July 28, 1988/The Suffolk Times /Page 13AJuly 28, 1988/The Suffolk Times /Page 13A
Nature's Lessons at the Landfill
By Paul Stoutenburqh
The past week has been about as bad
as it could be when it comes to weather.
No one objects to rain, Lord knows we
needed it, but when it is muggy and
overcast with an occasional drizzle, it
seems to dampen everyone's spirit. I'll
bet many of you can remember similar
periods when your leather shoes and
belts started to mold and everything in
the house felt sticky.
Of course, dampness and wet are the
key ingredients for fungus and mold.
I'm reminded of this after a rainy period
when I look out in the pasture or across
the lawn and see mushrooms blooming.
During the dry spell we just went
through there was no sign of them but
after the moisture they popped up ev-
erywhere. They've been waiting for the
right conditions. Now their roots or
mycelium can go on decomposing the
mass of debris the grasses and leaves and
wood have left for them to handle.
The same condition is true of some of
our older cellars. All winter long the oil
burner keeps the cellar comparatively
dry but then summer comes along and
the cellar becomes a nightmare of mold
and musty smells.
We did get a few bursts of real rain
during that muggy period. Those flash
downpours, although welcome, some-
times carry destruction for man and
beast alike. I took my weekly trip to the
dump or, I should say sanitary landfill,
the other day and one of the young men
there asked about some birds flying
around in the sand pit. He said they had
had nests in the bank and now seemed to
be flying around in disorder. Sure
sounded like bank swallows to me and
so I asked if I could go down and take a
look.
Victims of Rain
Sure enough, at the bottom of this
vast hole in the ground were bank swal-
lows milling about the south end. But
where were the characteristic holes in
the bank with their nests at the end?
What was going on? It was too late for
swallows to start building. Their time
was months ago. Already I've seen
signs of tree swallows heading south,
which means they have been north,
found an abandoned cavity in a tree, laid
their eggs, raised their young and are
now migrating along our eastern
seaboard.
Swallows are some of the first to pass
through our area in the spring and their
movement always coincides with the
hatching of insects. Without a plentiful
supply of insects, we wouldn't have
swallows. It's as simple as that. But
what about these bank swallows milling
about the south end of the sand pit?
A little detective work would give the
answer. Along the rim I could see places
where water had run down, taking with
it a gully of sand. There must have been
a lot of rain here. The pit had steep
banks and had not had a chance to erode
through time to the usual gradual slope.
The torrential bursts of rain had evi-
dently weakened the bank where the
nests were. The whole thing caved in
and lay in a heap at the bottom of the
pit. I could only surmise that the swal-
lows had been raising their young. The
females had probably settled in with
them during the storm when the bank
collapsed and everything was lost. Na-
ture's a hard task master. We were see-
Focus on
Nature
ing the birds' partners looking for what
had once been their home.
Too Late to Rebuild
We watched and pondered what went
through their tiny heads as they milled
about. Would they seek another mate
and try to rebuild? I doubt it. More
likely, as the urge to migrate sets in,
they'll turn their backs on their sand pit
and join up with the swallows from the
north now passing through.
While there I had a look around.
Landfills on Long Island are going
through tremendous growing pains. No
longer can we just dump our waste into
an open pit and cover it up and walk
away. Time is running out. We must
close our landfills by 1990, not too far
away. Many towns are working desper-
ately at correcting their old ways. A
special area was set aside for papers, an-
other for scrap metal and toxic waste in
another spot. Yes, we are moving ahead
but it seems so slow.
Out of the corner of my eye I caught
something moving. Lo and behold,
right in back of me on a power pole,
landed a mature red - tailed hawk. We
were only 50 feet from him. What a
handsome addition he made to the area.
There he sat, head erect, eyes searching
This part of the landfill was his hunting
ground. A stray rat that might venture
out would surely be pinned by this effi-
cient hunter. Later I was to learn the
people at the landfill thought a family
of hawks lived in the back woods.
They'd often seen young flying about.
Kildeer Nests Found
Further on I could hear the call of a
kildeer and, sure enough, with a little
searching I found that bird with a ring
around its neck that had been there all
summer. It must have built its nest on
the ground some place amongst this
vast, inhospitable area. How I remember
this lovely bud from childhood. In those
days we walked to school across farm
fields and often would scare up kildeers
from their nests. Like most plovers they
perform the broken -wing act, dragging a
wing and fluttering along the ground as
if hurt. The theory is that you will fol-
low this "crippled" bird and the nest will
be saved.
My trip to the landfill resulted in
more than getting rid of my weekly
garbage. I had met some interesting
people who were not only doing a pretty
good job but also were concerned about
the birds in the area. It just goes to
show that the natural world is all about
us, even up at the dump -- whoops --
landfill.
interesting
informed
in touch
•
The Suffolk Times
Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
BARN SWALLOW HOLES - -These holes in banks and cliffs along our
shores reveal the nesting sites of the bank swallows. Any bank will do.
Even the town landfill offered a home to a colony this year.
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