Walk on the Wild Side

You don’t need to go to a zoo to see wildlife in Rhode Island. These organizations let you get up close and personal with the state’s native habitats for birds, animals, wild plants and more.

The Norman Bird Sanctuary is more than 325 acres in Middletown that provide habitats for all kinds of indigenous wild birds. They offer free guided bird walks on Sundays, but birders are welcome to explore independently any day. On May 21, they’re hosting their annual Birds and Breakfast, when Chef Rich Silvia from White Horse Tavern cooks for the crowd, and there are bird walks by local experts, kids’ activities and a chance to meet the sanctuary’s resident raptors.

The Rhode Island Wild Plant Society works to educate the public about the state’s native plants and habitats. They frequently host events, including nature walks with local experts. On April 29, they’re hosting An Introduction to Wildflower Identification Using Newcomb’s Field Guide at URI’s East Farm, which is an hour of instruction on identifying wildflowers, followed by an outdoor walk to find them in the wild. May 4 brings a Botanizing Walk at Lime Rock Preserve in Lincoln, which has trails through woodlands, forested swamps, streams and open water.

The Audubon Society of Rhode Island has wildlife refuges all over the state, with guided family-friendly nature walks, including a ton of resources and events geared towards birdwatching. Their Environmental Education Center in Bristol is a natural history museum that is also home to Rhode Island’s largest aquarium, offering tidal pools to explore and rare orange and blue lobsters, and is open daily. Its boardwalk trails over fresh and saltwater marshes are an easy stop off of the East Bay Bike Path.

Save the Bay keeps our waters clean, but also provides lots of different opportunities for people to experience Narragansett Bay. They offer seal watch cruises, nature cruises and birding boat tours, as well as trips to Prudence Island in Mount Hope Bay. Their Exploration Center and Aquarium on First Beach in Newport, open weekends through Memorial Day and daily after, has touch tanks for little ones to get to know the marine life in Narragansett Bay.