Sunday, July 9, 2017 Vol. CXXXII, No. 27providencejournal.com © 2017 Published daily since 1829 $3.50

PROVIDENCE Murders add up, and a feud lives on

Annette Perry Gil- Meanwhile, miles away at a This is how it’s been for some liard, the mother Bad blood rises church in Cranston, the loved ones growing up in Mount Hope, Chad of Dimitri Perry, again among three of 22-year-old Devin Burney gath- Brown and the South Side since releases a balloon ered for his funeral. the 1970s. Something that no one at her son’s grave neighborhoods Perry and Burney had been remembers anymore sparked a vio- site in the North friends when they were children. lent feud that has snowballed, with Burial Ground in By Amanda Milkovits Their mothers, Annette Perry Gil- young men wounded or dead over Providence on Journal Staff Writer liard and Shawndell Burney, have slights and retaliations, and leaving Saturday, as the known each other for years. their families to suffer. family marked the PROVIDENCE — His family But as the boys became young Ronald Gilliard knew about the two-year anniver- and friends stood by the grave of men, they ended up on different feud, but he hoped his family would sary of his murder. 23-year-old Dimitri LaQuan Perry sides in a generations-old feud — be safe. Dimitri was his youngest, [THE PROVIDENCE in North Burial Ground on Saturday determined by where they live. Gilliard said, a bright boy who JOURNAL / DAVID and released balloons to mark the Both young men were murdered. DELPOIO] second anniversary of his death. Their killers remain at large. SEE PERRY, A5

DIPLOMACY ENVIRONMENT Trump lobbies On the for help against brink ‘menace’ Against a rising tide, the plucky little saltmarsh sparrow could be After N. Korea’s ICBM headed for extinction, a canary in the coal mine of climate change launch, Japan is on board, China less so

By Ken Thomas and Darlene Superville The Associated Press

HAMBURG, Germany — Wrap- ping up his second European tour, President Donald Trump sought consensus with Asian allies Sat- urday on how to counter the “menace” of North Korea after its test-launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile. “Something has to be done about it,” Trump said as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping. In a separate meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Trump said the two were addressing “the problem and menace of North Korea.” The White House said after the meeting with Abe that the U.S. was “prepared to use the full range of capabilities” in defense of Japan. Trump and Abe committed, the White House said, “to redoubling their efforts to bring all nations together to show North Korea that there are consequences for its threatening and unlawful actions.” The Trump administration has tried to press Beijing to rein in North Korea, a major trading partner of China, and halt Kim Jong-Un’s development of nuclear weapons before they can threaten Holding a saltmarsh sparrow carefully, Deirdre Robinson crimps a numbered aluminum band onto its leg as part of a study into the dwindling species’ numbers U.S. territory. Trump has voiced and nesting habits at Jacobs Point marsh in Warren. The birds are captured using fine-mesh “mist nets” and banded. Robinson and field ornithologist Steven his frustration in recent days that Reinert, top, are self-funding and directing the study and are assisted by volunteers. [THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL / SANDOR BODO] China hasn’t done more, suggest- ing he may take steps of his own. But during their meeting, Trump By Alex Kuffner Robinson, who is co-directing told Xi, “I appreciate the things 114 Journal Staff Writer a study of the species, says in that you have done relative to the BARRINGTON WARREN a mellifluous voice. “Isn’t that very substantial problem that we WARREN — Deirdre Robin- Vernon St. beautiful?” all face in North Korea.” son holds a female saltmarsh Jacobs Beautiful and besieged. The Xi said during the meeting that Point Main St. “sensitive issues remain” in the sparrow in one hand, cupping marsh saltmarsh sparrow is a tiny her fingers around its delicate thing, 5 inches long and half China-U.S. relationship and more body as if she’s cradling an egg. an ounce, and in the drowning work needed to be done. But he The sparrow’s dainty head marshes of Rhode Island, this said he had built a “close contact” peeks out between Robinson’s ½ mile BRISTOL resourceful bird is locked in a with Trump. index and middle fingers, dusky Narragansett Bay race with the rising sea. The Trump’s extensive slate of eyes alert to everything. Source: maps4news.com/©HERE very species is struggling to meetings with Abe, Xi, British Robinson traces the speckling GATEHOUSE MEDIA keep its head above water. Prime Minister Theresa May and of brown and white feathers It is this struggle that has others came on the final day of that form a necklace around Videos online drawn Robinson and others to the annual Group of 20 summit, the throat and the dual brush- the salt marsh at Jacobs Point, strokes of yellowish-orange To see videos of the banding of where they band sparrows for a SEE NORTH KOREA, A10 that curve away from the saltmarsh sparrows at Jacobs Point project that will track the bird’s pointed bill to frame the bird’s marsh in Warren, and a graphic video numbers over time. profile. showing the species’ race against the Inside tides, go to providencejournal.com/videos SEE SPARROWS, A6 “You can see the ochre,” U.S. bombers join Japanese, S. Korean fi ghters in show of force over Korean peninsula. A10

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Robinson deftly extends the sparrow’s left leg so that volunteer Katie Christ can crimp a numbered aluminum band around it. They check that the ring of metal isn’t too tight by spinning it around the lower leg, or tarsus, and sliding it up and down. Robinson attaches a blue plastic band below the aluminum one and then, on the right leg, adds a red band and an orange. The combination of colors will be unique to this bird. Robinson confirms that the sparrow is nesting by exposing the bare skin on its belly — the “brood patch” that makes for a more efficient transfer of heat from mother to eggs — and then measures the length of one wing, checks the store of fat over the breastbone, weighs the bird, and finally takes a series of photographs. Only then does she release the bird back to its home on the marsh. “She wants to go toward the light,” Robinson says as the little sparrow flits away. Losing ground Katie Christ prepares bands on the Jacobs Point marsh in Warren while fellow volunteer Evan Lipton looks for birds. [PROVIDENCE JOURNAL PHOTOS / SANDOR BODO] The saltmarsh sparrow canary in the coal mine for may be more vulnerable climate change,” Robinson to sea-level rise than any says. other animal that inhab- its the nation’s coastal Dedicated volunteers wetlands. On this morning in mid- A reclusive songbird, the June, the marsh is alive sparrow is a rare “obligate” with birds. Red-winged marsh species, spending blackbirds wheel and its entire life cycle in salt dart overhead like stunt marshes. planes. Willets — “the Its numbers have dwin- most annoying bird on the dled over the decades as marsh,” Reinert says — fly marshes have been drained in groups, making loud, and filled in to make way piercing calls. for seaside homes, and as Two ospreys swoop back roads and rail lines have and forth between the been cut through them, river and the nest they’ve interfering with tidal flows built on a man-made and drainage. stand, feeding fish to their Found exclusively along nestlings. a narrow strip of shoreline Reinert and Robinson lay on the East Coast, the bird out their equipment on a summers in marshland weathered tarpaulin: col- from southern Maine to ored bands that will allow Virginia and winters in researchers to identify a region from the mid- birds from a distance and Atlantic states to Florida numbered aluminum bands and around the Gulf Coast that will be used to confirm to Texas. IDs if birds are captured. The bird has carved out Their team of six includes a niche over thousands of Christ, a URI senior study- years, building grassy nests ing natural-resources on the ground in the upper science who met Reinert reaches of salt marshes, when she was about 7 years above the high-tide line. To old at one of his banding live in this regularly flooded classes. And Kathy Mills, habitat, it must synchro- an amateur birder whose nize its breeding between Study co-director Deirdre Robinson holds a sparrow carefully as volunteer Katie Christ takes a photo for identification. The wing is extended to license-plate frame identi- the extreme tides pulled in record the mottling pattern. fies her as “that crazy bird by the new moon. lady,” has driven from Even a slight change in Shrinking habitat Bay, she spotted a salt- their work and are funding Worcester, Massachusetts, sea level could narrow the The saltmarsh sparrow’s range runs from Maine marsh sparrow with everything themselves. to lend a hand. window between moon to the Gulf of Mexico, but it breeds only in the colored bands on its legs. Robinson is a retired The birds returned from tides and drown the bird’s mid-Atlantic and the Northeast, where salt To find a banded bird professor of physical their winter grounds in nests. And as higher waters is uncommon — and it’s marshes are receding. ME therapy at URI who went on May and are just starting to encroach on marshes, they exceedingly so for the salt- to get a master’s degree in breed. The current round of shrink the available nesting VT marsh sparrow. biological sciences, writing nest-building started after habitat. NH Surviving even its first her thesis on the behavior the new moon in late May. MN NY MA WI summer is a feat, with only of the piping plover, an Robinson found two Losing population CT about a third of sparrow MI RI endangered coastal spe- nests on the previous day In Rhode Island, seas rose PA NJ fledglings living until the cies. Her fascination with and marked their loca- 6 inches between 1970 and fall migration, according MD birds goes back to a cross- tions. Next to the nests, the OH DE 2012, about 0.14 inches per Summer IN to one study. According to country bike ride in college team sets up “mist nets,” year on average, and the WV another, only 1 in 7 juve- when she wondered if the which Reinert designed rate has since picked up to Year-round VA niles makes it back from the vultures that she spotted and made, planting plastic nearly double that. Since KY first migration, and only 4 out West were considering pipes with fine nylon mesh Winter the 1970s, the state has lost WV in 10 adults return from one her for their next meal. strung between them into 17 percent of its marshland, year to the next. “I noticed that they were the spongy ground of the SC probably due to rising seas, Curious about where the circling closer and closer,” marsh. according to a recent scien- GAALMS bird had come from, Robin- she says with a laugh. On a cloudy day like this, tific paper. son called Steven Reinert, a Reinert is a health-care the nets are all but invisible certified master bander and As habitat deteriorates, LA research analyst who has to birds. Within minutes, other marsh obligates, such TX field ornithologist who has collaborated on bird studies the first female sparrow is as the clapper rail and the studied the sparrow since with the U.S. Environmen- trapped. Reinert untangles seaside sparrow, are suffer- FL the early 1980s, when he tal Protection Agency and the bird, gently places it in a ing, but not nearly as much was a research assistant at has been published widely. pink laundry bag of the type as the saltmarsh sparrow, URI. He currently leads birding used to wash pantyhose, SOURCE: Cornell Lab of Ornithology which has lost three-quar- THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL They were able to cap- workshops for the Audubon and hands it off for Robin- ters of it population since ture the bird and identify Society of Rhode Island and son to band. 1998. it as having been banded is the data manager for the There are an estimated second-highest possible “Birds of North America” the year before in St. Block Island Bird Banding Deadline: New moon 53,000 of the sparrows left, score for conservation database. Petersburg, Florida. They Station. Why do sparrows nest according to the Saltmarsh concern on The North discovered that its migra- Historical records for in such a precarious place? Habitat & Avian Research American Bird Conserva- Migration’s toll tion of about 1,200 miles, the sparrow’s population Mostly because tidal Program (SHARP), a tion Initiative’s Watch List. One day last summer, from the Gulf Coast to in Rhode Island are spotty, marshes are teeming with network of academic, The Audubon Society Robinson was at Jacobs Rhode Island, was the lon- but the most recent esti- food, matched only by government and nonprofit lists it as one of its 49 Point looking for nesting gest ever recorded for the mate by SHARP for the rainforests in their ability researchers. They predict “priority” bird species in birds as part of her volun- species. bird’s numbers in the state to support life. that its numbers will plum- the United States. And the teer work helping to update “‘How many more are is about 900. Robinson and “The biomass,” says met another 92 percent in Connecticut arm of the the Rhode Island Bird Atlas, migrating that far?’” Rein- Reinert aren’t expecting big Reinert, “is unheard of.” the next 50 years. society warned last year an encyclopedia of avian ert says he and Robinson changes in the short term. A female sparrow can The International Union that it could become the life in the state directed by wondered. But their long-term prog- hunt for beetles, crickets for Conservation of Nature first bird to go extinct in the the University of Rhode And so their study was nosis is gloomy. and grasshoppers in the has classified the saltmarsh continental United States Island and the Depart- hatched. The pair have a particu- marsh grass and shrimp- sparrow as vulnerable on since the heath hen in 1931. ment of Environmental Robinson and Reinert lar interest in the sparrow, like amphipods in pools of its Red List of Threatened The Cornell Lab of Orni- Management. are bird experts, but they but they also worry about water with a minimum of Species, and efforts are thology is more blunt. While she was explor- are not affiliated with any what the bird’s plight could effort and little competition underway to push it up to “Extinction by mid- ing the 47-acre salt marsh university, government portend for other animal from other birds. endangered. century is likely,” says the where the Warren River agency or research institu- species. The species received the entry on the species in its empties into Narragansett tion. They are not paid for “The sparrow is truly the SEE SPARROWS, A7 PROVIDENCE JOURNAL | providencejournal.com | Sunday, July 9, 2017 A7

taking undulating, circu- SPARROWS itous routes as they flee. From Page A6 Females are more con- scious of conserving their Finding prey as fast and energy stores and will head efficiently as possible is directly to a clump of grass particularly important or a bush nearby. They are because, unlike other spe- also reluctant to move too cies, the female saltmarsh far from their nests and will sparrow tends to its nest often “spy hop” from bush alone. After breeding, the to bush to keep an eye on male moves on in search of any perceived threat. other mates — up to five in If Robinson thinks she a single season. has found a female, she will The aptitude of the back off, crouch down and female saltmarsh sparrow wait, watching for the bird in caring for her nest has to return to the nest. been measured in com- “She doesn’t want to parison to its cousin, the leave the nest for more than seaside sparrow, a spe- 15 minutes,” Robinson says. cies in which the male and “She’s programmed that female raise their young way. She doesn’t want the together. The average eggs to cool off.” number of fledglings for Robinson quickly finds both species is roughly the two more nests. One of same. them holds four chicks. “The seaside sparrow They are only six days old, does it with two parents,” but that’s mature enough Reinert says. “The salt- to be banded. Although marsh sparrow does it with the chicks’ legs will grow only one.” longer as they age, they will The female saltmarsh not grow thicker. sparrow doesn’t con- “Surprisingly chubby sciously synchronize its legs,” Robinson remarks. nesting with the lunar The saltmarsh sparrow has carved out a niche over thousands of years, building grassy nests on the ground in the upper reaches of salt marshes, She carefully lifts the nest cycle. above the high-tide line. To live in this regularly flooded habitat, it must synchronize its breeding between the extreme tides pulled in by the new out of its hiding place in a Often a first nest will moon. [THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL / ALEX KUFFNER] high-tide bush and places it wash away in the new in Reinert’s baseball cap to moon tide after the bird give it support. The chicks’ has laid eggs. But when Saltmarsh sparrow breeding cycle mouths gape open, but that happens, the sparrow The mother begins building her nest on the surface of the salt marsh as soon as the new-moon spring tide begins to they are silent. As ground- has learned over genera- recede. Offspring must hatch and grow strong enough to climb onto the tall grass before the nest is swamped by the next nesters, they instinctively tions to build a second nest new-moon tide. In this typical example, one offspring is lost as rising sea levels cause higher than normal new-moon tides. know that any sound could immediately, and in this attract a predator. haphazard way, breeding Robinson and Christ lines up with the tides. work quickly to minimize The sparrow chooses any stress to the chicks. a spot for the nest in the 120 Nest 1st egg 1st hatch 1st fledge When they’re finished, high marsh that, if all goes construction Robinson puts the nest back according to plan, will not 110 where she found it. flood again until the next 100 On this morning, the new moon, in 28 days’ time. team bands eight adult The sparrow fashions 90 sparrows and seven nest- a loose-knit bowl from 80 lings. They will continue smooth cordgrass on the their work through August, surface of the marsh. The 70 when the sparrows start nest may be hidden from 60 their migration south. crows, raccoons and other In the mid-1980s, Reinert predators within the woody 50 authored a study on a group branches of a high-tide of red-winged blackbirds bush or under a tuft of that built ground nests cordgrass. on the marsh at Hundred

The female lays her first CMs above Acre Cove, in Barrington.

egg five days after copulat- mean sea level 1234567891011121314151617181920212223242526 27 28 29 Since then, the marsh has ing, often with more than Daily high tide receded badly — a probable one male. Two or three SOURCE: Steven Reinert THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL factor, Reinert says, in the more eggs will follow, but disappearance of nesting the bird can lay only one occasional flooding. It is blackbirds from the area. per day. Incubation takes those plants that the salt- Of course, red-winged about 12 days. marsh sparrow relies on in blackbirds also nest in If an unusually high tide the building and shielding trees, fields and freshwater washes in and floods the of its nests. wetlands and are among nest in the first few days, Work has taken place the most abundant birds in the eggs are dense enough at those sites and about a North America. The salt- to remain in place. But they dozen others in the North- marsh sparrow is just the lose density and gain buoy- east to artificially raise opposite, a specialist whose ancy as the days go on, and marshes by adding sedi- numbers are in decline. if the nest floods later, the ment on top and replanting A loss in marshland on a eggs will float. If the female them. Such projects are wider basis would be cata- has built a good nest with expensive and limited strophic for the species. high walls or a protective in scope, but they may canopy, the eggs won’t go offer the only hope for the Hope remains anywhere. But if the eggs sparrow. As June comes to a close, float out of the nest, the “Some of these new Robinson sends an email sparrow has no way of get- techniques are the best reporting on the status of ting them back. bet that sparrows have,” the four sparrow nests, as When the chicks hatch, Elphick says. “If these well as two others that she the race against time inten- things don’t work, it’s not found on different days on sifies. The chicks cannot clear what can be done for the Jacobs Point marsh. swim or fly. To survive, them.” Two were destroyed by they must be able to climb raccoons or other preda- up the nearby grass. But it A gentle prowl tors and three flooded in takes seven or eight days As other members of the the moon tides that washed until their legs are strong team tend to the mist nets, in at the end of the month. enough. And on each suc- Robinson scouts for nests. Robinson and the rest of the cessive day, the tide creeps There is an art to spotting team confirm the survival closer. Deirdre Robinson crimps a color-coded band onto the leg of a female saltmarsh sparrow. [THE PROVIDENCE an elusive bird that spends of only one fledgling from “That’s how tight it is,” JOURNAL / SANDOR BODO] its days hunting within the lone undamaged nest. Reinert says. “This is the thickets of grass. Robin- They name the young story that plays over and professor of ecology and tracked 200 nests in Con- part of a SHARP study. son takes deliberate steps, bird “Hope” — for the state over again for the saltmarsh evolutionary biology at the necticut and recorded only “The vast majority failed careful not to tread on the motto of Rhode Island sparrow.” University of Connecticut six fledglings. because of extreme high well-hidden nests. As she and, says Robinson, for the and a principal investigator In 2014, Charles Clark- tides,” he says. moves through waist-high Emily Dickinson poem. Empty nests with SHARP. son, coordinator of the The marshes at Sachuest clumps of high-tide bush, It’s the one that begins, The rate of nesting suc- Some years are worse Rhode Island Bird Atlas, and along the Narrow have she flushes out sparrows. “‘Hope’ is the thing with cess is low — on average than others. In the summer banded sparrows and deteriorated badly over Robinson can tell their feathers.” only about half of nests of 2009, which was surveyed their nests at time as water has pooled sex by the way they fly. produce at least one characterized by frequent Sachuest Point in Middle- on top of them, killing With no responsibility to — akuffner@providence- offspring, according to storms, a graduate student town and along the Narrow the upper-marsh plants care for nests, males can journal.com Chris Elphick, associate working under Elphick River in Narragansett as that have adapted only to afford to waste effort, (401) 277-7457

CLIMATE CHANGE MASSACHUSETTS DIGEST

Police seek charge determine whether there’s slick landing” while dancing Raimondo shields research suffi cient evidence to charge on the platform. Massachu- against taxi driver him. setts Bay Transportation BOSTON — Massachusetts Authorities say Clenord’s Authority police say the man from records requests State Police are seeking to taxi jumped a curb and fell into the pit at the Park charge a taxi driver who struck a group of people Street station Thursday and The Associated Press having to disclose pre- The legislation was signed drove into a group of cab gathered at an outdoor break hit his head and ankle. He liminary drafts, notes and last week by the Democratic drivers near Boston’s Logan area for cabbies, injuring 10 was taken to Tufts Medical PROVIDENCE — Gov. working papers. Reports governor. International Airport this people. Center. Gina Raimondo has signed from completed research are University of Rhode Island week. An attempt to reach Cle- Surveillance video appears into law legislation that not exempted. professors supported the bill. Police said Friday the nord was unsuccessful. to show the man walking shields Rhode Island climate Proponents have said the Opponents have called it decision to seek an endan- near the yellow line along the scientists and other univer- legislation is meant to help an affront to transparency germent charge follows an Dancing man falls edge of the platform. sity researchers from public guarantee academic freedom, but other open-government investigation that deter- He then falls on his back records requests. especially for those whose advocates didn’t object, mined the Monday crash on train tracks and some passengers wave Both chambers of the state study of climate change has arguing it merely adds clar- was caused by the driver, BOSTON — Police say their arms to signal an General Assembly approved been impeded by a barrage of ity to an existing exemption 56-year-old Lutant Clenord of a man who fell onto train approaching train to stop. bills to exempt researchers records requests from oppo- in the law. Cambridge. tracks in Boston told at state institutions from nents of the research. It took effect immediately. A clerk magistrate will authorities he “missed a — The Associated Press