September 12, 1985 - Playing Catch-Up on LifePage 12A The Suffolk. Times. September 12, 1985
Paying Catch -Up on Life
By PAUL STOUTENBURGH
One of the problems of writing an ar-
ticle for a weekly newspaper is that
when you write about a certain condi-
tion, that condition has sometimes
changed by the time the public reads
about it.
A typical example is the rain that's
coming down today (Monday) as I write
this. It's like so many summer rains we
all remember: warm, little wind and a
world of lush green that bring on that
wonderful lazy feeling of not having
anything in particular to do. This is the
kind of day when we used to sit about
and do the things that would never
make history or stand out in later years
in.your mind.
It was a time for reading, cleaning out
old drawers that somehow never seem
to get organized, or perform other
meaningless tasks. It was a kind of day
you could sit or lie down in that old soft
couch, and as easy as rolling off a log,
fall asleep in -- a wonderful kind of re-
laxed world. Why aren't there more of
those days? We should mark them on
our calendars as a must, for they let
your body and soul get caught up so you
can go on with the bigger things ahead.
In keeping with the idea of 'getting
caught up, I want to bring you up to
date on some facts I've collected con-
cerning an article I wrote a few weeks
ago. Remember when I wrote about the
great cicada killer -- the huge wasp that
paralyzes the noisy locust and then car-
ries it off to its underground tunnel to
deposit its eggs on?
Well, no sooner was the article out
then I got a call from a good friend say-
ing he and his helper had seen one of
these large wasps carrying a locust
Focus on
Nature
where they were working. Being that
much more aware of the world around
them, they followed it until it landed
near a hole in the ground and disap-
peared.
Since the hole was in the way of the
foundation they were laying, they had
to dig it up. In doing so, they exposed
not one, but two paralyzed locusts in
the 18- inch -deep hole.
The story of the cicada began with a
gentleman in Greenport calling me
about a hole in his lawn that he saw a
big wasp dig. I photographed it, re-
searched it and wrote the article. Now
the final chapter has been told, again
through the help of a reader kind
enough to call and tell me what he saw.
One other recent incident had to do
with a hummingbird. Years ago they
were quite common, and it seemed we
always had one buzzing around my
Dad's garden or sitting on a nearby tele-
phone line snapping tiny insects out of
the air. This year I've only seen one,
and it was just passing through, I'm
sure.
Then last week, I was fortunate
enough to see one in a cage, of all places.
A kindly lady had found this tiny bird
-- a little over two inches long -- on her
bushes and had taken it to Dr. Zitek, our
wildlife veterinarian, to be cared for. I
saw it after it had recuperated. What a
miracle! It had come out of this ordeal
Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
GOING HOME - -Ready for release into its natural habitat, this hum-
mingbird recently was brought back to good health by our local wildlife
veterinarian, Dr. William Zitek.
and was flying around the cage, seem-
ingly no worse for wear. They had put
a colorful hummingbird feeder in the
cage and the bird occasionally would
buzz near it, appearing to be standing
in space while sipping sugar water from
the feeder. Later that day, they were
able to let it go back into the wild --
something I thought pretty remarka-
ble.
Also recently, a painter and his
helper called me to say they'd found a
kingfisher fallen from the air. They
didn't know why; perhaps it had hit a
wire. They picked up the stunned bird
and brought it to me. I took it, along
with some fresh scraps of bluefish, to
our vet. Today I called and, sure
enough, the kingfisher is coming along
fine.
It sure makes one teel good about the
world, with all the bad we hear, that
there are people who care and profes-
sionals who are willing to give of their
time to help their world.
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It could be big or small. Sail or power.
A dinghy or an ocean -going yacht. Whether
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Count on North Fork Bank to help make your
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North Fork is Long Island's boat loan
specialists. Over the years, we've probably
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Get all the facts. Visit your nearest
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BE SURE TO ENTER
NORTH FORKS PHOTO CONTEST.I
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Entry Forms are available
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