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November 16, 1995 - Winged Visitors Augur the Coming Winter8A • The Suffolk Times • November 16, 1995 Winged Visitors Augur the Coming Winter Someone called me to say that he had a single evening grosbeak at his feeder. This was a bit unusual for this time of year for I associate these colorful finches with winter snows and busy feeders. I mention this because if you don't have your feeders up by now, it's time to get them started. We have four or five up along with suet that the woodpeckers, nuthatches and chickadees seem espe- cially fond of. We buy our seed on sale in 50 -pound bags and keep it in galvanized garbage containers. We learned the Foe hard way that Mr. Squirrel soon found out how vul- o nerable plastic containers Nat were to his sharp teeth and then — a feast. by p The unusual are always Steutell turning up at feeders and this colorful bird is a per- fect example. This grosbeak was an immature and had not as yet gotten its striking white, yellow and black color- ing, but its heavy thick seed - crunching bill gave its identification away. The bill is shaped somewhat like the cardinal's but much; much heavier. It's so power- ful that on quiet days these northern visi- tors to our backyards can often be heard crunching the shell of rugged seeds such as the pits of the wild cherry. Its favorite food is the berry of the box elder along with the winged seed pods of maples, but then any seed or fruit will satisfy these hungry marauders. They've often been seen eating tender buds of trees and shrubs along with an occasional drink of maple sap whenever it is flowing. Usually evening grosbeaks feed in small to large 'Evening groups, and once g you've attracted grosbeaks them to your feed- ,r with sunflower seeds they'll stick ful it's hard around for weeks. not to kee They are so color - p ful it's hard not to watching keep watching them, par- them, particularly if they're high - ticularly if lighted against the they're snow. Sorry to say they are sporadic highlighted visitors and one against the never knows exact- ly when they might snow. stop by. They are a bossy bird that rivals the blue jay in dominating the feeder. Perhaps it's that formidable - looking beak that gives them their supe- riority complex to chase others away. Yesterday while talking on the phone I was watching our feeder outside under the eaves of the roof when all of a sud- den a small bird flew into view. It proved to be a Carolina wren. I'm sure many of you have heard this "loud," busy little wren. When I say little I'm referring to its size in comparison to the majority of birds like the robin or blue jay. It's about the size of the raspberry - colored finch that visits your feeder but much different in shape. The Carolina is a deer - colored brown bird with a sharp pointed bill for pick- ing insect eggs, bugs and the larvae of insects that have been neatly tucked away in the low shrubbery and thickets. Its long brown tail and creamy eye streak are also characteristic of this year -round noisy singer. So if you've heard an unusually boisterous songster in your r1pighborhood and you,bave,bad, , difficulty finding its source, it's more than likely it's a Carolina wren, for they love to play hide and seek, always on the move and frustratingly just out of sight. Carolina wrens love people places to build their nests. Often they'll claim an old outbuilding or your garage to build their bulky, cave -like nest of leaves and twigs. I've had one nesting in my garage for years and it's the main reason I keep the garage door always open. In the win- tertime I'll often see it sneak in there just as it US gets dark to roost for the night. Many birds seek h some sort of shelter at night. Chickadees, nut - are hatches, woodpeckers and 8011 other cavity nesters often burgh resort to their old nesting spot. There it is safe and warm and they can with- stand the cold of winter. During the night their heartbeat drops way down, letting them conserve their energy until morning when they can once again for- age for food and restore their strength. This trick of conserving the precious body energy (fat) is taken to its highest level of efficiency when animals of all sorts hibernate. Here their heartbeat is slowed down to a point it's almost not recognized as a beat. Yet in this world of sleep they go through the worst of win- ter's cold. True, their fat supply will diminish as time goes on, but if their body is built up enough it will hold them over until spring, when they awake and come forward to start anew. Family Member Hurt One animal in the form4`. a bird that doesn't hibernate but, like the Carolina wren, often uses man's shelter of one sort or another is the barn owl. I've cho- sen him because we had a unique expe- rience the other night that renewed my faith in the human race. I received a tele- phone call from Richie, whose family I've known for years. They had a barn owl with a broken wing and wondered what to do about it. They were very con- cerned. There's a long history of this family with barn owls, for they have an old, unused water tower on their farm up on Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh EVENING GROSBEAKS —The female on the left and the male on the right of this feeder are occasional visitors to our area. They are so brightly colored in yellow, black and white you'll never miss them. Oregon Road. I've known about it for years for I've often spoken to the father and sons about "their owls" that had taken over the water tower to roost and nest. Barn owls in particular are rather noisy neighbors and yet they tolerated them. As a matter of fact, the whole family living there has accepted and enjoyed them throughout the years and so, when they found one of "their owls" with a broken wing, they wanted to do anything in their power to help it. I called Tim Gray, a friend of mine and a licensed rehabilitator with cages for such occasions, and we went right up. With a little luck, a blinding flashlight, a blanket and a pair of heavy gloves, the owl was caught and transferred to Dr. 75 Years Ago Nov6 12, 1920 (Late- Season Berries: On Wednesday Ernest Wig- gins of Greenport picked about a pint of ripe strawberries from his garden. There are still a number of green berries on the vines. The berries are of unusual quality and most delicious. Farming News: Some of the Shelter Island farmers have very fine pieces of red cabbage and cauliflower. The price of red cabbage, however, has been too low to pay for harvesting and shipping the cabbage so that unless the prices go up the cabbage will stay in the lot The corn raised here has been very successful. All pieces have grown unusually well. 50 Years Ago Nov 16, 1945 Thanksgiving: (Editorial) The American people always have many reasons for giving thanks on their Thanksgiving day. This year they have far more reason than ever before, and that is that the war is over, the fighting is ended, and the men of the armed services are coming home as fast as possible. A great many are already at home, and their families are having a happier Thanksgiving than ever before. Zitek of Southold. Dr. Zitek, who is one of our best veterinarians, is also a volun- teer wildlife veterinarian. Here the owl was X -rayed and the wing put into a splint. The next day it was transferred to Tim's rehabilitating pens. It was nice to see the concern of Richie and his family for the disabled owl. After all, he said, it's kind of like part of the family. When the owl recu- perates it will be released in the same backyard if it is able to take care of it- self, but should it not be able to forage on its own it will be taken care of some- where with the possibility of it being used in an educational program of some sort to help people better understand and appreciate the world we live in. Servicemen's Column: Four of Greenport's ex- servicemen are back at their old jobs: Edward Copin at Sterling Market, Edwin Rowland at Levine's Market, Gabriel Zillo at Corwin's Drug Store, and Charles Chris- tiansen, who is at the A&P store. The sight of these home- town boys back in their old jobs is real evidence of the fact that the war is over. 25 Years Ago Nov. 13, 1970 Back to Soap Suds: After March 1, East End resi- dents will be able to flip off those national detergent com- mercials on TV. It just won't pay to listen to those nonsudsy commercials. In what is probably a historic piece of environmental leg- islation, the County Legislature voted Tuesday to ban the sale of most detergents in Suffolk within less than four months. Suffolk will become the first county in the nation to pass a law of this kind. "The detergent ban is not completed yet," said R. Thomas Strong, legislator from District 1, including Southold and Shelter Island. "We will undoubtedly include some other categories before the law goes into effect in March." The new law does not ban the sale of dishwasher deter- gents.