March 02, 1995 - Bald Eagles? Yes, Sir. Just Down the Road4A • The Suffolk Times • March 2, 1995
Bald Eagles? Y Sir. Just Down the Road
By Paul Stoutenburgh
It is surprising in our travels how
many people we meet from all over the
country — as a matter of fact, from all
over the world. At the Manatee Ham-
mock campsite just below Titusville we
met a young couple from Holland and
today at our present site we are camping
next to a couple from Scotland. This is
their third winter
Feces On to the states. Each
year they fly in
Nature and pick up their
motorhome. It has
everything and
they spend four months traveling about
Florida. They know more about the area
than we do. Usually just couples travel
about but occasionally, if their camper
(or should I say their motorhome), is
large enough, others travel with them.
Our present site here at Ortona, as I
mentioned earlier, is on one of the locks
on the Caloosahatchee River that runs
from the Atlantic Ocean to Lake Okee-
chobee and then to Fort Myers on the
Gulf of Mexico. We're spending a week
here. The weather's been fine and shorts
and light shirts are the dress of the day.
We've been doing more and more bike
riding for it lets you get out and see
some of the country and, of course, bird
life as well. One stop we made while
biking was at a little country store just
outside the campground. It's a Mom and
Pop operation with all sorts of curios
hanging on the wall. There's even a
stuffed, 10 -foot alligator with a single
hand hanging out of its mouth that looks
too real to be comfortable.
I inquired if there was any bird life
about with particular emphasis on bald
eagles. "Why, yes, just go down the road
right here," she said as she pointed to a
hard, gravely road, "and ask for Mary in
the last house. They would know about
it because her husband leases most of the
land here." After another 10 minutes of
chitchat we left the friendly country
store just as someone came in to buy a
pint of boiled peanuts. As yet, I haven't
gotten my nerve up to try them.
Sure enough, we found Mary and with
a few instructions — "Through a double
gate, to the end of the road, then through
another gate, you'll see the bald eagle's
Photo by Ray Edwards
BARRED OWL —This barred owl nested on Fishers Island some years ago and is a common resident down south
along with the great horned owl. It's rare that we see one nesting on our North Fork.
nest in a big tree." — we were off in no
time! We felt a little sheepish going
through the gate and into the pasture
where the huge Hereford bulls were
grazing but we'd have to take Mary's
word, in her Southern accent, that `"They
won't hurt ya, unless you rile 'em up."
We took our bikes through the gate and
then left them on a small bridge that
went over one of the drainage ditches.
Spotting the Nest
After about a half mile we saw the
grand guardian, a bald eagle, atop an old
dead tree. Looking through our glasses
we couldn't help but be impressed by
this emblem of America. Now we knew
we were on the right track and we head-
ed through the second gate where we
scanned the large pine and found the
eagle's nest just as Mary had said it
would be.
At first it looked empty but on closer
examination through our binoculars we
could see a white head. The female was
on the nest. I had to get closer. Having
worked with ospreys through the years, I
■ M&9,m. i �, .V= nw..L
75 Years Ago
Feb. 279 1920
Advertisement: Great boom at Greenport, 40 choice
bungalow sites, five minutes from the Sound, five minutes
from bay.
10 -room house, barn, garage, one acre ground, worth
$6,000 for $3,500. Eight -room house, large lot, garage and
outbuildings, worth $3,000, sale price $2,000. Ten family
houses from $800 to $2,000. C.G. Bailey, Greenport.
Signs of Spring: It begins to look like spring in East
Marion for the fishermen are carting tar. When we begin to
smell it, we shall surely believe spring is here. Another sign
of spring is that the robins are showing themselves in large
numbers. A bluebird was also recently seen.
50 Years Ago
March 2, 1945
Servicemen's Column: In a letter received by Mr.
and Mrs. Garfield Klipp of Greenport was the following
paragraph: "It's a small world — somebody met somebody
else somewhere in a pub in England. One guy, a soldier
named Klipp, heard a sailor mention a mate named Klipp.
`That's my brother,' said the soldier." So Pvt. Raymond
Klipp went down to Southampton, England, to visit his
brother, Garfield Klipp, S1/c, for the first time in three
years. Pvt. Klipp has been overseas for 25 months.
knew about what to expect. Soon the
male left his high perch and flew over to
investigate me. It was here Barbara de-
cided to stay behind and let me go for-
ward in hopes of getting a picture. But
no, the female soon left the nest with her
short, low alarm call, "Ik- ik -ik," nothing
as loud or boisterous as our ospreys'
call. It was one of the great sights to see.
These huge, white- headed eagles gliding
above me. I was so taken by their majes-
tic flight that I forgot to take any pic-
tures. Perhaps at a later date I'll try
again. This had to be one of the high-
lights of our trip.
The nest, by the way, was huge. You
could put two or three osprey nests in this
one and I'm sure, like the osprey, they are
used and added to each year. Sizewise the
bald eagle's is almost twice that of our
osprey. It's interesting to note that a cou-
ple of months ago we had an eagle report-
ed right on our North Fork but it was an
immature one and didn't have the stun-
ning white head and rump of the adult.
Eagles are notorious robbers and have
25 Years Ago
March 6, 1970
Resort Petition Withdrawn: George Semerjian
withdrew a petition pending before Southold Town officials,
which sought rezoning of 83 acres of land in East Marion for
a controversial "family -type recreational resort." The appli-
cation sought change of zones for several parcels for devel-
opment of a marina, restaurants, motels, recreational facili-
ties and golfing facilities. The application caused charges that
dredging for the marina would cause saltwater intrusion.
Bomb Threats at School: Two bomb scares in as
many days caused the Southold High School to be emptied
of students. Police and faculty searched for the bomb which
an unidentified young female told Southold Town Police in
two phone calls "is planted in the school."
The first call came on Tuesday morning at 11:55 a.m.
Police officers went immediately to the scene and ordered
the school evacuated, while police conducted a search of the
premises. The evacuation lasted until noon when students
resumed normal activities.
After the second call on Wednesday morning caused a
repeat of evacuation with police, supervising principal Henry
Williams told of first searching rooms and the gymnasium
and later allowing students bank into the gymnasium while a
continued search of lockers and classrooms was completed.
often been seen in hot pursuit of ospreys
with fish. The eagle will persist until the
osprey is forced to drop its prize when the
eagle will swoop down and snatch it in
midair or off the water below.
We had a real thunderstorm last night
with torrential rains and high winds. Our
little camper rocked and trembled under
the downpour that lasted for over 20
minutes. In that time we had over three -
quarter inch of rain so you can see how
fierce the storm was. Before it arrived
we watched a killdeer feeding on some
sort of insects that
were scurrying across `The bald
the parking lot outside
the camper. The street eagle's
lights were on and
perhaps that's what nest is
attracted the insects. almost
Whatever it was, here
was a bird who had twice the
found easy picking
when all others had size of an
gone to bed. When 9
the heavy rains and osprey s.
thunder came the bird
disappeared but as soon as it had passed,
the bird was back collecting its midnight
snack. I'd never seen anything like that
before.
We have killdeers nesting each spring
on the North Fork in open fields, front
yards and even parking lots. The one just
referred to was in back of the recreation
center in Peconic right on the blacktop.
A barricade was made to protect it and I
believe it raised its young right there.
Late in the afternoon we had gone over
to the locks in hopes of seeing a big owl
that was reported there but only saw a
huge riverboat loaded with tourists going
through the locks. While we watched the
riverboat I spotted something black that
looked like a cat running up the bank of
the river and across the lawn. The only
thing was it had a very odd gait. I
focused on it with my binoculars and
found it to be a river otter. Sure enough,
it had been in the water and whether the
boats or the swirling water of the locks
scared it, I don't know, but it was head-
ing for the bushes up in back. I've seen
otters before but this time the animal was
out in the open and I could see its
whiskered nose and big tail and curious,
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