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November 19, 1961 - Focus on Nature1 to( ' Golden Plover on the farm Exclusive Sunday Review Sketch by Dennis Puleston of Brookhaven Focus on Nature by Paul Stoutenburgh According to one definition, a farmer is a man who is out- standing in his own "field ". Any- one can see that this gives him a good opportunity to observe the birds which are there. He is out day after day in all weathers and seasons and is able to see num- bers and species which people in other walks of life seldom, if ever, see. Unfortunately, very few farm- ers appreciate their opportunity. And so, a large flight of golden plovers 'is passed off as a "flock of doves" and am avocet "must be a snipe ". For twenty years I have been farming north of Riverhead on land which includes sound shore, woods, orchard, pasture and pond as well as the large open fields characteristic of this area. During this time 'it has been very in- teresting to see the great variety of bird's that visit here. Some are really rare, and some only rare to the observer who cannot be in the right place at the right time. The latest visitor, a real rarity, is an avocet, which, as I write, is happily feeding in the p on d behind the barn. The records show that avocets are rare east of the Mississippi. This is a beautiful, long- legged, white bird with black wings and up- curved beak w i t h which he works in the shallow water seeking small insects. He has no fear of cattle, so by stay - Ing near them I can approach him within 50 feet. Most birds have little fear of anything not resembling a vertical biped, so a man on a tractor or other machine, no matter h o w noisy, can get quite close. Among those I have seen at close range from the vantage of a tractor seat are upland, black - bell'ied, golden and semi - palmated plov- ers, pectoral sandpipers, ruddy turnstones, water, pipits, horned larks, grasshopper and savannah sparrows, herring, ring - billed and great black - blacked gulls and many others. After years of looking at the gulls which surround us during plowing and potato - digging I dif- ferentiate between the s i m i I ar herring and ring - billed gulls by the "expression on their face ". I have seen traces of the delicate gold of 'the golden plover, and the rosy shading on the horned lark's head. Th- ' atter can't be seen 'in a book, neither can their high, melodious song which is everywhere in the fields in the spring. Last year the plovers were es- pecially numerous, and there were literally hundreds of golden and black - bellied plovers in the bare fields late in O c t o b e r. Somehow a stay -at -home gets a thrill when he sees these beauti- ful birds which travel almost the length of the earth twice a year. Probably no other creature sees so little darkness. During October and November flocks of water pipits accompany the potato harvester. These are small, drab- colored birds, t h a t fly with the abandon of leaves in the wind. This habit alone can identify a flock. They nest on the Arctic tundra and so our brown fields must seem familiar to them. They can also be seen along the pond edge, but their color makes them nearly invisible. In the spring the swallows cruise around the moving trac- tors catching the insects aroused by the machine. Most of them are barn swallows, but at times the tree swallows are numerous, and occasionally a roagh- winged swallow is seen. These latter are usually the first ones I see in the spring and are the ones t h a t nest on the sound banks. One recent fall, I came across a night hawk sleeping the day off. in my cauliflower field. I got my camera, and got a picture of him from a four foot distance before he flew. The beautiful fine mark- ings on his feathers must be seen to be appreciated. Other farm visitors have been cattle egrets, both in spring and fall, mocking bird (this October singing almost continually), glos- sy ibis, sooty tern (during hur- ricane Donna), summer tanager, cardinal, orchard oriole, s n o w geese, snow bunting and dick - cissel. I have not mentioned the ducks and other water birds seen from the sound beach the many war- blers and wood birds seen from time to time, or the hawks and vultures. As near as I can fig-ire, I have seen about 160 species without leaving the farm. Long Island ''is rich in b i r d life, and anyone who is interested and observant can see a wider variety than Can be seen in al- most any other area in t h e country. . FIELD OBSERVATIONS L R Ernest: Water Mill — Nov 12 Blue -gray gnatcatcher Southampton — Nov 10 Purple finch at feeder Snow buntings along the ocean beach - Fox sparrow; moving into the area Roy Latham reports: Orient — Nov 10 Pine grosbeaks (3) Eastern horned larks (15) Sound Ave, Riverhead — Nov 1 Avocet — As the paper goes to press, this bird is still on the farm at Harold Evan's place on Sound Avenue. Many bird en- thusiasts have already been to see it and it might be worth a call for many more of you.