August 01, 1985 - A Day on GardinersPage 12A
The Suffolk Times
A Day on Gardiners
By PAUL STOUTENBURGH
Barbara and I made a commitment
months ago to meet with a special
friend, Dennis Puleston, when he
touched down from his world -wide
travels. We were to check out the os-
preys on Gardiners Island with him
when he returned from one of his
Lindblad cruises, where he hosts as a
naturalist. Thursday was our day to
meet and walk the beaches and woods
where we'd survey this once -en-
dangered species.
As it happened, we were out on one
of our short cruises in the Sea Wind
and plans were to meet him at the is-
land. Sure enough, at 7:30 with a fair
southwest wind, we saw The Captain
Kidd bearing towards Gardiners over
the stern.
We had spent the first night out in
Dering Harbor and the second night at
Three Mile Harbor. What wonderful
spots to stay over. After dinner last
night, Barbara and I sailed the dinghy
way up to the end of the harbor. There
was a lot of tacking back and forth, for
the wind was coming right out of the
head of the harbor.
Dinghy sailing is something special
and as we drifted along looking in at
the well - placed homes along the harbor,
we thought that the residents in the
area had done a particularly good job
of keeping the landscape natural.
Homes were almost hidden among the
trees. We went ashore at the big marina
at the head of the harbor to do some
phoning and then started back only to
find the wind had dropped off. Needless
to say, our trip was slower going back.
Renewing Old Acquaintances
The next morning we met Dennis, his
daughter and her husband and renewed
Focus on
Nature
old acquaintances with the people on
Gardiners. Time moved along too
rapidly, so we had to break away to get
on with our survey. Nest after nest we
checked off as we headed for the long
sandy beach on the south end where we
wanted to check on heron and tern col-
onies.
It is on these lonely beaches of Gar -
diners that you can really get a feeling
of what life on an island must be like.
As far as the eye can see, the sandy
beach extended before us. Everywhere
gulls called from above as they patrol-
led their nesting grounds. The gulls
have really taken over here and are be-
coming a real problem. Grey chicks of
the gulls scurried for cover as we ap-
proached while the more advanced
fledglings took off before us. Here we
could see the first year gull in its drab
grey -brown feathering. They'll hold on
to this protective camouflage for a year
or two until the juvenile feathers molt
and the clean white and grey of the
adult herring gull emerges. We see
these immatures all along our shoref-
ront and, of course, in our own town
landfill, where they soon find out
there's always a free meal.
Most of the gulls were herring gulls
at this stage as we started walking on
the south end to the beach. But then
the further we got out on the low sandy
peninsula, the more the picture
changed from the herring gull to those
August 1, 1985
Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
BLACK SKIMMERS - -If you are lucky, you will see these handsome
birds skimming over the water with their lower bill dragging in the water.
Being beach nesters, these birds, like the terns, are finding it difficult
to nest.
of the big and aggressive black- backed
gull. Look for this pirate the next time
you see gulls. The black top wings are
a sure giveaway. This gull was almost
unknown to the East End 30 to 40 years
ago, but now has moved down from the
north and is aggressively taking over.
He is a tough, ruthless fellow who'll
scoop up anything dead or alive. They'll
extract their toll from any tern colony
and that was what we were particularly
concerned about and wanted to check
on. Sure enough, they had pushed the
colony even further south than last year
and seeing so many of their young about
meant they were well on their way to
taking over this part of the island.
The tern colony was mixed with black
skimmers and it was gratifying to see
that they were doing well despite the
pirating of eggs and young by both the
herring and black backs. All other
birds, including the snowy egret, night
herons, the common and roseate terns,
are really taking a beating from these
vandals.
Time Out to Photograph
What made my day was sitting off to
the edge of the black skimmer and tern
colony and photographing. The others
(continued on page 14A)
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Our clam chowder gets rave reviews from even
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Come in for our scrumptious,
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OPEN 7 DAYS
Monday through Thursday and Sunday 11 -9 • Friday and Saturday 11 -11
Page 14A The Suffolk Times August 1, 1985
75 Years Ago
July 30, 1910
Oh, You Blotter: Protests against
the new postal cards are coming into
the country. The complaint is that the
cardboard on which they are printed is
of such a poor quality that it will not
hold the ink.
Congress recently took the manufac-
ture of postal cards from private con-
tractors and ordered the work done by
the government printing office. Public
Printer Donnelly is turning them out
at the rate of 3,000,000 a day.
One card came to the department one
day with this on it: "I love my postal
card, but oh, you blotter."
Uses Electricity: A Brooklyn man,
ex -Judge Thomas H. Williams, is mak-
ing an interesting experiment on Long
Island, an electric farm. He is trying to
grow crops by means of electricity.
The idea is not entirely new as the
experiment was tried near Dresden,
Germany. Three electric currents were
passed through the atmosphere sur-
rounding young plants. It was found
that the expense was too great to derive
any benefit from accelerated growth of
the plants.
Judge Williams has strung wires on
poles about 12 feet above the ground
Let's Look Back
where the seeds are planted and com-
bines amperage and low voltage. He
uses wind mills to generate the electric-
ity, part of which is run into storage
batteries for days when there is no wind
for the mills.
This is on a larger scale than a previ-
ous experiment of Judge Williams',
when he advanced the growth of the
plants for several weeks.
50 Years Ago
August 2, 1935
Legion Convention Opens: Green -
port as a community is in readiness to
extend a hearty welcome to the Amer-
ican Legion Posts of Suffolk County,
who will hold their Seventeenth An-
nual County Convention here today and
tomorrow. The various committees
from Burton Potter Post of Greenport
have completed their arrangements
and all is in readiness for the official
opening of the Convention. Over five
hundred Legionnaires are expected to
attend the two sessions of the Conven-
tion which will be held in the Au-
ditorium of the new School. In honor of
the occasion the various business places
and many of the private residences in
the community are patriotically deco-
rated.
Sterling Basin Favored at Hear-
ing: Only one person appeared in oppos-
ition to the proposed improvement of
Sterling Basin at the hearing held at
Greenport on Tuesday afternoon of this
week by Colonel Schulz, District En-
gineer of the War Department. George
G. Brown, owner of property on Sterling
Basin, stated that he was opposed to
the dredging and improvement of this
natural landlocked harbor. In compari-
son to the objection of Mr. Brown, State
and County Officials, prominent
yachtsmen; Mayor Ansel V. Young, of
the Village of Greenport, the County
Board of Supervisors, prominent resi-
dents of the village and a telegram from
Congressman Robert Bacon, who was
unable to attend the hearing, all fa-
vored the proposed improvement. Over
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The area abounds in Long Island's famed recreational and cultural amenities.
Nearby golf and country clubs, white sandy beaches, the sparkling waters of Long
Island Sound or Peconic Bay for sailing or fishing. Shopping and transportation are
close and museums, libraries, houses of worship and health facilities are all in the
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one hundred letters from yachtsmen
and boat owners from all sections of
Long Island, Connecticut and other
points, in addition to complete data
favoring the proposition, were also filed
by Engineer W.D. Bailey, who was em-
ployed by the local committee to pre-
pare the data showing the need of this
improvement.
Following a luncheon at the Hotel
Booth House to Colonel Schulz and his
aides, Engineer J.M. Buckley and John
Higgins, by the members of the local
committee, the hearing was held in the
Village Hall. There was a large atten-
dance of those interested in this propos-
ition which is of such vital importance
to the future development of Greenport.
25 Years Ago
July 29, 1960
Fire Department Block Party in
Full Swing: The annual block party of
the Greenport Fire Department is now
going in full swing, having opened on
Thursday evening, and will continue
through Friday and Saturday evenings
of this week and open again on Thurs-
day, August 4th and on Friday and
Saturday of that weekend. This year the
department has tried to make it the best
one ever, providing new equipment,
better arranged stands, and going all
out in the matter of prizes, soliciting a
new concern for more expensive mer-
chandise so as to please the many who
patronize the party. For the children
the committee has arranged new rides
for both the very young and the teenage
group. Come out and enjoy these new
rides and other games for the children.
Try Bingo, the popular game where one
may sit down and enjoy a visit with
one's neighbor and at the same time
take home a beautiful gift by placing
the little bean on the numbers.
Focus,,,
(continued from page 12A)
had walked on to check out the extreme
end and Barbara and I were left alone .
among the whirling and screaming
birds. Black skimmers, or "sea dogs" as
they are called because of their wild cry
or bark, milled about us as we stayed
low on the beach.
As the birds got used to us crouched
on the beach, they'd settle and only oc-
casionally a guard would attack and
scold. Then every once in a while some-
thing would alert them and the whole
area would take off in a fury of flashing
wings. It seemed as if the ground would
rise. Terns and skimmers would parade
by us screaming their alarm and cus-
sing us out for trespassing near their
holy ground.
I tried to snap a picture now and then,
but I must say I was more intrigued in
their flight and chatter than in the job
of photographing. I became mezmerized
with their wild flight. The black skim-
mers would fly low to the beach, head-
ing directly toward us, and then turn
just in time in a spectacular banking
pattern accompanied by their haunting
wild call.
Holding themselves high above us,
the terns surveyed the area and when
the time was right would swoop down
screaming all the way. Every once in a
while one would pick us out and dive
bomb within a few feet, only to pull out
of its dive just before hitting us.
Our time ran out, for Dennis and his
crew came along and we joined them to
continue our trek about the island. The
ospreys were doing better than they had
in the past 20 years. This is true of all
reports, not only on Gardiners but on
Shelter Island, Plum Island and both
the North and South Shores. The young
are up from 129 to 169, an increase of
40 this year. This is an indicator that
the pesticide DDT finally is working out
of "our food chain ". This is good news
for all of us, not just the osprey.