April 13, 2006 - Looking for the best nest12A • The Suffolk Times - April 13, 2006
Looking for the best nest
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 ON
wind. To top it
off, onWednes-
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 ' °r
from the nearby pond.
I was amazed to hear
so many birds sing- AI
ing their hearts out.
Twenty or 30 robins
worked the pasture,
with their run -a-
little, stop, look and
listen, and then Great homed 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 crows
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.
Why were so many different birds
in such a gleeful mood? You know the
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
the 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
special place.
With that in mind, I
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 homed owl.
1_
This owl is one of
our earliest nest-
ers, sometimes
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Dennis Puloston banding young owls.
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 r
birds, as they are fero-
cious defenders of their
nest. Notice there are 0
no leaves on the trees,
which gives you some
idea of how early the
great horned owls nest.
Barn owls, as the name
implies, nest in barns and
old buildings and occa-
sionally in unused water
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
Young bam owls.
vouch for this, 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 help I
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Piping plover on nest.
Focus...
►From previous page
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.
Peeking Inside a water tower for a glimpse of nesting bam owls.
Catch Paul Stoutenbufgh every week in
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The Suffolk Times • April 13, 2006.13A
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