Soon after the sun rises over this rocky coastline (waves crashing) bird lovers gather.

- Have any of you been to Black Point before?

Some of you maybe?

Okay.

- [Michelle] Excited for what winter wildlife they might find.

- [Don] You heard a catbird?

- [Participant] Yeah, it was a big gray.

- [Don] I didn't see it, but good.

Oh, there it is, yeah.

Indeed, yeah, in this shrub back here, there's a catbird.

- [Michelle] Every Wednesday morning, the Audubon Society of Rhode Island organizes a birdwalk.

- [Don] So I'm gonna leave this low for people.

- [Michelle] On this day, the group is trekking through the Black Point Fishing Area in Narragansett off of Ocean Road.

- [Don] So in my scope, if you wanna look, there are some surf scoters.

- [Michelle] They're looking for birds that flock to Rhode Island during the wintertime.

- [Participant] Don, they have that orange beak, right?

- They have an orange beak, and they have that white patch on their chin, and on the back of their head.

- [Michelle] Including the ever-popular harlequin ducks.

- You typically see the harlequins close to shore where the waves are breaking.

They like the stirred up water.

- [Michelle] These enthusiasts know there's a short window of time to get the best view of these colorful ducks.

- [Don] So there's harlequin ducks.

Let's see what else we have.

- [Michelle] But birders don't have to travel to the coast to spot winter wildlife.

(camera snapping) Photographer, Jason Major, likes to venture into the woods along the Pawtuxet River Trail in Cranston.

(camera snapping) - So the Pawtuxet River Trail has a few owls, resident owls of its own.

I've spotted some barred owls here.

They're pretty easy to spot, and they're very photogenic.

(birds chirping) - [Michelle] Some of those walks have resulted in mesmerizing pictures.

(camera snapping) He's captured it all from these black scoters in Charlestown to mergansers in Conimicut.

He's also photographed a short-eared owl in flight, and on the ground, as well as a group of seals he found resting on rocks in Sakonnet Point.

(bird squawking) - [Jason] That was a kingfisher.

- [Michelle] The one that just perched up on?

- [Jason] The one that made that squawky sound.

- [Michelle] We set out one January morning to see what we could find.

(camera snapping) And soon into our hike, Major was clicking away.

(camera snapping) He spotted a green-winged teal in the river.

There was also a male belted kingfisher perched on a tree, and a dark-eyed junco near the banks of the river.

He says these are all birds that can be spotted there in the wintertime.

- [Jason] Wandering over to the other ones, that's nice.

(camera snapping) - Is it easier to spot animals during the winter months?

- Well, just for the sake that, you know, all the leaves are down, so now you can, you know, you can look pretty far into the woods up into the trees, where a lot of birds and other animals are, you know, hiding out, especially during the day.

- [Janet] So, let's see if I can find.

There they are.

- [Michelle] Over in Middletown, there's another flock of birds bobbing around.

Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge is home to the second largest wintering population of harlequin ducks on the Atlantic Coast.

- This is the stopover, too, so it's not only a wintering site, a refuge, it's also a stopover.

So if they're migrating through, this is a place for them to rest and rejuvenate, refuel, and then head more south.

- [Michelle] Janet Nepshinsky is the visitor services manager for the Rhode Island National Wildlife Refuges.

What a beautiful day.

- [Janet] It is.

- [Michelle] Oh yeah, it's not bone-chilling, it's comfortable.

- [Janet] Yeah.

- [Michelle] She showed us some of the winter birds that migrate to Rhode Island for part of the season.

- [Janet] Sometimes there's some up on this edge around the corner.

They're still in the water there.

- [Michelle] Sachuest Point sits on 242 acres, complete with marshes, meadows, and beaches.

- [Janet] And this is where a lot of birds will come to rest and to feed.

- [Michelle] Nepshinsky led us down a path on the preserve to spot some wintering waterfowl.

- Look right in here.

Do you see the two ducks?

- [Michelle] Oh I do, how beautiful.

- You wouldn't have noticed (laughing).

- [Michelle] Oh I see them.

(waves splashing) - [Janet] They bop up and down.

- Yeah, now I don't see them (laughing).

- [Janet] Go down.

- Oh, now I see them again (laughing).

Wow.

- [Janet] And you can always look for them in the whitewater rafting.

- It didn't take long to find our share of winter birds.

How beautiful.

The day Michelle became a birder.

Oh, I see four (laughing).

Nepshinsky says they come down from Canada and the Arctic Coast to bask in the relatively warmer Rhode Island waters.

- Many of them spend the whole season.

Seaducks will spend the whole season, so you got the common eider, bufflehead, harlequin, scaup, mergansers, quite a few.

- You light up as you're talking about this.

- I know, they're just beautiful.

- [Michelle] It's exciting.

- Yeah, it is.

So, that's why people will brave it, the winter cold out here, but then I see people just enjoying walking.

(footsteps crunching) You can just tell.

They get fresh air, their spirits, you know, get refreshed.

It's almost like the migratory birds, when they stop over, the people are also stopping here to rest, and to refuel their spirits, just like the birds.

- [Jason] Come on.

There she is.

(camera snapping) - [Michelle] Major says, "Going outside has been therapeutic for him, too."

- A lot of times during those really tough winter months that we've had previously, I just don't feel like doing anything.

And getting out, and getting my camera, and getting my gear, and going out into the woods, sometimes is a little bit, I have to push myself to do it, but every time I do, I feel so much better being, you know, spending some time outdoors, even if it's only half an hour.

Now, what are those over there?

- [Michelle] He's on the search for a snowy owl this season.

No luck yet, but he's hopeful.

He's photographed them in previous years at Sachuest Point.

- The snowy owls are always your more exciting animals, your more exciting birds, just because of their rarity.

You know, some years they might not show up at all.

So when one does, they usually attract a lot of attention.

- In the winter, we could be fortunate enough to see the snowy owl 'cause they come here to feed.

- [Michelle] But Nepshinsky says, "It's important to keep distance from these majestic birds, and stay at least 200 feet away."

- Even though it's kind of looking at you, and you think that, oh yeah, look, they want attention.

They could be having a lot of stress go on, and they're hunting.

So if you disturb when they're hunting, they're not getting enough food to go back to where they come, like, the Arctic coast.

And they will die on the way.

We had four snowy owls were dead from malnutrition.

They didn't have enough food in them.

(camera snapping) - [Jason] Those might be more females, interesting.

- [Michelle] Once Major spots wildlife along the Pawtuxet, he enjoys coming back to check on them from a distance.

- I think it's really neat to be able to experience them while they're on their long journeys.

- And you'll be out here, even when it's in the teens, 20 degrees.

That won't deter you from coming out?

- Well, it doesn't stop the birds from coming out, so it's not gonna stop me from coming out.

- [Don] The worst thing you can do is try to find a bird in the scope before you know where it is.

- [Michelle] And it's also not stopping these birders from scanning the skies.

- [Don] It looks like a loon to me, but let's see.

- [Michelle] They know the change in season comes with unique sights and sounds.

- [Don] Who would think this is January?

(participants laughing)