berner

I live in the small town of Bristol, Rhode Island, right along Narragansett Bay. The Bay attracts lots of bird life from ducks, geese (millions of them) and recently, quite a few ospreys which can be seen tending their young ones in nesting platforms put up by the Audubon Society. The ospreys can also frequently be seen flying with a fish in their claws. Since the bike path here parallels the bay, many animals and birds can be seen from or live along the bike path. There are feral cats, chipmunks and squirrels, woodchucks and two days ago, a deer, in town, running ahead of me. The geese seem to tolerate close proximity to people. I've hand fed a pair that befriended me who lived on a fresh water pond at next town north. Every pond along the path, either a fresh water or salt water, has some resident wild swans, although I don't understand how they get up off the ground. Those suckers are really big and can be mean.

I don't understand where all these animals are coming from. As a boy, living in a very rural part of New York State, where a few farmers were still using horses in their fields, there were a few deer about but that was it. Now, there are even many wild turkeys, in town when, growing up, even in very rural country, there were none. I enjoy having those animals around. It makes the planet more interesting.