May 07, 1987 - Readers Focusing on NatureReaders Focusing on Nature
By PAUL STOUTENBURGH
My recent article on turtles with
its accompanying picture must have
stirred the imagination, for it has
brought forth many comments. A let-
ter from a young boy asked for more
information about pet turtles and
how to care for them. It reminded me
of when I was a boy and how I, too,
had my pet turtles. This slow- moving
group of reptiles still fascinates me
today. I encouraged the boy, but also
reminded him that animals we find
in the wild are fine to observe and
study, but we do them a great injus-
tice by keeping them penned up. To
add to this, it is often against the law
to keep them.
It just so happened that I received
a telephone call from a lady in New
York who wanted to know if her son
could bring his pet red -eared turtle
that he had bought in a pet shop and
let it go here in Southold. She
thought it would be a good place for
it. I explained the problem of letting
animals go that are not native to the
area and how these "releases" can
unknowingly often lead to death or
in some cases throw off the balance
of nature so the released animal gets
out of control and multiplies without
any natural predator. Examples of
this would be the abundance of starl-
ings and house finches that were in-
troduced from Europe and now crowd
our feeders in the place of local birds.
A Turtle Exchange
We think we found a solution for
the pet turtle by suggesting the
young boy who had written that he
wanted to have a turtle for a pet get
in touch with the lady who wanted to
bring her turtle to the country to re-
lease it. This would take care of the
problem of what to do with the pet
turtle and at the same time give the
boy a legal turtle to enjoy, since this
one was bought at a pet shop.
Two other people called because
they were interested in painting the
picture I had taken for the article.
Remember the turtles all lined up on
the log? Sorry to say, the photo was
taken in black and white and I
couldn't supply them with a color
photo. I suggested, though, that they
could get a good rendition of the
painted turtles in any reference book
in the library and hopefully their
turtle paintings could be completed
in true color.
Another good letter from Quincy,
Mass., came in response to the recent
salamander article. Remember those
Focus on
Nature
seldom -seen, four - legged creatures
that we find under logs and in damp
places? It seems a youth leader in her
community who has followed the
comings and goings of these noctur-
nal creatures for the past 12 years
found the most hazardous part of
their life cycle was crossing a busy
road. There was so much interest in
protecting these lowly creatures that
volunteers blocked the road for their
crossing. This generated more in-
terest and it is now believed that in
the future the road will officially be
closed for this annual migration of
salamanders to their mating ponds.
Since receiving this letter I have
heard of two communities that made
underroad tunnels so salamanders
could pass under the road unharmed.
Lesson to be Learned
Another long and beautifully writ-
ten letter reached me this week from
a lady who raised two robins last
year from infancy. This is often a
problem when young birds seem to
be separated from their parents. This
very sensitive person raised the two
birds by feeding them every hour
around the clock for two solid weeks.
That is what I call dedication and it
must have been quite a strain on the
person, to say nothing of the family.
To release the birds she put them
in a strawberry box and placed them
on a limb outside where, to the fam-
ily's joy, the parent birds soon took
up the feeding. That's pretty un-
usual, but nothing compared to
what's coming. Last October she saw
one of the robins for what she
thought was the last time as it flew
close to her in a farewell.
There's more to the story -- this
spring she thinks her robin returned.
She put out some food in the same
place she had fed them before and the
robin took it, but it didn't end there.
Early the next morning the robin
tapped on the window of the very
room it was raised in last year. She
covered the window but that didn't
help. The robin now showed up at
another window and proceeded to fol-
low her to any room she went, tap-
ping and looking for attention. The
last I knew, the robin was still there
tapping.
The woman felt so strongly about
what has happened she wanted me
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The Suffolk Times /May 7, 1987 /Page 9A
Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
BABY NUTHATCH - -Often well- intended efforts to take young birds in
and feed them lead to disaster. Itic much better to put found young
birds in a tree or bush and leave them. The young bird's call will soon
bring the mother to its rescue.
to be sure my readers would not do as
she had done. Many studies have
shown that baby birds become im-
printed with their benefactor and it
is very hard to have them break
away. She feels now, as I have often
suggested in this column, that
whenever you find a baby bird try
first putting it back in a nearby bush
or tree and hope that the parents will
come back to feed it before you take
on the full -time job of caring for it.
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