Urban Wildlife Update Several events conspired to move me to write this little note on recent observations in the waters surrounding the East Side of Providence, specifically the Moshassuck River and the Seekonk River. Part of it is that the rivers spring to life in late August/Early September in ways they do not the rest of the year, and partly because one of my random river conversations paid off with a women from Smith Hill telling me to come see her collection of bird and fish pictures from the lower Moshassuck along Canal St. Hopefully soon we can add some of those pictures to the Friends of the Moshassuck website. Late August is usually when the menhaden schools start to swim into downtown Providence, becoming very visible in the city from every water crossing and pathway, while at the same time the Swan Point area becomes alive with menhaden visible in huge schools and often performing aerial shows as they seek to escape from the bluefish. I have not been downtown since last Thursday, but last Thursday, Sept. 3, I saw menhaden in the river for the first time. Not in large numbers, but noticeably, with the flashes of silver that make menhaden so easy to recognize in the glimpses one gets. In both the Moshassuck and the Seekonk, the fish schools draw large predatory birds. Recent sightings along the Moshassuck, from the North Burial Ground south to where it joins the Woonasquatucket, with a shout out to the Canal Street stretch as especially important as a bird/fish congregation area, include immature and adult Black Crowned Night Herons, Great Blue Herons, Green Herons, and cormorants. The hot spot at the Burial Ground is the frog pond, with all of the heron hunting the frogs. One thing that I still have not figured out is the swarming fish I saw on the surface a couple of days last week. I am leaning towards a breeding swarm, but really not sure. When the fish were at the surface it appeared they were opening their mouths with red being the predominant color seen, a mystery that I probably will need to see in future Septembers before I can figure it out. Tadpoles were very much in evidence at both NBG ponds this summer (Bullfrogs in the big pond, some very small toad in the less permanent one), and now that the weather has cooled one sees turtles sunning more regularly in the big pond. Tonight's treat along the Seekonk River were the first jumping schools of menhaden. Yesterday (Sept 7) I saw lots of fish, and two Lesser Yellowlegs hunting them in the mudflats just north of Swan Point, but no fish jumping. Today schools of menhaden were exploding out of the water, often 3 swarms at the same time, often within 10 feet of the beach. Deeper in the cove I watched a Great Blue Heron standing in the middle of another jumping swarm, one of much bigger fish, and I regularly saw the heron catch and eat menhaden. In 3 minutes as I walked along I saw it catch at least 4 fish. South of the point an adult Night Heron was seen in exactly the same place one has been seen for the last 3 days. Sunday I saw an Osprey catch a fish for the first time this year. I have regularly seen them carrying fish this summer, but this was the first time I caught the dive and saw clear results. Summer is fading, catch the spectacle while you can.