April 27, 1989 - Mysteries of Spring, Seen and UnseenB14 The Suffolk Times • April 27; 1989
Mysteries of Spring, Seen and Unseen
Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
BROWN CREEPER —This small, well - camouflaged bird is seldom seen
in our area. Its specially curved bill enables it to reach under the bark of
trees for insects, eggs and other bits of food.
9
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By Paul Stoutenburgh
It only takes a trip away from home
and a stay in the hospital to rekindle the
wonder of your own back yard here on
the East End. As I write, looking out
the big picture window that never tires
of showing me something new each
day, the overpowering green of the lawn
and pasture almost numbs the eye. The
cows now spend endless hours grazing
on their new -found nourishment. Longer
days, temperatures over 50 degrees, and
rain are all that nature requires to spread
her magic.
With these ingredients of spring a
whole new complexity of actions start
to take place. The visible sleeping earth
of winter now comes to life. Below, the
worms work their way from their deep,
private dungeons of winter to now riddle
the ground in their endless search for
food. We've seen their pale, pinkish -
grey, twisting bodies slip between the
wet leaves as we rake the windrows
from winter's wind along the edge of the
woods. But these are the visible signs of
life. What we do not see is the wonder
of bacteria, fungus, enzymes and a host
of knowns and still unknowns working
in the soil that make our earth so pro-
ductive. They are the genius of life.
Throughout our woods the shadblow,
with its grey, smooth bark and often
Oriental shape, is awaiting the magical
time to burst forth with its delicate
white petals. Nutrients have been build-
ing up in its swelling buds from the
magic components below. It will be our
first flash of native color in our still
wintry- looking woods. Other buds are
also swelling in the woods and, of
course, our gardens are ablaze with daf-
fodils, tulips, azaleas, forsythia and an
endless array of new additions that
brighten our man-made landscape.
Willows' Awakening
The gradual yellowing of the willows
down by the pond, the deep red of the
swamp maple buds that will later burst
into a glorious orange -red, and the green
of the skunk cabbage with its earliest
flower take a bit more to see for those
who know where to look. In the moist
woods the quivering wood anemone
hurries its delicate white blossoms
along before the trees shade it with their
new greenery from above. The trailing
arbutus or maypinks awake the spring
world with a fragrance of beauty that
few flowers will ever know. Patches of
this leathery prostrate evergreen were
Focus on
Mature
once common throughout our East End,
but today only a few secluded remnants
have escaped the never - ending sprawl of
man.
Besides the greenery and blossoming
world the workings of longer days,
warmer temperatures and bountiful rains
have brought into our area a change in
bird life. Forty -two robins move about,
probing the well - grazed pasture as I try
to count them. Run and stop. Are they
stopping to see or to listen? There a
head is cocked, intent on the ground.
Surely there's something there, for now
one picks and probes, looks about and
runs and stops again.
Creeper Is a Rarity
A lone brown creeper, a bird seldom
seen in our area, has also just moved in.
It gleans the bark of my hickory trees in
a meticulous feeding pattern: working
its way from the bottom of the tree,
spiraling up around the trunk, checking
every crevice and corner where its spe-
cially formed bill can pick out dormant
insects and eggs that make up its con-
tinuous diet. Few nest on Long Island,
but there are a few of those rare places
where shaggy b", ks of trees still give
protection for nesting sites.
Of course, the ospreys are back, and
to my great pleasure one lit on the
windmill out back just yesterday to eat
its afternoon meal of flounder. Their
comeback from an endangered - species
status gives us some hope that man can
correct his misuse of our world.
Many of the birds that have stayed
with us all winter are joining in with
our new migrants in nest building. A
blue jay has started his quiet construc-
tion in one of the evergreens near the
garage. The mourning doves make no
bones about their activity of nest build-
ing. I see them fluttering outside one of
the pines in the hedgerow. I know they
are building there. Over my son's porch
the raspberry male house finch looks
down on the already brooding female as
she huddles over her eggs. Our pond be-
low is the arena for a redwing who has
pronounced his claim to the area. Battles
go on every day to ward off invaders.
The cycle has started. The joy of a
new outdoors is here for us to enjoy. To
me it exemplifies what life is all about.
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