August 29, 1991 - Honoring Long Island's Natural HeroesCS The Suffolk Times • August 29, 1991
Honoring Long Island's Natural Heroes
By Paul Stoutenburgh
Hurricane Bob left us (and I'm sure
many others) with a surplus of fruit on the
ground. Our apple crop has been cut in
half and our peaches are all but gone. So
as not to waste those wonderful fruits we
started canning, freezing and baking. We
did up the peaches in just about every
possible way. Thirty some jars canned,
bags and bags frozen and jars of jam along
with peach cobbler to just about every one
in the family. I'm a true believer in not
letting good food go to waste.
In the midst of the aftermath of Bob
we got an urgent call from a man who
saw a big bird fly into one of his spruce
trees and within minutes saw the tree
topple down under the force of the hurri-
cane. The sharp eyes of his son, Justin
Nunemaker, the following day found the
bird still alive, trapped amongst the tan-
gled branches. My chainsaw cut the
branches away so we could free the bird,
which turned out to be a handsome barn
owl with a badly damaged wing. We
took it to Dr. Zitek, a certified wildlife
veterinarian, where we're hoping it is
going to pull through even though it had
a traumatic experience.
We had to break away for a while
from our peach and apple enterprise to
pay homage to two giants in the field of
Long Island's natural history. One, a
man from the West End by the name of
Dr. Robert Cushman Murphy, and the
other our own Roy Latham. Neither of
these men is with us any longer. A group
of us met to celebrate the republication
of Dr. Murphy's classic book, "Fish -
Shape Paumanok." It's a small book but
Focus
on Nature
in wonderful prose describes Long
Island from its earliest creation by the
glaciers to the times when bays and
creeks and woods and fields were not yet
spoiled by man. I recommend it highly.
Exhibit Still Open
After the book party I helped with an
exhibit to honor the work of Roy Latham
at the Southold Indian Museum on Main
Bayview Road in Southold. (The exhibit
is extended to Sept. 2.) Roy Latham was
a self- taught naturalist who knew the
flora and fauna of both forks of Long
Island better than anyone else to date.
His collections found their way not
only to the Museum of Natural History in
New York but to the museum in Albany
as well. Thousands of his specimens
were sent throughout the country to other
institutions. He corresponded with the
best of men in the fields of birds, flowers,
insects, mammals, fish, mosses, lichens
and others — plus he had a tremendous
involvement in the Indian culture of our
island. He spoke to the learned and they
all recognized his superior knowledge of
the world around him.
This was all during a lifetime that
spanned 98 years and started when he
was but a boy. He meticulously recorded
everything in notebooks, papers, letters
and actual collections of specimens. His
collections grew to such an extent it took
over an entire large home on the farm
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Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
BARN OWL —This large owl was seen flying into a spruce tree during
Hurricane Bob. Fifteen minutes later the tree toppled down, trapping the
owl inside. Later it was rescued and turned over to Dr. Zitek for
treatment of an injured wing.
where he lived. This mind - boggling
work that started before dawn and ended
in the hours of night was done in and
around the busy -ness of a farm he ran in
Orient. Besides the farm work, which
was the chief means of support, he also
tended fish traps that helped supplement
the farm income. And, of course,
catching fish meant another chance to
keep records of what kind of fish and
when they migrated through. It's records
like these that, when published, will
stand as a benchmark of where we've
come from and where we're going.
Rowed to Gardiners Island
When you look over the mass of
records this man produced and visualize
how he got there when transportation
was by horse and carriage or bicycle in
those early days, you start to realize the
tremendous energy and drive that fired
him. Many times he rowed a boat to his
beloved Long Beach across from his
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farm in Orient, where he studied some-
times for days the plants and animals of
that unique barrier beach. He told me
once when he rowed across Gardiners
Bay from Orient to Gardiners Island a
storm came up and he was forced to stay
overnight in a fisherman's shack only to
awake the next morning and see an eagle
out the window.
I met this remarkable man back in the
'50s when I was photographing orchids
in the cranberry bog, now a county park.
I thought I saw this flag being waved
from across the bog and could only think
someone was in danger. I quickly ran
across and found this wonderful little
man waving his butterfly net collecting
insects.
From then on we met or corresponded
about birds or flowers or some special
kind of fish and he always had time to
share his knowledge and answer by let-
ter. Not only did he identify what I'd
asked but he would tell a little of his
personal experience about the subject.
To me and to many others who walk
the woods and fields or travel over our
bays and creeks, he was something spe-
cial. It's hard to find that kind of dedica-
tion today. The remarkable part that
makes the man shine so brightly in my
mind was not only that he was self -
taught but that he shared his achieve-
ments with others. He was a loving
husband and a true family man who
cherished his children above all else.
Talk about a man for all seasons. He
knew them well and knew what went on
in each. He knew every actor and
recorded his findings for posterity.
One can be counted lucky to have
known both Dr. Robert Cushman
Murphy and our own Roy Latham of
Orient. They will always stand high in
the eyes of those who knew them. I
thank you both.
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