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April 20, 2006 - Seeking the best nest, part 2BA • The Suffolk Times • April 20, 2006 Seeking the best nest, part 2 BESIDES THE REAL. early nesters We spoke of last week, while working in the garden and yard over the week- end we could see many birds pairing up and working on their spring nest building. The chickadees were busy flying around checking first a small hole in a fence post that didn't work out, and then FOCUS they went to an old birdhouse ON that seemed to fit the bill for NATURE them, but they seemed to still by Paul be shopping Stoutenburgh around. High up in a hickory tree we could hear and see two red - bellied woodpeckers chatting and courting as they seemed to be trying to figure out a good spot to settle on for their cavity this year. I remember when I first saw and heard this traveler from the south some 55 years ago. Mockingbirds flew in and out of the holly tree, still full of red berries. Mouming dove. It caused a stressful delay in launch- ing time. In a deep depression a pair of horned larks built their cup nest of coarse grass, then lined it with soft grasses. They have been known to nest in February and March, causing many nests to fail because of long periods of rain or snow. As summer moves on, the great crested flycatcher brings forth its young in an open- fronted birdhouse. They are known to nest in abandoned woodpecker cavities and other natural hollows. The nest is made of leaves, paper, grasses and often the cast -off skin of a snake. I'll leave the reason why they use a snakeskin in their nesting ma- terial up to you. Our brown thrasher, which, by the Crested flycatcher. Evidently the winter had been mild enough that the birds found enough food not to completely strip the red berries this year as they have in other winters. This nester, like the red - bellied woodpecker, has moved up from the south. Here's another early nester, the mourning dove — you know, the ones we hear coo-coo- ing. The one pictured here has a stick nest. One time a mourning dove couldn't find a suitable tree or bush to nest in so it chose to build its nest on the stern of a sailboat. Rufous -sided towhee. ��Yet e�of . a.,L 9)a". C5 pa, Lf fIL ,, la r X.H. &, cgo ,,,,4b a.— Now introducing Beaute Neuve by Guinot The fruit acid peel and radiance treatment reveals a new glow and eliminates fine lines, smoothes and refines the texture of the skin without aggressing the skin. Call for package information of $120 discount. WS& us at pauuzak.com 55 Route 48 • Mattituck, NY 11952 • Phone 298-1119 HOURS: Tues., Wed., Sat. 10 am - 6 pm, Thurs., Fri. 10 am - 8 pm way, each year is more difficult to find, builds a stick nest in low bushes with the inner lining made up of soft you finally see her. Woodcocks are masters in the art of camouflage. If ever there were a bird that spent most of its time on the ground, it would have to be the rufous -sided towhee. It not only gets its food from scratching and working the forest floor for insects, worms, eggs, larva, it also eats just about anything that creeps or crawls and lives in this natu- ral compost. I found this nest of the towhee by chance and almost missed it, for the young, crouched down in the ground nest, blended in perfectly with the surroundings. It was only with the help of the parent bird, flying by with food in its beak, that I was eventually led to the nest. The red -eyed vireo is heard more often than it is seen. This monoto- nous songster lets you know it is around. This nest was a mere five feet off the ground and the parent bird was most cooperative in letting me photograph her in the nest, saving me the trouble of setting up a blind to photograph from. Once she was off the nest, I experienced the vireo work of art, and I must ask, "How do birds in general do it ?" Here you can see the nest hanging from a limb. The coarser building material is on the outside and the inner part of the nest is made of finer, softer materials. It is similar to an oriole's nest. Next week we'll continue our se- ries of bird nests. American woodcock. plant material. One particular brown thrasher on her nest in the woods near our home objected to having her photograph taken and flew at us while we were taking the pictures. You'll have to go into the damp woods to find the unusual habitat of the American wood- cock. When it lays its eggs, it chooses the upland for its nest. I found this one nesting in the dry leaves in East Marion. They make little attempt at building a nest, a slight depression is all they need. Their color blends in so well with the surrounding area that no matter how many times you look for the nest, it takes much searching before Red-eyed vireo. —' Custom Woodworking & Design ` "�T • Mantels • Mouldings • Entertainment units • Ntchens/Bathrooms • Decorative painting • Murals • Faux finishes \( \� U binera • Hand painted borders D & furniture Call 631.929.5480 • www.woodbinge.com e Suffolk Times • April 13, 2006 I r t REMEMBER LAST WEEK, when the weather was so mild and warm? Then it was like someone flipped a switch, and it turned cold and miserable. I wouldn't mind if it brought some rain, but no, we were only treated to cold sprinkles Focus and a cutting O N wind. To top it off, on Wednes- NATURE day it snowed, with snowflakes by Paul the size of silver Stoutenburgh dollars. Thank goodness it didn't last long. And to think, earlier it almost had me believing spring was really here. We'd just come back from a vaca- tion down South and, even before we unpacked, we had to take a walk around the back pasture. It cradles a small pond ringed with a dense growth of multiflora roses. It makes an excellent spot for birds to hide or scratch in the debris and, most im- portant, there's always a plentiful supply of water from the nearby pond. I was amazed to hear so many birds sing- ing their hearts out. Twenty or 30 robins worked the pasture, with their run -a- little, stop, look and listen, and then Great horned owl. continue their next run - and -stop routine. A song sparrow was atop a young willow, singing its familiar song. I never tire of hearing it sing. A group of house finches chattered from within the safety of the now - budding multiflora roses. Some of the males had their bright raspberry jackets on. Cowbirds combed the pasture, ut- tering a monotonous call in hope of luring females. A small group of crow started arguing, each one trying to outdo the other. But the noisiest was the mockingbird, trying out its reper- toire of birdcalls. Its songs outdid all the rest. ookin e Des Dennis Puleston banding young owls. nes Why were so many different birds in such a gleeful mood? You know tl answer. It's spring, and not only for the birds, but also, as Tennyson said, "In the spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love." In e bird world it all leads up to find- ing a mate and then the two of them building their own special nest in their own pecial place. thought it might be inter- esting to tell about some of the more fascinating kinds of nests. For birders who follow early nest- ers, few can beat the great horned owl. This, owl is one of our earliest nest- ers, sometimes on nest. nesting as early as February or March. They don't build nests of their own, but use nests built the year before by a hawk or crow or squirrel. I've even seen them use an osprey nest to raise their young. Over in Bridgehampton, we found this great horned owl's nest high in the top of an oak tree. The picture you see is of Dennis Puleston, who came to band the young owls. I took the picture from a tree nearby. We both kept a watchful eye open for the parent birds, as they are fero- cious defenders of their nest. Notice there are no leaves on the trees, which gives you some idea of how early the great homed owls nest. Barn owls, as the name implies, nest in barns and old buildings and occa- sional) in unused water Young bar tanks. They don't build a nest but use the bare floor to lay their eggs on. The young pictured here are in a water tank, where they created so much interest that the owner cut a door in the side so everyone could climb up and look in on these young. If you have barn owls nesting nearby you'll know it, for they are a noisy bunch. They're welcome extermina- tors of rats and mice. Our little screech owl is an easy one to call up by mimicking its call. They nest in hollow trees, natural cavities and even your birdhouses, if the opening is large enough. It's a great little owl to know, but be fore- warned: If you go near its nest of young, you might be sorry, for screech owls fiercely defend their homes. I can n owls. vuucn for tnis, as one once came at me and knocked my hat off Lucky I was wearing the hat! Someone told me they had seen some purple martins (our largest swallows) about so I brought my mar- tin apartment house into the shop, cleaned it out and attached it to a 20 -foot pole. With Barbara's heir) I walked it down the driveway, across the road and out in the marsh, where we drove the pole in. It looks great, but now we have to wait and hope our purple martins return from the South. Looking down the creek, we could see our old friends had come back. The old osprey platform had not one, but two ospreys sitting just as proudly as could be on the remains of last year's nest. Later we'd see them flying back and forth with sticks and debris to get their old home ready for a new gen- eration of fish hawks. Another early nester that often arrives at our beaches even before the osprey is the rugged little piping plover. Her nest is little more than a slight depression in the sand. Sometimes she decorates her nesting sight with bits of shells. When a piping plover settles down on her eggs, she disappears in her perfectly camouflaged nest. Our beaches have already been fenced off to help protect these small, hard -to -see plovers. Next week we'll talk about other kinds of nests our local birds build, often right around us. V 0 Peeking Inside a water tower for a glimpse of nesting barn The Suffolk Times • April 20, 2006 Seekin BESIDES THE REAL early nesters w4 spoke of last week, while working in the garden and yard over the week- end we could see many birds pairing up and working on their spring nest building. The chickadees were busy flying around checking first a small hole in a fence post that didn't work out, and then they went to an Focus old birdhouse ON that seemed to fit the bill for NATURE them, but they seemed to still by Paul be shopping Stoutenburgh around. High up in a hickory tree we could hear and see two red - bellied woodpeckers chatting and courting as they seemed to be trying to figure out a good spot to settle on for their cavity this year. I remember when I first saw and heard this traveler fron the south some 55 years ago. Mockingbirds flew in and out of the holly tree, still full of red berries. Crested the bes nes ar mourning dove. --....­.,,,.,..,y enough that the birds found enot food not to completely strip the red berries this year as they have other winters. This nester, like the red - bellied woodpecker, has moved up from the south. Here's another early nester, the mourning dove — you know, the ones we hear coo -coo- ing. The one pictured here has a stick nest. One time a mourning dove couldn't find a suitable tree or bush to nest in so it chose to build its nest on the stern of a sailboat. It caused a stressful delay in launch- ing time. In a deep depression a pair of horned larks built their cup nest of coarse grass, then lined it with soft grasses. They have been known to nest in February and March, causing many nests to fail because of long periods of rain or snow. As summer moves on, the great crested flycatcher brings forth its young in an open- fronted birdhouse. They are known to nest in abandoned woodpecker cavities and other natural hollows. The nest is made of leaves, paper, grasses and often the cast -off skin of a snake. I'll leave the reason why they use a snakeskin in their nesting ma- terial up to you. Our brown thrasher, which, by the way, each year is more difficult to find, builds a stick nest in low bushes with the inner lining made up of soft thrasher on her nest in the woods near our home objected to having her photograph taken and flew at us while we were taking the pictures. You'll have to go into the damp woods to find the unusual habitat of the American wood- cock. When it lays its eggs, it chooses the upland for its nest. I found this one nesting in the dry leaves in East Marion. They make little attempt at building a nest, a slight depression is all they need. Their color blends in so well with the surrounding area that no matter how many times you look for the nest, it takes much searching before American Rufous -sided towhee. you finally see her. Woodcocks are masters in the art of camouflage. If ever there were a bird that spent most of its time on the ground, it would have to be the rufous -sided towhee. It not only gets its food from scratching and working the forest floor for insects, worms, eggs, larva, it also eats just about anything that creeps or crawls and lives in this natu- ral compost. I found this nest of the towhee by chance and almost missed it, for the young, crouched down in the ground nest, blended in perfectly with the surroundings. It was only with the help of the parent bird, flying by with food in its beak, that I was eventually led to the nest. The red -eyed vireo is heard more often than it is seen. This monoto- nous songster lets you know it is around. This nest was a mere five feet off the ground and the parent bird was most cooperative in letting me photograph her in the nest, saving me the trouble of setting up a blind to photograph from. Once she was off the nest, I experienced the vireo work of art, and I must ask, "How do birds in general do it ?" Here you can see the nest hanging from a limb. The coarser building material is on the outside and the inner part of the nest is made of finer, softer matefials. It is similar to an oriole's nest. Next week we'll continue our se- ries of bird nests. vireo.