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January 28, 1999 - Stalking those stealthy seals6A • The Suffolk Times • January 28, 1999 Stalking those stealthy seals A telephone call from a lady at Gull Pond in Greenport told me of a seal basking on her dock. This was a bit unusual, for most of the seals we see around this end of the island are usual- ly on rocks. I think they rest with one eye open for I've found it is almost impossible to sneak on Focus them. Even in the most isolated ON places they seem alert to the slight- NATURE est. movement. I by Paul can vouch for this Stoutenburgh for just a month ago when I was on Gardiners Island doing our annual Christmas Bird Count, I tried to sneak up on a seal to take its picture. I'd seen this particular seal from some distance away and did what I thought was an expert job of stalking. I made it to the top of the bluff, where I could peek through the grasses at my target below. I had to get closer. Now all I had to do was to slip down the bank, using the various rocks, boulders and shrubs to hide myself behind. All this with the hopes of closing the dis- tance between us. So with camera and binoculars strung around my neck, I started down. The wind was blowing strongly out of the northwest, which gave me some protection under the bank. All went well until I hit a section that afforded little protection. Here I planned to crawl slowly to my next cover. At least that was my plan and for a short while it worked. Then my foot slipped and a few stones and pebbles started rolling down the bank. Immediately the seal's head moved and the next moment my perfect picture of a seal on a typical rock slipped away. The seal reappeared a short distance away, like some half - submerged football with two big black eyes staring at me. I watched my prize through binoculars, its long brown whiskers plainly visible. I could see its nostrils open, sniffing the air. These remarkable nostrils are like flappers and close when the seal submerges. Nature thinks of everything. Later that day I counted 16 of these sausage -like creatures along the east side of the island. We're told that in the early days on our East End, seals were often seen basking on the various sand spits that jut out into the bays between the North and South forks. Places like Sag Harbor's Cedar Point, Jessups Neck, our own Nassau Point and the spits on Robins Island must all have lured the harbor seal. This makes sense when I look back to my youth and remember seeing porpoises cavorting in our bay. Seems to me memories of the early days are a lot stronger than more recent hap- penings. A typical example of early memory was when I was about 10 or 12 years old watching a group of men launching a boat down by the bay. All of a sudden everything stopped and everyone scrambled out of the water. As we stood and watched, the huge black fin of a shark cruised by just off shore. What kind it was I'd never know but it left a lasting impression on me. Today it seems almost im- possible to think of a shark or even seals or more re- cently porpoises in our bays, but they were there. Every once in a great while a stray porpoise will still be seen in one of our creeks or bays. Many years ago a small porpoise was stranded in Broadwaters Cove in Cutchogue. Of course, I had to investi- gate. It was in one of those muddy sec- tions of the creek and the poor thing was floundering in the shallows. I had no experience with picking up porpois- es but I couldn't see this poor creature struggling amid the mud and turbu- lence, so I put on my hip boots and walked out to the exhausted animal. It seemed to know I meant it no harm or perhaps it was just worn out; at any rate I picked it up and laboriously worked my way ashore. Luckily the area was near a road. I carried it to the bay to the east. All mud - splattered and puffing, I bent down and let the crea- ture slide into the water. Slowly it swam away, coming up for air a long distance away. Now it was in new, clear water. The last I saw of it, it was head- ing east hoping for bigger and less muddy feeding grounds. right in among them. Their sleek streamlined bodies seemed to shoot out of the water and slip back in without making a splash. It was pure poetry in motion. Years later we would take a more sophisticated adventure when as part of a group of naturalists aboard a Lindblad cruise we'd thrill at being among giant right whales off Nova Scotia as they rose up out of the water around our Zodiac. I can remember the day vividly as the closeness of the whales around us made the adrenaline flow in our bodies. Then to climax the day a fog came in and left our group alone in the great ocean with only the whales for company. Thank goodness for radar, as the mother ship slowly ap- peared out of the fog to pick us up. So much for remem- Suffolk Times photo by Paul Stoutenburgh Skunk cabbage Is our first flower to show itself. During February and March it melts its way through the frozen ground or snow to show itself in hopes of being pollinated by the first Insects. Skunk cabbage gains most of Its green growth before the leaves of trees block out the fife- giving rays of the sun. LET'S LOOK BACK 75 years ago Jan. 18, 1924 Greenport Chamber formed: On Tuesday evening the constitution and by -laws of the Chamber of Greenport were formally adopted and 64 of the representative busi- ness and professional men of the community became mem- bers of the new organization. There was a larger attendance than at the preceding meeting and the spirit of community cooperation, so strongly manifested, speaks well for the future of this movement to boost Greenport. Each and every one showed by their enthusiasm, and promptness with which they signed their names to the charter, their eagerness to back this new movement to the limit. Orient news: Last Thursday the house which is being built for Mrs. C.E. Knox was formally raised. Mrs. Knox prepared an elaborate lunch for the men who were work- ing on the building. She served a cake in which was baked a five - dollar gold piece. Mr. Foster of Greenport was lucky enough to find the gold coin in his piece of cake. 50 years ago Jan. 28, 1949 Advertisement: Are you tired of clothes that are tattle- tale gray? We will rent a Maytag washer to you to get them clean again for only $1 a week. Arthur M. Pollock, your friendly Maytag dealer. Phone Greenport 414 or 415. Stage and screen star In Mattituck: Donald Buka, Added proof of porpoises close at hand was when Barbara and I were first married, in the early days of carefree liv- ing. I've told of this adventure once before but it's worth repeating. I took her out in a canoe in the Sound to expe- rience the thrill of being among pa- trolling porpoises. In those days it wasn't unusual to see them pass along the shore. And a thrill it was! Our paddling made no noise and we were able to get young star of stage and screen, will appear in "You Touched Me," a three -act play presented by Theatre Week Inc., at the Mattituck Theatre beginning Jan. 24. Mr. Buka has appeared on Broadway in "The Corn Is Green," "Helen Goes to Troy" and "Bright Boy" and on the screen in "Watch on the Rhine" and "Street With No Name." He will arrive this weekend for final rehearsals on the stage of the Mattituck Theatre. 25 years ago Jan. 17, 1974 Local sculptor makes Tiffany's windows: John Osgood's artistic works first caught the creative and imag- inative eye of Tiffany's Gene Moore quite by accident. Mr. Moore's famous ever - changing window displays and gold jewelry creations are the center of attraction for thou- sands of native and visiting New Yorkers. Since the day after New Year's the windows have fea- tured assemblages by John Osgood of East Marion, con- sisting of natural pieces of wood, rope, seashells and sand from local beaches. "You might call them sculpture," Mr. Osgood said this week. His personality reflects the subtle philosophy of the Tiffany Company as set forth in "The Tiffany'Touch," a book by Joseph Purtell, an author who summers on Shelter Island. That is: "Make the windows beautiful and don't try to sell anything." brances of sharks, seals, porpoises and whales... In hopes of see- ing signs of spring when January gave us a beautiful 50- degree day, Bar- bara and I took a walk through Moore's Woods just west of the Greenport School. We strolled the shell -based road in the woods that told of Greenport's rich heritage associated with the sea. Most of the shells were surf clams with smaller piles here and there of scal- lops. They told of the glory days when scallops were plentiful and most East Enders took it for granted that come opening day scallops would be there. We walked the now - defunct nature trail that, like the fallen trees and leaves, has now returned to Mother Earth. Charlie Jantzen, one of the past science teachers at Greenport, spear- headed those nature trails. I worked with him and with the hard work of many of his students they created boardwalks, cleared trails, built bridges, laid out markers and even cre- ated a booklet that guided you through the woodland trail. It was so well done that it received a Presidential Citation from Washington commemorating the good work. Today only memories of what could have been one of Greenport's great attractions remains. Even the sign dedicating the nature trail's entrance on Moore's Lane is slowly fading away. It made me sad to see how little people think of their own true world about them. Perhaps it's be- cause the world is continually bom- barded by man's materialistic things that we seldom see or appreciate the world around us. As was once said, a town is made sound not more by the righteous men in it than by the woods and streams that surround it. We saw little evidence of spring, yet we knew there were untold numbers of plants just awaiting the sun's warmth. First to show will be the lowly skunk cabbage, actually the first flower of the woods. Then the ferns will unfold their woolly packages of green along with the Jack -in- the - pulpits. By that time the trees will be budding and the warmth of spring will have triggered a world of green we all look forward to. 4 r t V� Kb y t° Suffolk Times photo by Paul Stoutenburgh Skunk cabbage Is our first flower to show itself. During February and March it melts its way through the frozen ground or snow to show itself in hopes of being pollinated by the first Insects. Skunk cabbage gains most of Its green growth before the leaves of trees block out the fife- giving rays of the sun. LET'S LOOK BACK 75 years ago Jan. 18, 1924 Greenport Chamber formed: On Tuesday evening the constitution and by -laws of the Chamber of Greenport were formally adopted and 64 of the representative busi- ness and professional men of the community became mem- bers of the new organization. There was a larger attendance than at the preceding meeting and the spirit of community cooperation, so strongly manifested, speaks well for the future of this movement to boost Greenport. Each and every one showed by their enthusiasm, and promptness with which they signed their names to the charter, their eagerness to back this new movement to the limit. Orient news: Last Thursday the house which is being built for Mrs. C.E. Knox was formally raised. Mrs. Knox prepared an elaborate lunch for the men who were work- ing on the building. She served a cake in which was baked a five - dollar gold piece. Mr. Foster of Greenport was lucky enough to find the gold coin in his piece of cake. 50 years ago Jan. 28, 1949 Advertisement: Are you tired of clothes that are tattle- tale gray? We will rent a Maytag washer to you to get them clean again for only $1 a week. Arthur M. Pollock, your friendly Maytag dealer. Phone Greenport 414 or 415. Stage and screen star In Mattituck: Donald Buka, Added proof of porpoises close at hand was when Barbara and I were first married, in the early days of carefree liv- ing. I've told of this adventure once before but it's worth repeating. I took her out in a canoe in the Sound to expe- rience the thrill of being among pa- trolling porpoises. In those days it wasn't unusual to see them pass along the shore. And a thrill it was! Our paddling made no noise and we were able to get young star of stage and screen, will appear in "You Touched Me," a three -act play presented by Theatre Week Inc., at the Mattituck Theatre beginning Jan. 24. Mr. Buka has appeared on Broadway in "The Corn Is Green," "Helen Goes to Troy" and "Bright Boy" and on the screen in "Watch on the Rhine" and "Street With No Name." He will arrive this weekend for final rehearsals on the stage of the Mattituck Theatre. 25 years ago Jan. 17, 1974 Local sculptor makes Tiffany's windows: John Osgood's artistic works first caught the creative and imag- inative eye of Tiffany's Gene Moore quite by accident. Mr. Moore's famous ever - changing window displays and gold jewelry creations are the center of attraction for thou- sands of native and visiting New Yorkers. Since the day after New Year's the windows have fea- tured assemblages by John Osgood of East Marion, con- sisting of natural pieces of wood, rope, seashells and sand from local beaches. "You might call them sculpture," Mr. Osgood said this week. His personality reflects the subtle philosophy of the Tiffany Company as set forth in "The Tiffany'Touch," a book by Joseph Purtell, an author who summers on Shelter Island. That is: "Make the windows beautiful and don't try to sell anything." brances of sharks, seals, porpoises and whales... In hopes of see- ing signs of spring when January gave us a beautiful 50- degree day, Bar- bara and I took a walk through Moore's Woods just west of the Greenport School. We strolled the shell -based road in the woods that told of Greenport's rich heritage associated with the sea. Most of the shells were surf clams with smaller piles here and there of scal- lops. They told of the glory days when scallops were plentiful and most East Enders took it for granted that come opening day scallops would be there. We walked the now - defunct nature trail that, like the fallen trees and leaves, has now returned to Mother Earth. Charlie Jantzen, one of the past science teachers at Greenport, spear- headed those nature trails. I worked with him and with the hard work of many of his students they created boardwalks, cleared trails, built bridges, laid out markers and even cre- ated a booklet that guided you through the woodland trail. It was so well done that it received a Presidential Citation from Washington commemorating the good work. Today only memories of what could have been one of Greenport's great attractions remains. Even the sign dedicating the nature trail's entrance on Moore's Lane is slowly fading away. It made me sad to see how little people think of their own true world about them. Perhaps it's be- cause the world is continually bom- barded by man's materialistic things that we seldom see or appreciate the world around us. As was once said, a town is made sound not more by the righteous men in it than by the woods and streams that surround it. We saw little evidence of spring, yet we knew there were untold numbers of plants just awaiting the sun's warmth. First to show will be the lowly skunk cabbage, actually the first flower of the woods. Then the ferns will unfold their woolly packages of green along with the Jack -in- the - pulpits. By that time the trees will be budding and the warmth of spring will have triggered a world of green we all look forward to.