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February 18, 1999 - Northern Florida, after the fires6A • The Suffolk Times • February 18, 1999 after the Tres Northern Flori*da, guarding their winter supply of berries, while down here, in Florida, they might be doing the same but more likely at this time of the year they're getting ready to attract a mate. No matter which of their many calls they use, it is loud and vigorous and varied. We arrived late in the afternoon and therefore had little time to "case the place." With the cool evenings we still had two blankets on the bed. Because of the mild temperature we were traveling in, our little gas heater hadn't gone on for days. Our next stop would be where we'd stay for two or three days while we visited with Barbara's brother, who lost his wife last winter. It would be a commercial RV (recre- ational vehicle) park where the campers and mobile homes were packed in like bees in a honeycomb. It would do us fine while we visited and shopped around Cape Coral. One never gets over the tremendous amount of building that's going on down here. If it's not new roads, it's a new shop- ping center or housing development going up. Later we'd drive past miles and miles of cleared land with unused paved roads and rusting street signs just waiting for new arrivals to come, and I can assure you they are still coming. Almost before an area has attracted its new homeowners, filling sta- tions and shopping malls have gone up in the already laid -out commercial zone. It's an endless process, one that requires water, sewerage, electricity and all the amenities of today's air - conditioned liv- ing down there. We got our bikes off the back of the camper where they ride while traveling, and toured the RV park that evening. Round and round we biked, passing an endless variety of campers and mobile homes. Some people leave their "rigs" year -round and use them only for three or four months of the winter. Others stay a few weeks or more and then travel on to a new location. It seems like every state in the union was represented, according to the varied license plates that told what state they hailed from. The only things that seemed out of place in the park were the white ibis that were feeding in the drainage ditch- es found everywhere. They paid little attention to the passersby as they probed with their colorful curved bills for insects and crustaceans below. Of course, there were always the grackles calling in the trees that lined the drive- way. These, with their continual chatter and the ever - changing song of the mockingbird, let us know that we're not lacking for birds in this beehive of RVs. Our next stop will be at our old stomp- ing grounds, the Army Corps' Ortona Locks Campground on the Caloosa- hatchie River, where we will stay for two weeks. It was here a few years ago we were official counters and photogra- phers of the endangered manatees that passed through the locks. We. knew we were in Florida for sure when we started to see trailer -truck loads of oranges rumbling by. It looks as if most of the products that give us our high standard of living are carried by trucks. With the speed limit in many states up to 70 mph it seemed that every trucker was pushing his rig to the maxi- mum. As they whizzed by, we C OCUS could often feel the air currents ON between It also lso NATURE os- cillating. It seemed there was by Paul no such thing as Stoutenbumh an old car or truck on the road. Everything sparkled with chrome and polish. I guess it is a sign of the country's prosperity. We gradually dropped down and crossed the state of Florida from the east coast to the west. Our destination for the night was Little Manatee State Park, that is, if they had room. Usually we call ahead but'this time we took our chances and just proceeded in with our fingers crossed. We'd been traveling down busy Route 75 and were now just east of the metropolis of Tampa. Thank goodness for state parks, for we soon found our- selves winding through a burned -over pine and palmetto landscape that led to the ranger station where we'd check in. We were told fire had ravaged this area months before. It brought to mind scenes of forest fires on TV that plagued northern Florida last year. While Barbara took care of the paper- work at the ranger station, I took the opportunity to stretch my legs. The stark, burned -black land about me was warm and sun - bathed. The air still carried a trace of fire even though the devastation had happened months before. Yet, ev- erywhere I could see signs of new green growth. It doesn't take long for nature to start rebuilding; as a matter of fact, fire is an integral part of the life cycle of many areas, be it forest or prairie. Take, for instance, our own pine bar- rens. Fire often sweeps through these tinder -dry areas. It clears out the unwanted and makes way for vegeta- tion more suited for that dry sandy soil that we've all come to know as the pine barrens. Fire helps release the seeds of the pine cones. These cones stay dor- mant on the trees for years, holding their precious seeds in reserve until heat from a passing fire opens them. The wind then distributes them onto the ash -rich soil below. In no time new pines will sprout and the world once again develops into a new pine barrens. So it was with the area now before me — new green shoots were emerging from the stark, ash - covered ground. Yet there was an abundance of bird life about. Red -eyed vireos were flitting from bush to tree and hundreds of robins were moving about. They must have been getting ready to migrate north. Later Barbara would tell me that the ranger said he had never seen so many robins before. Had the burnt -over area drawn them? What else could it have been? Their abundance reminded me of the reports of great numbers of robins sighted back home. Many of the birds that spend the winter in Florida, like the robin, are dis- persed throughout the area and only group up when ready to move north. Then I remembered, as we were coming down through Florida we saw thousands of tree swallows milling about seemingly getting ready to move. They will move in a series of stopovers, each depending on factors such as temperature, rain, wind and, of course, the most important: food supply. This food supply is particularly crucial for swallows. If they move too far north before flying insects are out, it could spell disaster. Once, years ago, when purple martins (large swallows) were common on our East End, I had a martin house to our back yard. It was one of those large apartment -type structures with dozens of nesting holes for the birds. Each year it would be filled with chittering swal- lows. Then one year we had a late cold snap that lasted throughout the week. All the flying insects disappeared and therefore there was no food for the swallows. I found a dozen or more dead Suffolk Times photo by Paul Stoutenburgh One of the most visible birds in Florida Is the white Ibis that can be seen groping for Insects almost anywhere from shopping centers to people's back yards or in a roadside ditch. The adult birds are all white with conspicuous reddish curved bills, while the young, like most Immature birds, are brown and subdued in color. LET'S LOOK tsACK 75 years ago Feb. 15, 1924 A `monstrosity': It's rumored that the Reydon Golf Club is casting about in Southold village for a hotel site. A boarding house might do, but a hotel here would be a mon- strosity. Women in business: Women are more active now in the business world than ever before in the history of the nation. Treasury department statistics show that since the war the number of women who earn incomes large enough to be taxed has tripled. For tax year 1921 there were 89,634 wives who filed income tax returns separately from their hus- bands' returns, upon which a tax of $43,541,348 was paid. 50 years ago Feb. 18, 1949 Freak accident: Whether the Long Island Rail Road is pursued by its own special jinx, or whether a group of dis- placed gremlins from the last war are concentrating on it, is anyone's guess. However, the fact remains that strange things do happen to, and on, that railroad. One of these incidents took place on Monday morning of this week at 8:55. A freight was switching on the spur directly north of the main track. Suddenly the six end cars became detached and with considerable momentum head- ed toward the station. Mr. Roy Platt, ticket agent, and Mr. Frank Coyle, express agent, were in the ticket office at the time. Mr. Coyle happened to glance out the window, called swallows on the ground below my nest- ing box. They had starved because of lack of food. Nature often works in harsh, unhappy ways. We were assigned Site No. 1, one easy to back into. In no time we were hooked up and enjoying the late-af- ternoon sun of Florida. It seemed every park we pulled into had its resident mockingbirds, just like the one we have at home that rules our back pasture. It tells all "This is my territory. Keep out." Of course, these songsters up north are Mr. Platt's attention to the runaway cars and with no fur- ther discussion at all they both left in a hurry. They were no sooner out of the building when the cars crashed into the southwest corner. ... Although considerable property damage resulted from the accident, no one was hurt and it seems to be just another case of the railroad's usual luck. 25 years ago Feb. 14, 1974 Greenport stars in TV show: How a small village handles big -city problems was dramatized this week when televi- sion came to Greenport. Station WSNL set up its equip- ment in the Village Hall Thursday to present Mayor David Walker and public utilities superintendent James Monsell discussing the energy problems of Greenport and Mr. Monsell talking with James Heil, associate county public health engineer, on the increasing contamination of local drinking water. Advertisement: Shortage of gasoline is strangling our economy. Without an immediate solution eastern Suffolk businesses will die. Speaker Duryea is wilting to act. All organizations must consolidate efforts toward forcing immediate improvement of the LIRR and the fuel situation. Chambers of Commerce, service clubs, realtors, groups and civic associations should combine efforts. We hope to have an organizational meeting in Riverhead within the next 10 days.