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May 18, 1989 - Foraging Through Park and GardenB14 The Suffolk Times - May 18, 1989 Foraging Through Park and Garden By Paul Stoutenburah When was the last time you saw a scarlet tanager? What? You've never seen a scarlet tanager? Think of the red- dest red you can imagine and jet -black wings on a treetop bird larger than a sparrow that sings its heart out in early spring and you'll have a fair idea of what a scarlet tanager is. I had the privilege of seeing two in our backyard just as I sat down to write. It made my day and brought back mem- Focus on Nature ories of last year when a good friend and I went to Hunters' Garden to check on the spring migration of warblers. It was then that we must have seen three or four of these handsome birds. Hunters' Garden is a unique spot situated high among the pine barrens just to the west of the Riverhead - Moriches Road. It has a long history of being a place where folks would ren- dezvous for a get - together, picnics and yearly meetings. What makes the area unique are the springs and small vernal ponds that attract a wide variety of birds and animals. It's here the deer come to drink and the birds to bathe and refresh themselves. At one time it was a par- adise for both man and wildlife. Today, it has taken on the shabby appearance of man's disregard for his world; old bot- tles, cans, papers, shot -up signs, debris of all sorts and even the abandoned car so typical of Americana throw -away. It's disheartening what men and boys do to someone else's property. Yet to the migrating birds we had gone to see it didn't seem to deter them in the slightest. Warblers of all sorts moved about the treetops; thrushes, towhees, thrashers and catbirds scratched and picked up in the underbrush. To many of them this was an oasis, a stopping -off By Paul Stoutenburgh BROWN THRASHER —What better place to build its nest than alongside the wild pink that grows throughout Orient State Park? Usually the thrasher builds in low bushes but here we find the nest on the ground. place before they moved on to their final nesting place where they'd raise their young Botanical Society at Orient This weekend we had an opportunity to be in the field but this time in an area man has set aside with a watchful eye on its comings and goings, creating one of Long Island's unique state parks. The Long Island Botanical Society had scheduled one of its many botanizing walks out at Orient Point State Park. The leaders were Joe Bietel and Eric Lamont. With such good people to lead us and such a great area, Barbara and I THOMAS BALL Residential a Commercial a Duality Work and Reliable Service Lic. Electrician a 7 65-14 12 a Lic. Plumber • I'1 Gracious Country Dining Luncheon Noon to 2:30 • Dinner until 9 North Road, Greenport a 477 -1338 -Open Tuesday- Sunday were eager to start on our morning's ad- venture. We all rendezvoused at 9:30 at the parking lot and were soon assembled with cameras, field guides, binoculars, etc. We were soon off along the sandy beaches heading west with Gardiners Bay on our left. We were most interested in the flora of this wilderness trek of cedar and post oak but our eyes were never far from observing an occasional loon or mer- ganser off in the bay or the excitement of seeing a pair of endangered piping plovers running along the beach edge. Of course, we'd not miss the scurrying of a rabbit that seemed to bound out from under our feet or the white flags of deer loping away across the marsh as we interrupted their morning siesta. Nest in Wild Pink Clump A good portion of the park is made up of marsh and we'd be walking along its edge as part of our travel. Before we had gone very far from the parking lot Eric spotted the beautiful wild pink. I've of- ten seen it here and one year I pho- tographed a brown thrasher nesting on the ground beside a clump of it. It's much liked the low pink groundcover we buy at our nurseries but growing out there on the bare sandy soil of the bar- rier beach it seemed to take on a special rugged beauty that said to me: survival. Soon people were down on their knees photographing its delicate pink flowers. Nearby Eric spotted the tiny white flowers of the grove sandwort that somehow makes it in this harsh envi- ronment. Orient State Park is a long narrow beach which is buffeted by winds and sea alike. Its soil is a sandy mixture of sparse organic matter and eons of lit- toral drifting sand that, through the years, has built up this three -to -four- mile strip of land that protects the inner bay. This is the land where plants must have a particular property to enable them to survive. It wasn't long before we came upon one of the largest stands of cactus that can be found on the East End. When it's in blossom the big, waxy yellow flow- ers are one of nature's great sights. Like all cactus, they should be admired from a distance, for if you try to pick them you will pay by having your fingers riddled with tiny cactus spines that are devilish to remove. And yet, deer in the area can eat the cactus seemingly with- out harm. After the flower has faded and gone there is a juicy, red seed pod. There was an endless outpouring of scientific names followed by the more common name for us lay - people as our leaders came upon evening primrose, chickweed, mullein, lamb's quarters, beach pea, sea rocket, dune grass, dusty miller, marsh elder, high tide bush, salt spray rose, glasswort, seaside lavender and many more. And then were were the occasions when something special came along, such as Scotch lovage (an herb), rare on Long Island. Here everyone would gather around, photographing, touching and smelling this new and most exciting find. Most of the plants were old friends to our leaders but when Joe came upon the rare rock - spiked club moss, he liter- ally jumped up and down for joy. Here was something he was searching for. Now even our leaders got down with hand lenses to check this tiny bit of moss in a lichen field. Only a trained eye could have found it. It was good to be with people who were as excited about plants as any baseball fan at his home team's game could be. It was a rare chance to travel with people so well versed in our native flora. It is people like Joe and Eric in their field of plants and others through- out the world in other fields of natural history who are opening the eyes of all of us to the importance and wonder of the planet we call home. It's only through education that we can ever hope to change the attitude of today's careless environmental degradation and with that there is hope for the future.