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February 09, 1995 - Summery Sights on an Island in Winter4A • The Suffolk Times • February 9, 1995 Summery Sights on an Island in Winter By Paul Stoutenburgh We camped at Jekyll Island Camp- ground in Georgia amongst huge live oaks draped with Spanish moss. It once was an island of the wealthy and still to some degree is today, but its ownership has changed and the St Georgiaate now Focus on owns it, opening Nature it up to the pub- lic. All about its shores have sprouted lush condos and comfortable retirement homes where one can play golf at night on lighted fair- ways. It's a place that would give strength to Southold's Task force suggestions of bike paths, for all around and through the island are paved, meandering trails that wander in and out of majestic palms and old live oaks that thoughtful people have left standing. We, of course, had our bikes, a bit dilapidated compared to the polish and crome speedsters we'd see as we pedaled along. The first hour or so went quite well but ,as time went on I found my bottom was not used to the small seat of my bike, and I had to stop to change position every now and then. The stops afforded us an opportunity to check over the flora and fauna of this semitropical island. Actually to get on the island you have to pay a $2 fee. It's called a parking fee and it looked to me that the dollars col- lected were being put to good use. There were plenty of parking places along the beaches, paths were kept up and we saw no litter anywhere. At one point we biked a section that take us another hour and a half to get back. So we turned around. We left Jekyll Island with fond memo- ries and headed along the long causeway heading to the mainland where we had to stop and admire a handsome group of wood storks along with- a dozen or so immature white ibis. Storks are big white birds with long legs and huge feet that help support them in the soft mud. What makes them amazing is their large head and bill and when they are lined up they look like some sort of odd wooden soldiers. Cameras clicked as we tried to get them to stand in formation, but since they were not being cooperative we had to settle for a mixed group. Further along we'd see black - bellied plovers and small peeps, shorebirds rest- ing with their heads tucked in as if they had just come in from a long flight. Could it be that they were slowly working their way north as the seasons warmed up? Perhaps, but then we had just left snow and cold in the Carolinas and I remem- bered it would still take some time until spring returned to the north. As we drove along on the mainland, we could see pansies blossoming in front yards along with bushes laden with col- orful hibiscus and camellia blossoms. Orange groves now lined the roadways Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh and in one field we even saw cattle feed - PURPLE GRACKLE —Here on Long Island our common grackle has its ing on dumped truckloads of oranges counterpart in the south called the boat - tailed grackle. It's a larger, noisy and grapefruit — we were now in fellow with a longer and wider tail. Florida ran along the water in front of a series of condominiums and later the same hap- pened in a residential area that was set back away from the water's edge so that the public could utilize and enjoy the DENSFLOWER s °p Make a lasting impression this Valentine's Day ROSES • BALLOONS • PLANTS ARRANGEMENTS • STUFFED ANIMALS GIFTWARE & SO MUCH MORE 181 Sound Ave., Mattituck 298 -4888 view also. At one of the public Looking for a campsite for the night crossovers from our bike path to the we found things don't always turn out as beach we saw once again what the planned. We'd selected a state park out mighty Atlantic can do when it's on the on Talbot Island but when we got there rampage. They had lost some of their we were told, "No pets" and since we beach and all of their walkways. had our cat with us we turned around Lunch was a premade sandwich with and headed back 16 miles but then we V -8 and cookies. As we sat on the sand were in no hurry to get anywhere. at the beach edge we scanned the water Water Is Clear as Mud with our binoculars, picking up brown More great marshes passed by as we pelicans, Forster terns, herring and ring- hugged the coast. Like Georgia's billed gulls and a lone loon. Then Bar- marshes, they grow thick and muddy. bara suddenly stood up and grabbed her The marsh banks are not as we know backside. Had she been bitten? No. She them, but rather a wet, slippery, muddy had sat on a tiny, hellish cactus with affair with clouded water always run - piercing needles about an inch long! I ning nearby. I've yet to see their bays literally had to pick them out. About six or creeks clear and sparkling as ours hours later that evening I are at home, especially found one still attached to `P.S. We're during this time of the my sneaker. year. As we pedaled along we Wearing shorts Usually we try to stop came across 50 or more near or in a natural area but fish crows mingled with and light this night we were running boattailed grackles making late so we pulled into a quite a commotion. We shirts. The standard trailer park at occasionally see fish crows Crescent City. Here was a is along our south shore but temperature cross - section of America rarely on our north shore. 70 d degrees.' spending the winter months The fish crow is smaller in Florida. South Dakota, than our common crow and Minnesota, Connecticut, has an entirely different call. Its call is Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Michigan — the easiest way to recognize it. The boat- you name it and you could probably find tailed grackle is about the same size as it there. The park held a few spots for our own purple grackle but with a longer transients like ourselves. Most were and broader tail. They, too, are noisy pretty well bedded down for the winter birds and for some reason they were all months and then it would be back home together and very excited. Perhaps they for the milder part of the year. The next were harassing an owl or a hawk. Our day saw us again heading south. crows at home do that. Right now we're down in Cape Fish Crows and Grackles Canaveral country at the Manatee At one stop we found pink oxalis blos- Hammock County Park on the Indian soming and a delightful small orchid that River. Across the water about three I tried to identify in our field guide but miles we can see the launching pads of with no success. The trees along the path Canaveral that have played such an were identified with small unobtrusive important part in our space missions. name plates that helped identify slash Tomorrow we'll explore the Merritt pine, palmetto palms, live oaks, red bay, Island Wildlife Refuge. Binoculars and etc. After about an hour and a half of camera will be the order of the day. pedaling I called for a truce — we had P.S. We're wearing shorts and light gone far enough — and it would still shirts. The temperature is 70 degrees.