Tag Archives: butterflies
Audubon Education Center, Bristol RI
I finally took the time to try to find the Audubon Education Center again. Last time I tried to find it was back in the spring and I never did locate it. Got some great pictures of swans but didn’t find the center. So Today was a beautiful day, low humidity, a nice breeze, sunny, 80+…what more could you ask for on a summer afternoon? A good day to get lost…correction, go sight-seeing.
According to mapquest, and anyone who has ever used mapquest know that’s not the most reliable source, but anyway, according to mapquest the Center is about 30 minutes from my home. Perfect. So after lunch at about 1:30 I hopped in the car and headed off. Everything was fine until I got to the intersection of RT 103 & 136. There was supposed to be a RT 114 but there wasn’t any. I know where 114 is near the MT. Hope bridge so I drove down there. 
I even crossed the bridge but there was no Hope St. I turned around in the parking lot for Mount Hope Animal Hospital so I decided to stop in there and ask.
It was back over the bridge but just past Roger Williams University I took a left fork. That was RT 114 North. It’s a beautiful road. In fact the sign called it Scenic RT 114. It is also Hope St! Yeah, making progress, sort of. I was on the wrong end. The house numbers were in the 200’s. I was looking for 1401. Got a ways to go. Good thing it’s Scenic. 🙂
I made one stop because I spotted a great white egret in a pond by the side of the road.
It was wading around and catching fish. 
It was getting a very good lunch. 
I sat on a stone wall and took pictures for a while. 
It reminded me of my last trip to Florida. Finally I figured it was time to move on or I wouldn’t get to the Center today either.
The road follows the coastline and then turns inland a little to pass through a section of little shops.
Leaving the “village” behind I eventually spotted the sign for the Audubon Center.
It’s a beautiful new building with class rooms and a gift shop. Adult admission is only $6.00 and if you have AAA you get $1.00 off that. After I paid my admission I talked with a volunteer for a bit. Turns out that I didn’t have to pay the admission if I only wanted to walk the trail. That’s free. The admission is for the exhibits.
I didn’t mind paying it this time as I wanted to check everything out. The first exhibit was really cool. I could see kids getting a big kick out of it. Behind a darkened glass is a diorama of a cornfield. There are 3 lighted buttons. When you press them a section of the cornfield lights up. There’s skunk, an owl and a 3rd animal. Then there is the meadow exhibit and a Woodchuck Den that you can walk into and look around. There’s a salt marsh
and a tidal pool.
They have raptors like hawks
and owls.
There’s a sculpture of the seals 
that make their home in the bay and a huge Right Whale. The fish exhibits are live fish.
Leaving the center you follow the path to the trail and travel through all of the different habitats. 
They have a butterfly garden too. 
You enter through a hedge tunnel and find little benches where you can sit surrounded by flowers and watch the butterflies and bees.
I saw loads of Monarch butterflies and even one yellow Swallowtail butterfly. 
Growing up I collected butterflies and I would have loved to see a Swallow Tail alive like that.
I wandered down past the meadow 
and as I approached the woods that led to the marsh I spotted a large bird over the tree tops. I wasn’t sure if it was a hawk or an ospry but it was clearly a predator. I suspected a hawk because I think it was too far inland for the osprey but I could be wrong. It was out of sight very quickly so I turned my attention to the path entering the woods.
I liked the boardwalk over the marsh. It’s the longest part of the trail. It ends at Narragansett Bay. The grasses are taller than I am. There were wildflowers sprinkled through the cattail and sea grass.
The trail is about 7/10 of a mile so it isn’t long or hard, perfect for a leisurely stroll.
I watched some boat traffic on the bay 
and then turned around to retrace my steps. 
As I looked at the green algae-covered marsh I wondered if anything was alive in there with the water so low.
As if in answer a little head poked up and there was a frog.
I looked a bit more and spotted several other frogs. In the brush by the water I saw some kind of bird moving too.
As I left the forest to rejoin the meadow I spooked the same hawk again. This time it was a lot closer. It took off from the tall grass and brush right in front of the trees. I must have jumped a mile, I bobbled the camera and when I actually got it in my hands realized it wasn’t even turned on. Mr. Hawk wasn’t waiting around for me to get my act together so I missed a great shot.
I continued to trudge up the path as I mentally chastised myself for such a stupid mistake. Some wildlife photographer I’d make! Past experience has taught me to always be ready with the camera ON! See what happens when you break that basic rule?
Anyway a little farther up the path was a bench. I thought, I’ve seen him twice. He was clearly feeding this time. If I sit quietly could I be lucky enough to see him a 3rd time? I decided to give him 1/2 hour to return. I got the camera ready and settled in to wait. It didn’t take 1/2 hour. It was only about 10 minutes when I spotted him winging back toward the brush. Unfortunately he was keeping the trees behind him and staying in shadow. No way to get a picture.
He flew into the trees and I just sat quietly waiting. Another 10 minutes went by. I was just about to give up when he shot out of the trees and up into the sky giving me a clear shot. Because of the angle of the sun it would have to be a silhouette but I’ll take what I can get.
That was the last chance. He made a couple of passes over me and then took off behind the tree line.I could hear his “keee keee” call so I knew he was gone for now. It was almost 5 pm anyway and the Visitor Center hours end at 5 pm. Time to head home.
Going home I followed RT 114 north through East Providence until it crossed RT 44. I made a right on RT 44 and was homeward bound. Much easier if a little longer than Mapquest’s directions.
The Audubon Educational Center is located at 1401 Hope St, Bristol, RI and is a great place to spend an afternoon.
Mount Washington and other tidbits
As I traveled around the White Mountains of New Hampshire I picked up a few tidbits about the Live Free or Die State.
- New Hampshire received Statehood in 1778. It was the 9th State to join the Union.
- The Capital of New Hampshire is CONCORD.
- The state’s nickname is “the Granite State”
- The State’s motto, as mentioned above, is “Live Free or Die”
- The State Emblem is the Old Man of the Mountain. *
- State Song: Old New Hampshire and New Hampshire, My New Hampshire
- Flower: Purple Lilac
- Wildflower: Pink Lady’s Slipper
- Tree: White Birch
- Gem: Smokey Quartz
- Rock: Granite
- Mineral: Beryl
- Bird: Purple Finch
- Animal: White Tail Deer
- Insect: Lady Bug
- Amphibian: Red Spotted Newt
- Butterfly: Karner Blue
- Saltwater Fish: Striped Bass
- Freshwater Fish: Brook Trout
- Area: 9,304 square miles
- Greatest Width: 90 miles
- Greatest Length: 180 miles
- Coastline: 17.75 miles
- Lakes and Ponds: 1,300
- Miles of streams: 40,000
- Mountain Peaks over 3,000 ft.: 82
- Highest Peak: Mount Washington @ 6,288 ft.
*The old Man of the Mountain : Faces in stone are not uncommon around the world. New Hampshire also has the Indian Head. The Old Man first gained it’s notoriety when Daniel Webster wrote: “Men hang out their signs indicative of their respective trades; shoe makers hang out a gigantic shoe; jewelers a monster watch, and the dentist hangs out a gold tooth; but up in the Mountains of New Hampshire, God Almighty has hung out a sign to show that there He makes men.”
In 1945 The Old Man’s profile became the state emblem. It can be found on license plates, road signs and the State Quarter.
Since the 1920’s the granite outcropping that formed the face was showing signs of weathering. It would have failed long before its actual demise on May 3, 2003 if not for continual intervention by man over the years. Efforts to save the “Old Man” ranged from chains, to concrete, to steel rods and more but nothing could stop the slow erosion caused by weathering the seasons of freezing and thawing of Northern New England. Eventually that weathering, with gravity’s help, caused the famous icon to collapse. Today there is a marker and museum near the site.
Old Man of the Mountain vs Indian Head: When I was riding around on the Moose tour, the Guide pointed out the Indian Head formation. 
According to the guide, the profile of the Indian is created as much by shadows as by actual stone. Because of this the Indian Head formation can appear quite different at different times of day and in different light. The Old Man was a true Stone Formation.
Mount Washington Wind speed record: As you know from the previous post about the cog railway, there is a sign at the summit of Mount Washington stating that the highest wind ever recorded by man was recorded on Mount Washington.
That record stood from 1934 to 1996 when a wind speed of 253 mph was recorded on Barrow Island, Australia during a cyclone. It took the World Meteorological Organization until 2010 to recognize the new record. An even greater wind of 316 mph was recorded in Moore, OK in 1999 during a F5 tornado but that was not recorded at ground level so was disqualified.
That’s more information than I have about my own state! It’s probably more than any of us wanted to know.
New Hampshire also seems to have tons of covered bridges. I haven’t found an actual count of them but they all seem to have a number assigned. So I saw one bridge that was #64 or #65 so I am guessing there are at least that many.
A few more Images from Magic Wings
Before I tell you how our day ended I thought I would share a few more pictures from Magic Wings.
On Butterfly Wings…
The Conservatory is divided into two sections. The first room is educational which makes it easier to appreciate the main room when you get there.
As you enter there is a glass case with a Butterfly Tree in it. This model tree and monarch butterflies demonstrates how fully covered a tree would be if the migrating monarchs chose it to spend the night. It can be covered completely covered by thousands of monarchs. It’s pretty amazing. I have seen it on the Discovery Channel but it would be really nice to see it for real in the wild.
There is a TV mounted on the wall that plays an educational video of the life cycle of a butterfly from caterpillar to cocoon to fragile insect. Beneath the TV is another diorama showing butterflies feeding on flowers, on fruit or milkweed. To the left of that was a bank of terrariums. Alex really impressed me here. The terrariums contained frogs. As we walked from one to the next, Alex would point out the little frogs and tell me what they were and their main significance…like the poisonous dart frog. To my surprise he was correct on all of them and he’s only 7 years old. Like I said, I am very impressed.
Moving on we came to a large glass case that held a small bird and tiny little chicks. They seemed to be in perpetual motion running here, there and then back again. No wonder they stay so little. they use all their energy running around instead of growing. In any case, meet the Quail Family.
Along the same wall were huge cases of mounted butterflies. Each case identified the region the butterflies were found, Africa, South America and so forth.
There were more cases in a row down the center of the room. Here were the creepy crawlies. There were huge African Hissing Cockroaches, (I don’t want to run into one of those anytime soon.) stick bugs (I think we used to call them “walking sticks” when I was a kid”. Then there were bugs that looked like dried leaves. You couldn’t even tell they were there unless they moved and a tail-less scorpion. There was a gecko and last but not least some live butterflies.
On the remaining walls were the rules. The main one was “Don’t touch the Butterflies”. It went on the explain that when you reach for a butterfly all it sees is this big hand coming at it and it thinks it’s about to be “lunch” for some creature. It tries to get away. The wings are very fragile and damaged wings=dead butterfly. So it’s ok if the butterfly chooses to land on you but don’t reach out for the butterfly.
So with the rules under our belts we opened the big gray doors and stepped into what can only be described as an airlock! Warm air blew down from the ceiling creating a pretty strong breeze. The short hall was lined with floor to ceiling mirrors. The door on the other end was glass and we could see a lush forest of trees, vines , bushes and BUTTERFLIES! All sizes, all shapes and colors, they were swooping and fluttering landing and taking off.
There was even one right in front of the glass doors. We stood waiting as the white and black striped insect flitted and flirted with the glass. Finally it appeared to move away and we opened the door only to have “Stripes” make a bee line for the open door. The warm breeze from the fans in the hallway hit that little bug like a fist and it dropped to the ground. We all just stood and looked. No one had touched it. We closed the door and waited to see if it would move but it just lay there, apparently stunned. A Magic Wings employee came hurrying over to retrieve the stunned creature and hurried off with it to put it on a flower. Escape foiled! Now we knew why there was a warm breeze in the “airlock”.
Crisis over we moved deeper into the foliage.
The exhibit, like the restaurant was a busy place today. I don’t know if it is because it’s a holiday weekend or if it’s always like that. Lots of cameras in evidence too as we tried to catch a moment when one of the fluttering willow the wisps was still.
There were paths and benches and every where butterflies. At the end of the first path was a “Butterfly Nursery’ A large board was covered with cocoons, chrysalis and pupae of all sizes. As we stood watching a butterfly emerged from one and stood clinging to the empty shell waiting for its wings to stiffen.
As we wandered the paths we were awed by the profusion of colors. Not only were butterflies everywhere but so were the exotic flowers and plants. Dawn was determined to get a butterfly to land on her. She walked around with her finger stretched out to form a perch. I was afraid she was going to be disappointed and tried to get her to just take a “wait & see” approach. But being only 5, she would not be dissuaded. In the end, persistance paid off and a butterfly not only landed but stayed long enough for us to get the picture.
In addition to the butterflies and flowers and plants the little quail families were everywhere.
They also had a terrarium with a huge fat frog. Right next to it were two other terrariums with lizards. In the same area were the birds. The little sparrow/finch type birds were in cages but a parrot seemed to be free to do as it pleased. Sitting on its cage seemed to be what it pleased. 🙂
A bit farther on was a Koi pond with really big goldfish. The habitat seemed to have covered all the bases. There were plenty of feeding stations for the butterflies too from smashed up over ripe bananas to nectar style sponges.
It was warm in the exhibit as they are trying to replicate a tropical environment but with our hands stamped we could go in and out of the exhibit at will.
Each time we entered the “wind tunnel” air lock and looked for butterflies on our clothing before exiting. Finally it was time for a last stop in the gift shop before we called it a day. We still had one more stop to make before we could head home but I’m running out of room in this post.