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Audubon Society of Rhode Island |
Welcome
The Audubon Society of Rhode Island, the state's first environmental organization, invites you to discover the wonders of nature. Annually, more than 17,000 members and supporters along with tens of thousands visitors enjoy our fifteen refuges statewide, award-winning Environmental Education Center, and enthralling special events and fascinating programs.
Our Audubon was founded in 1897 to halt the slaughter of birds used in the day's fashions. Today, our mission promotes environmental education, conservation and advocacy.
The Audubon connects you with nature all year through recreational and educational activities, emphasizing birds while encompassing all native wildlife and habitats.
The natural world is both sanctuary and classroom. Audubon encourages you to enjoy nature, learn from it, and protect it. Join us and experience the discoveries that nature offers you.
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Where have the birds gone? |
Nature is an amazing thing. Instincts long hardened into the
brain become active when day length changes, when temperatures dip, or when
moisture dries up. Survival skills and inbred behaviors ensure that wildlife
endures the changes of the seasons. That is why, when summer is waning and days
begin to grow shorter, the birds seem to disappear.
They have not actually disappeared, thankfully. They are
simply not 'hanging out' where humans may have become used to seeing them.
Audubon Society of Rhode Island naturalist Kim Calcagno notes that she receives
numerous calls and emails this time of year from concerned people who have
noticed a remarkable dearth of birds in their yards and local parks. "Just as
we can set the seasonal clock by the springtime robin and woodpecker phone
calls, the start of autumn is distinctly marked by the profusion of calls asking
what has happened to the birds," she says.
Well, what does happen to the birds? Calcagno explains that it is part
behavioral and part nutritional. "During the spring and summer, birds are
focused on breeding. They come out to find a mate. They search to find nesting
material. They forage endlessly for all those mouths to feed," she explains.
"The birds you see are constantly taking risks by coming out in the open and
exposing themselves to predators to get these things done. Once breeding is
over for the season, they have some time before the winter comes to 'lay low' a
bit, staying out of the view of predators and keeping out of the open areas.
This behavior is normal and comes with the season."
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Read more... [Where have the birds gone?]
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