US-RI-Quonochontaug


 * =Birding in Rhode Island=

Washington County
=Quonochontaug= Charlestown, Rhode Island 02813

media type="custom" key="27027984"

Quonochontaug Beach
Coordinates: 41.3318058, -71.7322683 eBird links: Hotspot map View details Recent visits My eBird links: Location life list Submit data

Quonochontaug Breachway
Coordinates: 41.3362, -71.722224 eBird links: Hotspot map View details Recent visits My eBird links: Location life list Submit data

Quonochontaug pond
Coordinates: 41.3405382, -71.7272472 eBird links: Hotspot map View details Recent visits My eBird links: Location life list Submit data

Tips for birding Quonochontaug Beachway
Follow US-1 to West Beach Rd. in Charlestown. Take West Beach Rd. to its terminus at a dirt road that provides access to the state operated Quonochontaug Breachway Boating and Fishing Area. It’s best to park at the far end of the dirt road near the boat launch and explore from there.

Unless you live here, you probably can’t pronounce Quonochontaug so everyone calls it Quonnie. After you’ve parked, look toward Quonnie Pond. The breachway that connects the pond to the ocean is on your left and one of the best salt marshes anywhere will be to your right.

If you walk back along the entry road or the path that is cut through the bushes beside the road, you will be in good song bird habitat. Song Sparrows, Yellow Warblers, Yellowthroats, Yellow-rumps and Red-winged Blackbirds will be highly visible. Along the rocky sides of the breachway, for much of the summer, you will see Green Herons fishing. Black-crowned Night Herons are sometimes seen in spring. Common Loons, Horned Grebes, Red-breasted Mergansers and Cormorants are often seen swimming in the breachway in winter. Several varieties of gulls and terns wheel over head. Least Terns are regular visitors.

Walking out to the point that juts into the pond will give you a more open look at Laughing, Ring-billed & Greater Black-backed Gulls as well as Common, Forster’s and Roseate Terns. At low tide the pond shore may yield Sanderlings, several kinds of “peeps”, Greater Yellow-legs, Ruddy Turnstones and the threatened Piping Plover. Journeying into the salt marsh by foot, canoe or kayak will uncover Great Blue Herons and Great and Snowy Egrets. Tri-colored and Black-crowned Night Herons are often seen during migration. Glossy Ibis, Black-bellied Plovers, Willets, Dunlins and Dowitchers are common on the mud flats all summer and Marsh Wrens, Sharp-tailed and Seaside Sparrows are not uncommon in the reeds and grasses. Barn, Tree and Cliff Swallows swarm overhead. Look for Ospreys and Northern Harriers hunting over the marsh. Both Bitterns and Soras are here but hard to find Birding at low tide generates the best results at the Quonnie Breachway so pick up a tide chart at one of the tourist centers and consult it before scheduling your visit. You don’t have to get your feet wet here but you’ll probably see more if you do a little wading. From Rhode Island Coastal Birding Trail

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