June 10, 1999 - Spring's astir with birds...and bugs8A • The Suffolk Times • June 10, 1999
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S p rin 's astir with birds ... bugs and
A few weeks ago I spoke about the
wild cherry blossoms falling like snow;
today it's the roadside locust tree blos-
soms that are being blown like drifting
snow across the roadway in front of
me as I go to see John Tuthill about
haying. It's about that time of year
when I fill the hay shack and the small
barn with the cows' winter supply of
hay. I can see why
the Native Ame-
ricans of the plain
looked forward ON
spring so
e NATURE
eagerly. Their
ponies had sur- by Paul
vived on meager Stoutenburgh
rations all winter
and with the new green grass of spring,
they would become fat and frisky. The
same is true of our cows. They seem
almost on the verge of bursting as they
eat away at the pasture that surrounds
them. Later I'll find them under a
shady spot chewing their cud, the per-
fect, contented cows.
Every once in a while I'll see the
cows interrupt their grazing and dash
for the protection of the barn. Evi-
dently one of those huge horse flies
had buzzed around them and they did-
n't want any part of that painful bite.
Their busy tails tell me that flies in
general are about and they mean to rid
themselves of the pesky devils by
whisking them away with their only
defense, their long tails.
Speaking of flies, each year about
this time we go through a period of a
week or two when deer flies become a
problem. These annoying black flies
are about the size of our common
housefly, but much dumber. It is sel-
dom you can ever swat a housefly with
your hand. Somehow they always
seem to escape in the nick of time. Not
so with the pesky deer flies. They
almost invite destruction, as you can
usually swat them with little effort.
Should you miss on the first try, they
are so persistent that you can almost
be guaranteed to get them on the sec-
ond try. They seem to be especially
annoying when you are working and
sweating. I'm sure that aroma of sweat
triggers their reaction of "Come on,
■ ...�s� ■ .-.
boys," and their relentless attack is on.
Bug spray works well and, as a matter
of fact, I spray the small barn with a lit-
tle spray that keeps the area pretty
clear of all kinds of flies, etc.
Young chickadees about
My chickadees have fledged their
first young. The pesky starlings and
house sparrows have also had their
first hatch. They're such successful
nesters, always building in a crevice or
some bird box, there-
by escaping the
prowlings of the
black bandit, the
crow. These villains
are always on the
lookout for a free
meal of eggs or
young. That's why
you often see crows
being pursued by
birds of all sorts. Let
a crow fly to the top
of one of my pine
trees and in no time
there'll be three or
four guards darting
down on these un-
wanted intruders
until they are driven
away.
As I'm writing I
keep an eye on the
bird feeder. The
usual are there:
doves, cardinals,
chickadees, nuthat-
ches, goldfinches,
etc., along with an
occasional grackle. I
see a male house
sparrow with two of his young begging
for food. One I assume has a full belly
and merely hops along following its
father. The other begs continually by
vibrating its wings and calling, keeping
the male busy looking for food. I don't
see the female feeding, always the
male. Could it be she has already start-
ed a new family? Probably so. These
multiple broods are another reason the
house sparrows are so successful. I wish
our bluebirds would learn some of their
tricks of propagation.
A good friend of ours brought over
two beautiful rhododendrons in mem-
ory of Barbara's brother, who recently
passed away. What a nice thought it
was and so much in keeping with our
thinking. Now whenever we look over
and see those two rhododendrons,
we'll think of Walt. It did create a
small problem, though. Where to put
them? It was finally decided that one
would go in the garden along our dri-
veway, and the other would go where
started to correct the problem. The
first will be the memorial rhododen-
dron to fill the spot where once stood
a hemlock.
Now for telephone calls. A lady
called about a huge turtle in the area
opposite the Mattituck High School.
She was concerned it would be hit by a
car because it was heading for the
highway. A turtle the size of her de-
scription could only be a snapping tur-
tle, one of the not -so -nice guys. Evi-
dently it was a female
that had come out of
her wet habitat (Mar -
ratooka Lake) and
was looking for a
sandy spot to dig her
nest hole and lay her
Suffolk Times photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
If you want to keep this year -round songster, the mockingbird, in your yard,
make sure there are plenty of berry bushes around. But don't be surprised
to hear it singing its heart out occasionally in the middle of the night.
�.rG I = L"VV1% >aHL►K
75 years ago
June 6, 1924
Interesting items about town: A curious natural phe-
nomenon at Peconic recently was the piling up on the
Sound shore near Peconic Inlet of thousands of English
herrings, nearly a foot deep along the shore, for a con-
siderable distance. According to reports the farmers
carted away a number of wagon loads of the fish for fer-
tilizer.
Advertisement: At last! Style and beauty in wash
frocks for home and resort. How often have you spent
whole days looking for an attractive tub dress to wear at
home or at the beach? Now as though answering your
unvoiced appeal, we have this beautiful collection of
wash frocks in the most attractive voiles, Everfast linens
and ginghams, in all fashionable colors.
Picket boats ordered: The Greenport Basin &
Construction Company has received the contract for five
speedboats from the U.S. Coast Guard Service. These
boats, which are known as picket boats, are designed to
be used in pursuit of rum runners. Work on these boats
has already started, as the first boat must be delivered
within 60 days.
50 years ago
June 10, 1949
Cub Scouts get charter: The newly organized
one of the many hemlocks have died.
We must have lost 20 or more of
these 10- foot -high hemlocks due to a
powdery white insect that seemingly
sucks the life right out of the trees. I
know I could spray them but my phi-
losophy is that if they can't get along
on their own, they're not for me. So if
you've been in the neighborhood late-
ly, you've probably heard the chainsaw
doing its deadly deed. What openings
those trees left around our lawn edge
and down our driveway. Luckily we've
Greenport Cub Scouts held their first meeting in the
Village Hall on Tuesday evening of last week, at which
time the pack charter ceremony was held.
News along the Sunrise Trail: Suffolk County growers
harvested approximately 62,000 acres of vegetables and
potatoes in 1948.
The Long Island Rail Road's bankruptcy has made it
necessary to suspend almost all of the remaining portion
of its $18,509,000 improvement program in order to con-
tinue operations at the former level and to meet payroll
and material bills ...
25 years ago
June 6, 1974
Enlistment age drops: The U.S. Navy recruiting office
in Riverhead announced that effective Wednesday, June
5, young women may enlist in the Navy, with parental
consent, at the age of 17. Young women over the age of
18 may sign themselves up.
Southold gets extra gas: Reassurance that there will
be special allocations of gasoline available for Southold
because of its status as a resort area was forthcoming this
week from Brian Murphy, assistant energy crisis coordi-
nator for Suffolk County.
... On the Memorial Day weekend, Mr. Murphy said,
Southold service stations got as much as 15,000 gallons of
extra gas to take care of holiday traffic.
eggs.
Often we get
reports about this
time of year of these
turtles wandering
away from their
home ground. The
sand traps of the
local golf course in
Cutchogue is one of
their favorite places.
Once a spot has been
selected and the eggs
dropped in the exca-
vated hole, she then
covers them and
leaves them, never to
see or care for them
again. All summer
long the sun will
incubate the eggs and
by late August or
early September the
little half - dollar size
turtles will hatch and crawl out of
their sandy home to head off on their
own. These early days are risky for the
shell is still partially soft and makes
good eating should a raccoon, opos-
sum, crow or gull spot them. Those
that do survive find their way back to
their watery habitat where they'll feed
on anything that moves, is dead or
looks even the slightest bit appetizing.
Many a baby duckling has succumbed
to these large terrors from below.
Another call was from someone out
east who asked what he could do to
entice mockingbirds and orioles to
stay around his place. The best way to
make sure you have a mockingbird in
your yard is to plant berry bushes:
holly, pyracantha, Russian olive, mul-
tiflora rose, etc. These plus others will
attract this year -round bird to your
back yard. As far as orioles go, I'm
told fruit will attract them but I must
say I haven't had much luck using fruit.
What I did hear when I was shopping
at Agway was that they now have an
oriole feeder. So far I haven't tried it
but for those who want to have this
colorful summer resident around, it
might be worth looking into.
Another call came from a concerned
citizen who wanted to know what to
do about an osprey's nest that had
been partially blown away in a high
wind. So far the two young ospreys
were doing fine, but my caller was con-
cerned about the future and it's only
the future we can act on, since to
attempt to do anything while the
young are still on the nest might invite
disaster. But come winter if a
makeshift nest could be wired down
See Focus, page 12A