the lead, followed by Benjamin McGovern, Gwen St Laurent, Eva McGovern, and Gwen’s father, Kevin. 

Early on a brisk Saturday morning Billy McGovern led a small group of students through the winding trails of Salter Grove. Their mission was to identify and describe the major parts of a plant. 

During their walk Billy would stop periodically to play “Simon Says” with the students, challenging them to touch a specific part of a nearby plant. By the end, the students were able to identify many parts of the plant and describe their role in the plant’s life. 

This was the inaugural outing of a program being developed by the Friends of Salter Grove. This program aims to show that outdoor recreation and education with minimum technology is fun.

Like Scandinavian forest schools, the program aims to instill a sense of respect for the environment and the importance of having minimal impact while demonstrating how to use a shared space without impairing others’ enjoyment. 

Photos by Jason Major

The Pelican Brief

/ Jason Major / Leave a comment
The visiting American White Pelican towers over a group of Double-crested Cormorants on the southern tip of Rock Island. (Photo by Jason Major)

An American White Pelican was sighted in the vicinity of Rock Island and Passeonkquis Cove on September 25, 2022 and remained through September 29, 2022.

According to available records for Rhode Island, there have been eighteen sightings of this large waterbird since 1946, including one for Warwick in 1996.

With a wingspan up to ten feet and a maximum body weight of 30 pounds—16 being average—this pelican normally breeds in large colonies on lakes in the interior of southern Canada and the northern plains of the western United States. It migrates in large gregarious flocks to winter along the Gulf of Mexico and in Florida.

So how and why did a solitary pelican that’s usually west of the Mississippi stray so far to the northeast? It could have been confused by the intense smoke from forest fires as it left the breeding grounds and was separated from its traveling companions as it flew to the wintering grounds.

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