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  • Walk through a scrubby field filled with golden rod after a new snow.  You may find birds such as this Savannah Sparrow foraging on the emerging seed heads.
  • Snow Bunting...in the Snow!  Snow Buntings move south from their breeding grounds in the tundra to forage along the open shores of lakes, coastlines and weedy fields.
  • Cedar Waxwing - Berry Joy
  • The Red-bellied Woodpecker has become a more frequently witnessed year-round resident of Rhode Island.
  • Cooperative Foraging!  Do you recognize any of these species at your feeder?  From top to bottom and left to right.  Common Redpoll, American Goldfinch, White-throated Sparrow, American Goldfinch, House Finch and American Tree Sparrow.
  • Northern Flicker on suet feeder.  Amazingly beautiful birds in your own back yard!
  •  Look up at a tall evergreen and into the falling snow!  You might see a flock of Purple Finch foraging on the seeds of pine cones.
  • Visit one of our Rhode Island preserves an take a hike on an evergreen-lined trail.  Look to the tops of the trees and listen carefully for Pine Siskins.
  • Northern Harriers that do not migrate south will spend the winter in coastal marshes and off-shore islands of Rhode Island
  • Purple Sandpipers forage along the Rhode Island coastline during the winter.  Look for them in small groups along the rocky shoreline. 
  • Snowy Owl in a dunescape.  While strolling along Rhode Island beaches this winter look for anomalies in the landscape.  You never know what might be there!
  • The Ivory Gull breeds in the arctic and is a very rare visitor to Rhode Island.  It was discovered by the photographer on a frozen coastal pond feeding on the remains of a Black Duck.
Birds of a Rhode Island Winter
Venture out in the cold?  Just do it!  Then...look and listen carefully for those hardy souls.