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April 27, 1995 - Backyard Bursts With Sign's of SpringApril 27, 1995 • The Suffolk Times • 5A o Backyard Bursts With Sign's f By Paul Stoutenburgh We've started eating lunch outside now that the spring weather has finally come our way. It's still too cool for breakfast but it won't be long before it, too, will become part of our daily routine. Years ago we built a small brick patio with a sort of freeform shape that lets us look over the back pasture to the east. This is the most exciting time of the year for everything is bursting �OCU$ On out with new growth and song. The wind is from the west Nature which is quite unusual for us here on the East End. I can tell its direction because the vane of the windmill up back gives me an accurate reading at a glance. Because the wind is from the west we're protected by the house and it's delightfully warm here at the table. After lunch I spread out on one of those old aluminum lounges that seem to wrap themselves around you, making meso comfortable that if I'm not careful I could easily drift off to sleep. A pair of cardinals is cavorting about the place, the male whistling his continuous "cheer- cheer - cheer." We're lucky to have a pair of flickers (big wood- peckers) trying out the various dead trees in the woods about hoping to find one suitable `This is the for their cavity home. The mating call here is something like the most exciting cardinal's in the sense that it repeats continuously, "wick - time of the wick - wick - wick." year for We're still feeding birds. Perhaps the feeders are not as everything is busy as in the winter when food bursting out was scarce. We'll gradually taper off as the feed runs out and then with new feed no more until fall. Many people ask, should we keep feed - growth and ing birds throughout the warm weather? My answer to that is if song. you like to have birds around, why not? It really doesn't matter. Take them down if it's convenient or leave them up if you like. Either way is okay. Spilled Feed Some people complain that their feeders spill a lot of seed around on the ground but that's an important part of bird feeding for we have a certain group of ground feeders that rely on this spilled seed. Take, for example, the juncos and white throats and others. Speaking of white- throated sparrows, I hope some of you have had this spring songster with his "Old Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody" song at your feeder for now the male's plumage is in its prime. The white streaks about Spring Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh SHADBLOW —Watch for the delicate white blossom of the shadblow along our road edges and creekfronts. It gets its name from its blossoming at the same time that the shad (fish) migrate up our rivers to spawn. the head, a spot of yellow on the cheek and his glaring white throat make him one of our most handsome spar- rows. Keep an eye out for the rare white - crowned spar- row also. You'll know him by his white top that stands out so much more than the streaks of the white throat. I've been cutting and cleaning around the place in anticipation of the town's pickup of branches, etc., and one thing I cut was a wild grapevine up back about the size of your pinkie. It immediately started to bleed, or should I say the sap started to run out of the branch I had just cut. That was a week ago and it is still dripping unbelievably. It's literally worn a place in the ground by its dripping sap. No wonder our trees are budding as their pressurized life blood is being pumped into the buds and expanding their growth. Did you ever wonder how sap gets up to the top of a tree? Well, the truth is that plant specialists aren't quite sure even today how it is done. It has to do a little with capillary action, a lot to do with water molecules tend- ing to stick together and much to do with the size of the cells that go into making up the roots, leaves and the tree itself. Even evaporation of water from the leaves gets into the act. But let's think about it. How could this be possible when you think of a giant sequoia over 400 feet tall? Nature's pretty remarkable. The swelling of buds shows up in the big shadblow that grows out on our lawn. Each year it blossoms with its delicate white flowers that you'll be seeing along our roadsides and wood edges. Shadblow got its name wVw 1 75 Years Ago April 23, 1920 Arrested: Agents from the office of Internal Revenue swooped down on a proprietor of a Greenport delicatessen and fruit store Monday night and arrested him for selling and having in his possession liquor. They claimed that the man had in his possession nine barrels and a half of so- called Italian wine. He was placed in the village jail Mon- day night. The next day he was taken to Brooklyn, where he was released on bail. 50 Years Ago April 27, 1945 13,000 Pounds of Clothing Given: The North Fork can well be proud of the part which it has played in donating clothing to clothe the destitute people of wartorn Europe. A veritable mountain of clothing of all description has been donated from Orient Point to Mattituck. Mrs. Margaret Ireland, the chairman of the clothing drive, is very grateful for the spirit of cooperation demonstrated by the residents of the East End, and of the willingness on their part to furnish warm clothing for those in Europe who in many cases lack even enough clothes to cover their bodies. To date approximately 13,000 pounds of clothing has been packed and is in the freight house at Greenport ready because it blossoms when the shad (fish) are migrating up our brackish streams. Its flowers are a true sign that spring is really on its way. Of course, the true signs of spring are not always the ones you see but the ones you hear. The evening and night sounds of the peepers have been calling for the past few weeks. These little frogs, less than an inch long, journey to our ponds each spring to call for a mate to join them to participate in the ritual that will perpetuate their race. Hunting for Peepers My 14- year -old grandson and his friends decided the other night to try to find where the sound was coming from and so with lights and jars they headed down to the pond for an evening adventure. It must have been quite an adventure indeed for at one time Robby came running back all out of breath to get a rope. One of his buddies had gotten stuck in the mud and was in need of a pull. I can just imagine how neat and tidy they must have been when they got home. It all worked out and they got their peepers which they proudly displayed. Of course, they were told they couldn't keep them and they'd have to be returned to the pond. There was a bit of hesitation and then, "Okay," and they were off. Later Robby would show me a baby painted turtle he had found in the pond also, no larger than a quarter. It had to be either last year's young that was born in the late fall or just hatched this year. Sometimes if the weather is too cool and the embryo doesn't develop for fall hatching, it lies dormant through the winter until spring. It, too, would be t A h d for shipment. S.I. Hotel Sold: Mr. and Mrs. George Crook, who for the past 36 years have owned and operated Chequit Inn at Shelter Island Heights, have sold the inn and are retiring from the hotel business. Their many friends will miss them. The new owner is Carletto Franzoni, formerly with the Ritz Towers. 25 Years Ago April 24, 1970 Osprey Is Free Thinker: Although the osprey population may be dwindling down to near - extinction, stay- ing ahead of their nesting habits has kept officials of the Long Island Lighting Company on their toes. Last week one of our local osprey denizens chose to build its nest on a pole supporting LILCO's high- tension wires near Mill Creek in Arshamomaque. Local conservationists suggested putting up a platform atop a pole for the osprey. LILCO officials were worried the osprey was about to lay her eggs, so they sent nine men to Mill Creek to build a plat- form. While waiting to deenergize the wires before building the platform they were called on another emergency. The osprey picked up its nest, of its own free will, and moved it to a Western Union pole where it wasn't doing any harm. re urne o t e pon . I couldn't help but think how healthy and rewarding that type of adventure was to those young boys. When you think of the problems of today's youth and the violence and garbage on television, frog hunting and other outdoor activities could help keep our youth on the right course. Yet it seems they are spending less time outside and more time inside. It's too bad for there's a wealth of adven- ture out in the natural world and more than enough to keep them involved. Perhaps that is one of the great messages that this past week's Earth Day celebra- tion was trying to tell us. Auxiliary Plant Sale GREENPORT— Geraniums, impa- tiens and hanging baskets are available from the annual plant sale sponsored by the Eastern Long Island Hospital Auxil- iary. Orders must be placed by May I on the North Fork and by May 8 on Shelter Island. Call Marjorie Baker in Orient (323- 2748), Mary Dewey in Southold (7654749) or Martha Williams in Shel- ter Island (749- 0741).