MISSION

This Committee works to educate Quonnie residents about the important connections between the Neck’s wildlife and habitats and to work towards maintaining their richness and diversity. In addition to terrestrial wildlife and habitat its purview includes the salt ponds and nearby ocean as well as the aerial habitat which is so important to many vertebrate and invertebrate migrating species using the Atlantic flyway.

Always eager for new members and ideas, current goals include locating and scheduling interesting speakers, hands on programs and projects particularly for young people, offering ideas and plans for DIY projects like bluebird and purple mountain houses, creating space for Quonnie’s iconic cottontails to nest, defining and publicizing local ecological relationships like the one between monarchs and milkweed and horseshoe crabs and red knots. Past events have included bird walks, mapping undeveloped land, guided salt pond kayak tours, and evening speakers.

EVENTS

Events – Planned for 2025 (Dates/times to be determined as we get closer to summer!)

• Guided Bird Walk at Quonnie Breachway. Join Bill McNee, expert birder and bird photographer during peak shorebird migration season.
• Kayak Tour of Ninigret Pond. Salt Ponds Coalition President Art Ganz and Executive Director Alicia Schaffner will lead a kayak tour of Ninigret Pond and possibly a second tour of Quonnie Pond.
• Sharks Off the RI Shore. New this year – an evening presentation and afternoon kids’ program on sharks off the Rhode Island shore by storyteller, filmmaker and Explorer Club member Tomas Koek. Koek has worked on projects for National Geographic, PBS Nature, the Smithsonian Channel, and the National Audobon Society and has tagged and free dived with great white sharks off the Rhode Island coast.

Events – 2024

• QCC Spring 2024 Birdwalk – Quonnie Pond (29May2024)
• Bird Walk at Quonnie Breachway
• Kayak Tour at Quonnie Pond
• Bats Presentation at the Quonnie Grange

RESOURCES

Click here to visit various information resources about Wildlife and Habitat.