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March 29, 2007 - Glaucous gull scoundrelNews - Review photos by Barbara and Paul Stoulenburgh Above: This glaucous gull Is a rarity on our North Shore. Recently it has been seen rest- ing amongst herring gulls and ring- billed gulls at the Town Beach In Southold. Right: The glaucous gull is the largest of all our gulls. It Is more likely to be seen at Montauk Point. Below: The woodcock, often called timber doodle, is one of our earliest migrants from the south, where It spends the winter. It probes in wet areas for earthworms with its long, efficient bill. ry �_t= :, r March 29, 2007 • The News - Review • 9A Glaucous gull scoundrel My son called to tell me about a glau- cous gull at Town Beach. This aft -white visitor is a gull of the far North. What makes it special is that we see it only occasionally during the winter and the usual place to see it is at Montauk Point, where it reigns supreme over all the lesser waterfowl. Its only rival in size is the greater Focus black- backed gull that we see ON along our bays NATURE and Sound. It's interesting to by Paul note that the b tenur Stou greater black- Ih backed gull was a rarity 70 years ago but today it is com- mon to our area. It nests on the sand islands in Moriches and Shinnecock Bay here on the East End. But let's get back to the glaucous gull that was seen resting with the oth- er gulls at the Town Beach in Southold. We could drive right up to this largest of all gulls and photograph it from the car, where we could also witness its aggressiveness toward any other gull, such as a herring gull or a ring - billed gull, that got too close to it. Then there would be an immediate rebuttal, and the culprit would be driven away. On its nesting grounds, the glaucous gull is particularly ruthless, robbing nestlings and eggs and even eating the legendary lemmings, which at their peak are easy targets for this scoundrel of the North. The glaucous gull we saw at the Town Beach was in its first -year winter plumage of fight buff and gray that re- sembles the first -year plumage of our common herring gull, with the excep- tion that the herring gull is somewhat darker. As summer approaches, the glaucous gull will lose its buff brown and become much whiter. One of the markings of the adult bird is that it has white wingtips, where other gulls have black wingtips. One of the favorite tricks of the glau- cous gull is to force a feeding gull or duck or other unfortunate to dislodge its newly acquired fish or other morsel. As the robber swoops down to take from the weaker, it becomes the one most feared by all. To end this tale of the glaucous gull, I want to share with you a new word, at least to me: burgo- master. I came across it in Bent's "Life Histories of North American Birds," where Bent opens his remarks about this glaucous gull with that word to describe it. It means head of state, ruler, a mayor of a town. He uses the word to describe the gull: one who is in com- mand or overseer, one whom all fear. We got back from Florida just in time to see not one but six "timber doodles," more commonly known as woodcocks — one of the great game birds that test the skill of the most ar- dent hunter. It all started when a good friend of mine told us about seeing these early migrants feeding along- side a road leading to his property. I'd heard and seen woodcock in my trav- els afield — but never feeding within six to eight feet of a car, which was just what my friend was telling me. We'd have to see this to believe it. Years ago, I found a beautifully cam- ouflaged woodcock nest in the woods in East Marion. It was just dumb luck that I didn't step on the bird and her eggs as she crouched down so well on her camouflaged nest amongst the dried oak leaves I immediately left the spot and went back the next day to photograph it. Then I knew just where to look, but even so, it was hard to dis- tinguish the bird from the leaves. On another occasion I came across one of the newly fledged young and actually caught it while I was photo- graphing. What made it relatively easy was that when danger is about, the adult gives a signal and the young im- mediately freeze, where they blend in with the duff of the leaves and debris of the forest floor. All this seemed trivial compared to what I was seeing when my friend drove both Barbara and me along his long driveway, where one woodcock after another was feeding in the soft mud. Woodcock are chunky birds about the size of a plump robin. They are short - legged with big black eyes The thing that is so outstanding is their long bill, which they use to probe for the earthworms that make up 80 per- cent of their diet. Imagine yourself driving along and having someone point out a woodcock to you a mere eight feet away, and you're saying, "I don't see it ... Where is it ?" as your friend points again and again, saying, "There it is!" Well, that's just about how I felt as I finally got my eyes adjusted to the surroundings and was able to see the timber doodle frozen in place; its big black eye star- ing at us. Seeing this is the woodcock's court- ing time, some of the urge to show off couldn't be held back and every once in a while one would start up its rhyth- mic bouncing ritual. This bouncing rou- tine is just a fraction of the antics the males go through as they perform at dark and early dawn some of the most bazaar spiraling from high above, land- ing near the female and strutting their stuff before repeating the routine again in hopes of winning a mate. As we only went a short way up the long driveway and saw six woodcock, we wondered how many more were still ahead of us We'll never know. What I do know, thanks to a true friend, it was the show of shows, one both Barbara and I will never forget. 'l IV, `1!t` The Suffolk Times • March 29, 2007 IGIaucous x r�rllil� l lu r7Y�"✓ "�""� scoundre 7x i n/ lr�NlMd�Nl r /,u� r tilla����r l �i� N��rr ry NF.. 11 �hx, /l lli�/lll; ✓�Ar4kl r ��rr (r'r' (�hl Ir rGtil. v , , /, l� r 6 "NI�N /ww /lr n� on,lr,rir t x I Suffolk Time.,, c /iir „i -r„ ;,i _,��_r,�iu,iu /fin Above: This glaucous gull is a rarity on the North Fork. Recently it has been seen rest -" ing amongst herring gulls and ring - billed gulls at the Town Beach in Southold. Right: The glaucous gull, largest of all our gulls, is more likely to be seen at Montauk Point than here. Below: The woodcock, often called timber doodle, is one of our earliest migrants from the south, where it spends the winter. It use, probes in wet areas for earthworms with its long, efficient bill. My son called to tell me about a glai: cous gull at Town Beach. This all -white visitor is a gull of the far North. What makes it special is that we see it only occasionally during the winter and the usual place to see it is at Montauk Poin where it reigns supreme over all the lesser waterfowl. Its only rival in size is the FOCUS greater black - backed gull that ON we see along our NATURE bays and Sound. It's interesting by Pain to note that the greater black- Stoutenburgh backed jzull was ra0 years ago but today it is common to our area. It nests on the sand islands in Moriches and Shin - necock Bay here on the East End. But let's get back to the glaucous gull that was seen resting with the oth- er gulls at the Town Beach in Southold We could drive right up to this largest of all gulls and photograph it from the car, where we could also witness its aggressiveness toward any other gull, such as a herring gull or a ring- billed gull, that got too close to it. Then there would be an immediate rebuttal, and the culprit would be driven away. On its nesting grounds, the glaucous gull is particularly ruthless, robbing nestlings and eggs and even eatinp- the peak are easy targets for this scoundrel of the North. The glaucous gull we saw at the Town Beach was in its first -year winter plumage of light buff and gray that re- sembles the first -year plumage of our common herring gull, with the excep- tion that the herring gull is somewhat darker. As summer approaches, the glaucous gull will lose its buff brown and become much whiter. One of the markings of the adult bird is that it has white wingtips, where other gulls have black wingtips. One of the favorite tricks of the glau- �ous gull is to force a feeding gull or Juck or other unfortunate to dislodge Is newly acquired fish or other morsel. As the robber swoops down to take Yom the weaker, it becomes the one nost feared by all. To end this tale of he glaucous gull, I want to share with you a new word, at least to me: burgo- naster. I came across it in Bent's "Life Ustories of North American Birds," vhere Bent opens his remarks about his glaucous gull with that word to lescribe it. It means head of state, ruler, mayor of a town. He uses the word describe the gull: one who is in com- iand or overseer, one whom all fear. We got back from Floe a lus in time to see not one but six "timber doodles," more commonly known as woodcocks — one of the great game birds that test the skill of the most ar- dent hunter. It all started when a good friend of mine told us about seeing these early migrants feeding along- side a road leading to his property. I'd heard and seen woodcock in my trav- els afield — but never feeding within six to eight feet of a car, which was just what my friend was telling me. We'd have to see this to believe it. Years ago, I found a beautifully cam- ouflaged woodcock nest in the woods in East Marion. It was just dumb luck that I didn't step on the bird and her eggs as she crouched down so well on her camouflaged nest amongst the . dried oak leaves. I immediately left the spot and went back the next day to photograph it. Then I knew just where to look, but even so, it was hard to tinguish the bird from the leaves. On another occasion I came across actually caught it while I was photo- graphing. What made it relatively easy was that when danger is about, the adult gives a signal and the young im- mediately freeze, where they blend in with the duff of the leaves and debris of the forest floor. All this seemed trivial compared to what I was seeing when my friend drove both Barbara and me along his long driveway, where one woodcock after another was feeding in the soft mud. Woodcock are chunky birds about the size of a plump robin. They are short- legged with big black eyes. The thing that is so outstanding is their long bill, which they use to probe for the earthworms that make up 80 per- cent of their diet. Imagine yourself driving along and having someone point out a woodcock to you a mere eight feet away, and you're saying, "I don't see it ... Where is it ?" as your friend points again and again, saying, "There it is!" Well, that's just about how I felt as I finally got my eyes adjusted to the surroundings and was able to see the timber doodle frozen in place; its big black eye star- ing at us. Seeing this is the woodcock's court- ing time, some of the urge to show off couldn't be held back and every once in a while one would start up its rhyth- mic bouncing ritual. This bouncing rou- ine is just a fraction of the antics the males go through as they, perform at dark and early dawn some of the most bazaar spiraling from high above, land- ing near the female and strutting their stuff before repeating the routine again in hopes of winning a mate. As we only went a short way up the long driveway and saw six woodcock, we wondered how many more were still ahead of us. We'll never know. What I do know, thanks to a true 'end, it was the show of shows, one hnth %rhara and I will never forget.