June 07, 1984 - And the Rain CamePage 12A
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The'Suffalk' Tiros §"
And the Rain Came
By PAUL STOUTENBURGH
The only time I have seen more rain
than this week was when I was in the
service in New Guinea. There it rained
for weeks on end. I had to take my hat off
to the GIs who lived ashore in tents. We,
at least, were aboard a ship that was
made to withstand water. We had dry
bunks to sleep in and usually pretty good
food but the poor guys ashore really had
it rough when the rains came.
I am afraid these recent torrential
downpours are going to have a
devastating effect on the young bird and
animal population. Young rabbits in
their ground nest can't keep warm all
day and night with that kind of rain. The
problem is the rain came when the young
of most birds and animals were just
getting started. If a bird can keep eggs
up under its feathers close to its skin,
they can keep dry, but if the rain gets in
the nest and cools the eggs once they've
started to develop, then there's trouble.
A typical problem arises with the
osprey. These handsome birds mate for
life and return year after year to the
same nest. Each year the nest is added to
and rebuilt until it becomes a large
structure sometimes well over six feet in
diameter. After many years of use, the
material decays and the center becomes
a solid mass of impervious debris. When
heavy rains come, rather than the water
running through the stick nest as usual, it
puddles; the eggs are chilled by the cold
rain and ruined. But this is the exception
rather than the rule.
Forecast Misses Mark
Sunday, like all the days before, was to
have been a sunny day. But what the
weather forecasters predict, as we know
by now, doesn't always turn out the way
9@QM� on
MOM5,g
they say. Nevertheless, when I saw the
sun in the morning I was up and at 'em. It
was a good time to be alive. Bright
sunlight on a wet world really gives one
hope that perhaps we'd seen the last of
the rain.
I was to meet a botanist doing a plant
survey here on Long Island and show him
around the north shore from Riverhead
east. We visited deep woods, fresh water
swamps, dune areas, barrier beaches,
overgrown fields, salt marshes and other
ecosystems that he would return to later
when he had more time.
It gave me a good chance once again to
stretch my legs and see how the world
was progressing at this time of year. I
saw a hummingbird collecting materials
for a nest along with a kingbird that had
chosen the most beautiful spot to build its
nest overhanging a pond. We saw a red -
tailed hawk being dive - bombed by crows
and then later crows being dive- bombed
by blackbirds, each driving the other out
of their territory.
But of all the things I saw on Sunday
morning, the most spectacular had to do
with flying ants. What with all the rain
and warmth of the early morning
sunshine, the conditions were just right
for a "hatch" to occur. Like seeds in the
ground, termites, ants and other insects
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Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
NATURE'S UMBRELLA - -Baby song sparrow retreats under the petal of
an iris for protection.
bloom when the conditions are just right
and Sunday morning was the time for the
winged ants to flee the old colony.
An Auspicious Start
Like my honey bees when they
overproduce and confinement restricts
them in their hive, they have to move out
and therefore swarm. So it was with
these flying insects which took to the air
like a thin thread of smoke that rose from
an old decayed stub of a tree. Then,
milling above to snap them up were
swallows of all sorts; barn, bank, rough -
winged and tree swallows careening
back and forth, dipping and diving, some
swooping right in front of us as we stood
there in amazement. We could even see
the individual insects flying for one short
moment of freedom before they were
snapped up right before our eyes. There
must have been 30 or 40 swallows darting
and diving above. It was exciting to
watch.
We went closer to see and when we got
up close to the old tree there were two
catbirds feasting on what to them must
have been a delicacy as the winged ants
crawled up from below to escape into the
air. In the nearby branches was a
kingbird, a member of the flycatcher
family, jumping from limb to limb
snapping up the individuals within reach.
Everyone was having a party. The show
lasted for about five minutes and then
stopped. The swarm had finished. The
swallows milled about for a moment, and
without so much as a goodbye, flew off in
their endless pursuit of flying insects.
I remember seeing something like this
once before when I was a ranger on the
Fire Island national seashore, but that
time it was termites. No matter; it just
goes to show how the bird population
helps keep down the insect population.
Here, right before our eyes, literally
hundreds or even thousands of future
problems were devoured. Without the
swallows, the flying ants could very well
have entered one of our homes and set up
their destructive housekeeping. Once
again we see how the checks and
balances of nature function. The system
works if only given a chance.