Septmeber 01, 1988 - Bountiful Birding in an Old CanoeBountiful Birding
By Paul Stoutenburah
Each year I try to make at least one
trip to the bird islands just inside
Moriches Inlet. It's there and on the
flats of Shinnecock that one can see the
remnants of one of nature's greatest
spectacles of bird migration... shore
birds on their way to the Caribbean and
South America. I jumped at the oppor-
tunity when a good friend called sug-
gesting the trip. On Aug. 23 we loaded
the old Grumman canoe and all our
paraphernalia into Ralph's pickup truck
and were off.
The canoe is probably 40 or more
years old and still as good as the day it
was built, with the exception of the
seats. For some unknown reason their
support to the gunnels was weak and
I've had to jury-rig them with fiberglass
and wood. Actually I bought it second-
hand from a farmer in Riverhead who
had it hanging in his barn collecting
dust and an occasional chicken egg. The
farmer never used it. In those days when
dollars were harder to come by the $35 I
offered him looked really good.
Since that time the canoe has been
borrowed by a wide variety of paddlers.
There were those who took it to the
northern wilderness of Canada and I
can't count the number of times it's
been borrowed to go down the Peconic,
the Carman's and the Nissequogue
'rivers. It has probably spent equal time
with salt water under its keel, making
early trips to Gardiners Island, sails up
and down the Sound and, of course, trips
to Shinnecock and Moriches bay on
birding trips. It's a bit scratched and
bruised from use but I must say, having
had boats of all sorts throughout my life
time, my canoe has required almost no
maintenance through the years, the ex-
ception being my repair of the seats.
Shore Birds in a Field
On our way to the south shore we
saw our first birds in a farmer's field:
three killdeers. When we arrived in East
Moriches we turned down Atlantic Av-
enue and launched the boat at the foot of
the road. The Coast Guard station, off to
the left, reminded both of us of cold,
wintry days when we would scout from
that vantage point-for birds to fill our
list on the Central Suffolk Christmas
Bird Count. The personnel there were
always most cordial and often would let
us warm our fingers and toes in their
warm snug barracks. I'm sure they
thought us a bit crazy, running around
in such miserable weather with our
binoculars looking for birds, but then
they weren't birders.
Once unloaded, we headed across the
bay where we anchored the canoe on the
east side of the big bird island. Greeting
us overhead were flocks of cormorants.
These birds, called shags locally, are
seen throughout the summer in our area
for they nest on Gardiners and Fishers
islands.
Dropping off from the higher land of
the island were 40 or 50 acres of sandy
mud flats with occasional clumps of
young blue mussels. At low tide it
made an inviting stop for the migrating
birds we had come to see. The first to
greet us was a willet, a relatively new
nester along our south shore, and one
you cannot mistake. When it flies great
patches of white are seen on the wings
and body, none of which.is visible when
the b '
Focus on
Nature
about the size of a dove, with a long
bill and unusually long legs.
Scope Brings Birds Close
I brought my scope and tripod along
for on these vast open areas birds often
fly away before you can get up close.
The scope lets you scan great distances.
Semi - palmated plovers were running and
stopping all about us. They are some-
times confused with the endangered pip-
ing plover that nests sparsely along our
shores, but a close look can easily
separate these small, sparrow- sized,
black- ringed -neck birds. Also running
and stopping were 50 or more hand-
some, black - bellied plovers scattered
throughout the area. Some still had their
elegant black belly markings, while
others had changed to a more mottled
fall plumage.
Standing out in size and color were
oyster catchers all around the perimeter
of the flats. There must have been 15 or
more. We watched one wrestle with a
group of mussels. This striking black -
and -white bird with its long, flat, red
bill went in, around and under trying to
get at some choice morsel. Finally it
succeeded and we could see a small ob-
ject, perhaps a crab, in its bill. As we
moved across the flats, birds of all sorts
flew before us. The stubby little knot
probed for worms here and there. Gulls
and terns screamed above, letting us
know we'd intruded into their domain.
As the morning went on, more and
more birds were added to our list: a
small group of sanderlings; scattered
dowitchers with their long bills working
away like sewing machines in the soft
mud; yellowlegs, that handsome shore
bird that sits on long yellow legs and
has a white rump when it flies, called
loudly to let everyone know we were
near.
Buff - Breasted Sandpiper?
From in back of the island five or six
teal (ducks) flew off. We couldn't tell
5901'enifj60; 1988IThe"Suf oAt Timd�*Sde"i3K
in an Old Canoe
Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
DOWITCHER —A wide variety of shore birds can be seen along our
south shore during their fall migration. They have nested as far north as
the Arctic Circle and are now migrating as far south as Argentina.
which teal they were for they flew into
the sun, but their rapid wing beat and
small size marked them as teal. Then a
single bird flew in that completely puz-
zled us. Looking in our field guides and
reading all the various descriptions, we
labeled it a buff - breasted sandpiper, a
rare visitor usually seen inland. I have
never seen it out on the sand flats. We
counted it as a buff - breasted sandpiper
with a question mark.
Later we went from the west to the
east side of the inlet. There we found a
group of 50 or more common terns,
resting. I had a great time checking the
leg bands on many of these birds. Some
were red, some green, some yellow and
others white. I had read somewhere that
a research project was going on and col-
ored bands were used in hopes of tracing
their movements. I jotted down the ones
I saw in hopes of passing the informa-
tion along.
A nice surprise was about 30 royal
terns, visitors from the south. These
terns are the size of a small gull but
with larger and thinner wings and a large
yellow bill. They have a black cap
roughly arranged in a crest, which
makes this tern a handsome addition to
the others we're so used to seeing.
By now it was time to return home.
We'd gotten a good look at the spectacle
of shore birds that refuel along our
south shore. Once again it reminded us
how important these stopover places are
to migrating birds. It's all part of that
most important concept of preserving
habitat. Without it, we lose it all.
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