November 12, 1981 - Bald Eagle Visits OrientNovember 12, 1981 19be NeW0- RtbieM
Bald Eagle Visits Orient
Bird alert! Call it what you want, but my
phone has been ringing since last week
when I was told an eagle was spotted out in
Orient. I've seen eagles before, but the
mere mention of one always gives me a
thrill and sets my adrenahn in motion.
Usually I drop everything but this week
was a busy one and so I held off checking
until Sunday.
On the way down to Orient I thought
back to when I had last seen an eagle. It
was last year when a golden eagle was
reported at the Nature Conservancy's
Mashomack Preserve on Shelter Island. It
had been there most of the winter and
when we saw it, it was but a speck in the
sky drifting around on the thermals high
above that great preserve.
The other eagle: I saw about two years
ago when I was taking a group of Adelphi
University students on a field trip out to
Orient to see our ospreys. Little did we
know what we were to see that day.
It was early spring and, of course, the
ospreys could be seen all along Narrow
River Road. When we reached the sharp
turn down by the marina we were dumb-
founded by the sight of a huge bird in hot
pursuit of one of the ospreys. It could only
be an eagle. Sure: enough everyone piled
out of the car and we watched these two
magnificent birds as the eagle dove,
pursued and harassed the osprey. Evident-
ly the eagle wanted no part of an osprey in
its territory and it soon drove it out,
swinging back to the marsh where it
settled on what was probably a fish it had
scavenged. The thing we were most
impressed by was the size; the eagle
seemingly was twice the size of the osprey.
We watched spellbound, one student re-
marking that the whole trip was worth that
five minute encounter of osprey and eagle.
Today's bird we were looking for had
been reported within a mile of the village
and so we started to make our survey. The
open fields, the high trees, were all
scanned meticulously and yet we could see
no eagle. We knew it had to be there for
just a half hour before we had gotten a
telephone call informing us it was in that
general area. Finally we took a turn to the
left and then to the right and then to the
left and there it was sitting on some pilings
at the end of a road. It was huge. Slowly we
worked the car up to within 200 feet of it,
all the time keeping our glasses on it just in
case it decided to leave. It was a young
bald eagle and had light coloring mixed
with brown on both its breast and wings.
On close examination we could pick out a
new band on its leg. How I wished we had
binoculars strong enough to read the
number for then we could find out exactly
where it had come from. Every once in
a while he would take a quick look around
and we could see that gigantic hooked bill
that so characterizes the whole family of
hawks. Looking for Fish
The bald eagle is a scavenger and I'm
sure was looking for a free meal that alight
have drifted up on the beach from the
fishermen in the area. This is surely the
right spot and we only hope that the
fishermen realizing that eagles are scav-
engers will part with some of their catch.
Wouldn't it be nice to have that eagle
around so all could see it.
Eagles were once common along the
entire eastern seaboard, but by the turn of
the century they started to thin out. Roy
Latham, the great naturalist from Orient,
wrote me many years ago when he was
reminiscing about the time he was caught
on Gardiners Island in a storm and had to
stay overnight in a fishing shack on
Bostwick Point. When he awoke the next
morning he saw a great eagle sitting on a
log not far from the shack. He also related
that he could remember them - actually
nesting on Gardiners Island. I assume this
was around the early 1900's.
As we watched spellbound with our
binoculars, a car pulled up in back with a
group of men and a dog headed for their
boat nearby. They didn't even notice the
eagle as they were intent on getting to
their boat but, that was enough to scare
him off. Up it flew with wings outstretched,
six to seven feet in width. Although it
seemed clumsy at first as it got into the air
it soon soared effortlessly in the strong
northwest wind with all the grace you
would expect from a small bird. I could see
its yellow feet and the beautiful pattern of
the outstretched primary feathers against
the blue sky. It was truly inspiring.
How can people kill such a handsome
q @ (�, Ifl @
ME,Q1flTq
bird? So regal. So strong. So beautiful. Yet
each year hundreds are slain by misguided
cattlemen who continually claim they take
their young sheep. This is a controversial
subject and has no place here. I only
mention it because the bird is so rare and it
seems so unjust to kill something that
borders on the line of extinction.
O!1 our way back home we thought over
our quick dash to Orient. The phragmites
seeds were blowing in the wind. It was
their time to find new places to grow, just
as this great eagle had drifted down to us
from the north and had now found Orient
as a place to rest. What could be its future?
Would it stay around content with the
leavings of the fishermen or would some
unknown instinct head it south to unknown
lands where: someone else might be
inspired by its greatness? We had tasted
its beauty and were content. How wonder-
ful it would be to have a bird like that to
look up to. Perhaps with everyone's help it
will stay with us.
PAUL STOUTF.NBURGH
---- - - - -i= d■
op1ON COUPON COUPON cow
Colony
Rhineskeller
Moselle OUR
PRICE
4 Liter $4,99
A Reg Price $7.99
Expires 11/17/81
?h*3 NOd003 NOd003 ft
Page 11
IMMATURE BALD EAGLE - -No one can say where this great bird came
from but right now the eyes of Orient are guarding it.
Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
SON COUPON COUPON COUPDy�
opJON COUPON COUPON COUP
CLIP& BRING
o
Carlo Rossi �
Inglenook
Burgundy or °—_
= Chablis or Rose
Chablis OUR o
° OUR
PRICE
CMD PRICE
4 Liter $ 29 O
Reg. Price $6.29
Expires 11/17/81
d— 4 Liter $ 499
0 Reg. Price $8.99
V Expires 11/17/81
,l�
U803 NOd003 NOd003 NOij1`gO MASTEV,*J".011QJ003 No 003 N111
_G RIVER CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
�
rAYL&R. TAYL®Rm ,ells of Beef
.��
/ vg. Wt. 201bs.
Champagne I �� ��,� !��N � - Q I - DRY • SWEET •BRUT : '� 1189 The
OUR ALL TYPES OUR
750m! PRICE $499 , 1.5 Liter PRICE $ 99
Reg. Price $7.39 ' Reg. Price /17/8 f `A' Chicken L
Expires 11/17/81 I u`
Expires 11/17/81
CLIP & BRING ' CLIP & BRING
BOLLA
j H
5 10 lbs. $ 90
� Bristol
Bristol Cream
oave • Valpolicella
OUR PRICE
OUR
PRICE $ 699
3mb
Kielbasa
750m1
Reg. Price /17/8 $ 299
Expires 11/17/81
nrronnn
Reg. 750mi P
— Reg. Price $10.99
•
$199 The
Expires 11/17/81
Regal Club I Grade `A'
Vodka & Rye Emmets 96MCH WHIbrc1
7
99 $ 99 Irish Cream $1599 d Getet0 {fete
Tastes Just 2n �K(1
799 Like Baileys! MAGNUM SIZE G�1djlted
MAGNUM SIZE
TRY PLAZAS OWM HOUSE
• SCOTCH ... 86 proof $11.99 mg. * VODKA ......80 proof $8.59 mg. * RYE ............80 proof $9.39 mg.
$6.69 liter $4.79 liter $5.39 liter
• GIN ........... 80 proof $8.59 mg * RYE............ 90 proof $10.99 mg. * CANADIAN..80proof $10.99 mg.
$4.79liter $6.29liter $6.29 liter