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Breakfast at The Brickway on Wickenden Street - hot and humid but great omelets.
Then off to East Providence in search of the monk parakeets. We'd read about these escaped parrots in several guidebooks but suffered from the misconception that they lived at Sabin's Point. They actually live in a residential area near Bullock's Cove - just down the street from the carousel. In fact, I'd driven through that neighborhood several times over the last 2 winters looking for houses for sale - seeking my East Providence dream house. I'd just never looked up 'cause I didn't know that was the parrots' neighborhood. Having gotten a pointer in the right general direction I drove around each block in the neighborhood listening for their telltale raucous cries and trying to home in on them. I finally spotted the giant stick nest on top of an electric pole. I pulled over and Nancy got out of the car immediately while I fumbled looking for the other set of binoculars. The woman in front of whose house I parked came out and greeted us. She says she likes the parrots but a lot of the neighbors don't. They're noisy and they make a big mess. She says she's seen little wrens bringing sticks to the nest too - kind of like slaves to the parrots. We didn't see any of that. The woman told us we were welcome to sit on her lawn and look at them. One by one about 6 parrots poked their heads out of the nest. These were full grown adults. If there were any little ones, we didn't see them. Some little kids on bikes came over and asked "What are you spying on?" "Parrots," I replied. They shook their heads convinced we were spies. We watched the parrots for awhile and then continued on to Blithewold.
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Allium in the Cutting Garden
The Water Garden
The Bamboo Grove |
Blithewold Mansions and Gardens was originally a turn-of-the-century summer residence owned by coal magnate Augustus Van Winkle, with gardens and landscapes typical of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Overlooking Narragansett Bay, the 33-acre estate contains about 1,000 kinds of plants and a broad sweeping lawn. The Gardens were designed by John Dewolf of Brooklyn, New York. Many of the trees he planted were exotic imports from China and Japan that had only recently been introduced to North America. Blithewold became the property of the Heritage Foundation of Rhode Island when Augustus Van Winkle's daughter Marjorie Lyon, who had inherited it, died in 1976. Highlights of the landscape are: the arboretum, the Bosquet, a wooded area filled with ground covers and spring bulbs; the Rock Garden; the Water Garden; the North Garden, featuring blue-and yellow-flowering annuals and perennials; the Cutting Garden; and the Rose Garden. Planted around 1900, many of the Arboretum's woody specimens are notably mature. These include dawn redwood, Japanese cedar, ginkgo, and a grove of bamboo. Blithewold also boasts the largest giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) east of the Rockies. It's 86 feet tall and has been growing at the rate of about a foot a year since it was planted in 1911. |
Down by the bay, we saw the pilings for a former dock leaning every which way. There was a cormorant on each one, some with wings outstretched, some hunkered down, all different positions. In the very middle of this line of cormorant topped pilings was a snowy egret all hunched over on its own piling. A study in black and white. I took several photographs but what I really needed to do to catch the scene was paint.
On the way back from Blithewold, we stopped to see the parrots again. This time I left Nancy to observe the nest on the electric pole and I drove around looking for other nests. I found two other colonies, plus I encountered several of the little green beings perched on wires or hopping on sidewalks. It's just so incongruous to see these tropical looking beasts flying around in East Providence. Nancy and I seem to have this affinity for introduced pest birds. They may not be native and they may cause trouble, but they're really interesting to watch.
Also today, on the way to Blithewold, we stopped to see if the swan nest we'd been following had hatched. The nest was gone but the swan pair was still there. Apparently Silver Creek rose during the flooding and washed away the nest. The island it's on is really low and I'd have been surprised if it survived the high water.
We also checked on our friends at the cove and observed one of the swan families - the one with three cygnets - really really close. This is the closest I've ever gotten to a cygnet without being threatened by the parents. The other family was not in evidence. The other birds at the cove today were:
26 mallards - the males are molting
4 common grackles
2 domestic geese
1 great egret
12 ringbilled gulls
2 common terns
4 adult mute swans
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