Audubon Society of Rhode Island

Beautiful. beautiful beautiful.
Come here if you have kids or are with kids. Or are itching to hone your birding skillz
If no kids, or desire to hone your birding skillz, then I recommend booking it to Tillinghast Farm/​RISD beach, which is a bit closer to PVD in Barrington. And has a beach and even better picnic grounds.
Assuming there are kids involved in your planning, the $ 10 afternoon was well worth it. $ 6 for me, $ 4 for a kid, and free for an under 4 kid. That $ 10 bought us a showing of a IMAX-​produced, hour long whale film, hours playing with the toys in the kid corner, story time in one of the classrooms, a brief run around the minimalist exhibits, and a good old fashioned hike down the gorgeous, well-​maintained path into the marshy waters and finally on a raised path to an overhang right on Narragansett Bay.
A couple awesome surprises — like sea horses. Energetic, informed staff. I hear they do a great job with birthday parties.
Not worth a trip for this alone, but definitely check it out if you’re passing it on the bike path or wandering from Warren to Bristol. Truly a hidden (literally) gem for a lovely, outdoor, educational adventure.
Exploring the grounds alone doesn’t require a fee.

I love this place! Each year we come for Raptor Weekend in September. They bring all different bird of prey shows here and it is a great educational and demonstration experience. They have a bunch of activities for kids, but it is great for adults to enjoy. The building is very clean and serves as a mini museum and aquarium, with different exhibits and posters to look at/​read. The trails are very clean around the area and a great place to walk through in the fall.

This environmental education center is a great place to learn about the habit of animals within rhode island. Very nice walking path that turns into a boardwalk where you can walk across the water and see lots of birds. The exhibit is cute and probably better for kids than for adults, yet I still had a good time.

A visit to this site sweetly couples a stroll at the McIntosh Wildlife Refuge with the environmental ed center.
The exhibits about local wildlife are relatively traditional natural history museum fare (aquaria of Narragansett Bay fish, taxidermied creatures, habitat info) with some cool elements, like an exposed tide pool station and a life-​sized Right Whale model where you can stick your head up into its inner-​anatomy. The museum is small but not tiny, maybe about ½ hour of exploring if you like to read labels.
The trail moseys from the center past a cornfield and then onto a boardwalk built over marsh. The most novice and noisy of bird-​watchers will still have an eye/​ear-​full to observe. The boardwalk creates a very cool experience of being flanked by cattails and other tall marsh grasses. But it’s a short experience; if you walk the whole trail to the Bay and back to your car I don’t think it’s even a mile.
Better than a drive-​to destination, I think it’s a great East Bay Bike Path detour. The trail goes right over the bike path, where there’s a bike rack for parking to take a nice little walk and give the buns a break. My 11-​year-​old friend and I had a great day stopping by this site and then onto Colt State Park just down the road.
I know they do a lot with special programs here, like Raptor Weekend, so I’d like to check out more of what they offer in the future.
Currently $ 6/​adult, $ 4/​child, first Saturday of the month is free.

Paper moon
plastic flower
who walks
the wild woods?
The Audubon Society of Rhode Island has been around since 1897 and is the third oldest Audubon Society in the country. It was actually started to help stop the destruction of wild birds for the commercial use of their feathers. Whole populations of great egrets and other beautiful birds were almost decimated because some fool decided the feathers looked cool on stupid hats. Fortunately some wise people cared.
The Society also was also instrumental in stopping the use of DDT, established Rhode Island’s first coastal cleanup, helped fight damning of rivers, promoted the effective Rhode Island recycling program and much, much more. The state of Rhode Island would be a much dirtier, stinkier, crummier and far less beautiful place if not for the tireless and continuing efforts of the society.
The building in Smithfield is the state headquarters and it has a great library, cool gift shop and some pleasant hiking trails. They organize trips and programs for both kids and adult and is a great place to get information on conservation or natural science. The folks there are always helpful and filled with dedication and will patiently take the time to answer any and all stupid questions.
The society is now the state’s largest private land owner with over 9,500 acres of wild habitat and open spaces. Places where critters can be wild and free. They also operate 14 wildlife refuges where people can quietly hike and exist in harmony with the wild creatures.
For some reason many people seem intent on destroying the wild and pristine. The clean and pure. The Audubon Society will always be there to protect the woods, waters and wilderness. There are enough plastic flowers, synthetic materials and cement jungles. Thanks to the Audubon Society people can still see the wild, pure and unstained world.