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August 01, 1996 - The Setting Sun Over the Salt MarshGA • The Suffolk Times • August 1, 1996 The Setting Sun Over the Salt Marsh 6:30 p.m. --Come sit with me at sunset in the marsh in back of the cottage where we spend the summer. I've often watched sunsets from the sound beach or from our boat when we were cruising and even in foreign countries. But never in a salt marsh right in our own backyard. To get to the marsh you have to pass through the high -tide bushes that grow along its edges. Later in the fall these will fill the air with their fluffy white down. As we approach the lush green that spreads out before us, we'll be walking in what is called the high marsh that is carpeted with fine- stemmed salt hay. This is the same salt hay, spartina patens, that you purchase in bales at the local nursery for mulching your garden. This part of the marsh is only covered with water on high tides twice a month brought about by the full moon. As I look to the south now I see a faint, almost -full moon even though the sun is still up. At my feet are the long, slender, spaghetti - shaped jointed stems of the salicomia that turn scarlet in the fall. I bend down and taste one. They are edible and can be used in a salad. Mingled with all this greenery are the six- to 12- inch -high, green skeleton -like branching stems of sea lavender that have already started to bloom with their tiny lavender -blue flowers. Picked when fully in bloom, they make wonderful dried bouquets of dainty flowers. I brought along a light aluminum chair to make our stay more comfortable out on the marsh. A wandering stream cuts through the marsh and along its muddy side grows the tall thatch grass, spartina alterniflora. This is the thatch that our colonial forefa- thers used on their first roofs. In those days salt marshes were equally as valu- able as upland, for the salt hay could be used for cattle and the thatch for roofing. Special flat boards, much like snow shoes, were attached to the horses' hooves so they could work out on the soft marsh to haul in the hay. I had planned our stay on the marsh when the tide would be right and now as we sit the marsh is starting to fill up on a flood tide. This covering of the marsh as the tide comes in now adds a vast new area to be explored by the multitude of minnows and kitties. Here, amongst the thousands of stems of grasses the kitties will forage like miniature cattle, picking up minute particles of nutrients that the marsh produces. Then, later, as the evening progresses we'll see snowy egrets, great egrets, green herons, great blue herons and night herons silently stalking the minnows and kitties. Moving ahead, they will lift one foot slowly and deliberately, waiting until the moment is just right and then the head with its long bill will dart out to cap- ture the unsuspecting killie or minnow. A few quick movements of the head and bill and it's all over. The hunt goes on. 7:30 p.m. —All day long I've watched the barn swallows work back and forth over the marsh. You can distinguish these swallows by their orangeish un- dersides and blue -black body coloring. Swift and accurate in flight, they help rid the marsh of a special kind of mosquito that breeds there. They also pursue the pesky greenhead flies that bother us so much on our beaches and whenever you're on or around the creek. I think I see a chrysalis (the empty shell case) of the greenhead fly attached to the stem of some marsh grass. I've even seen and caught some of the immature flies with their big greenish - looking heads. They're all part of the good and the bad in the marsh. Throughout this vast area are fiddler crab holes. I see none of them moving about now as the sun sets but during the day, when the tide is out, they are busy scurrying about, feeding on tiny bits of plant and animal life. Alongside their holes are the curious balls of sand and mud that they roll out to form their un- derground retreats. We have three species of fiddler crabs: the light - colored ones called the sand fiddlers are found on the sandier parts of the marsh; the dark Focus on Nature by Paul Stouteuburah ■ .i0. ■ AMAMMIM lnd�mftv= 75 Years Ago July 29, 1921 Potter Funeral Sunday: The funeral of Corporal Burton Potter will be held at Orient on Sunday afternoon at 2:30 o'clock. All members of the Burton Potter Post and other ex- servicemen are urged to attend. This post was named after Corporal Burton Potter, who was the first man from this vicinity to fall in action overseas. He was born in Orient on March 20, 1897, and was killed on May 28, 1918, near the town of Seicheprey in France. He served with Co. F of the 2nd Battalion, 102nd U.S. Infantry. Town Topics: Moving picture machine for sale. Cost: four hundred and thirty -eight dollars; wasn't used hardly any and guaranteed good as new. Any reasonable offer takes it. Inspection invited. Frank Hartley, Greenport. Southold Filly Wins: The 3- year -old bay filly, Eunice Bell, bought last winter by A.H. Cosden of Southold for $10,000, won the Fasig Sweepstakes in the Grand Circuit at Cleveland recently. The horse had no trouble at all in winning from the entire field, it is said. 50 Years Ago Aug. 2, 4946 Flights to New York Begin: A daily flight sched- ule of 30 trips between East Hampton, Southampton and the Suffolk Airport in Westhampton and the East River at the foot of 23rd Street, Manhattan, was inaugurated Monday with considerable pomp and ceremony by the new Long Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh FIDDLER CRAB —We have three species of these curious little crabs that live in and around our creeks: the sand fiddler, the mud fiddler and the much larger and rarer one, the marsh fiddler crab. mud fiddler is found in the lower marsh where there's much more moisture. The third species that is seldom seen is the super -large marsh fiddler crab that's almost twice the size of the other ones. His claw is 2 112 inches long, while the other two species are but a mere inch - and -a -half. Here and there in the marsh are old holes about three to four inches in di- ameter that go down to at least 10 inch- es or more. What makes these I do not know. I can only speculate. I think it is our masked friend the rac- coon. I know he roams out on the marsh for I see his muddy familiar sings its goodnight in a nearby bush. One never tires of hearing its simple call. As if on a balance scale the sun sets and the moon climbs higher and brighter in the sky. The osprey that has raised its young on a platform out in the marsh circles the nest with a fish. The young cries for atten- tion. 'Round and 'round the parent circles in an attempt to lure the young away. Seemingly at the last moment of darkness the young does fly off the nest and perch- es in a dead oak at the edge of the marsh. `I've watched sunsets from many places, but never in a salt marsh right in our own backyard.' footprints on and about my boat tied up out there. The sun has but a short way to go be- fore setting and now the wind has dropped to almost nothing. A few "no- see -ums" buzz around me but so far the insect repel- lent has held them off. A song sparrow Island Airlines. Five round trips are being made daily between the city and the eastern Suffolk terminals. The one -way East Hampton - New York fare is $9.66; Southampton -New York, $8.28; and Westhampton -New York, $6.90, all including tax. For the present, the line is using Grumman Widgeons, twin - engine amphibians which can accommodate four pas- sengers each. A fourth Widgeon is to be added next week, and four Grumman Mallards, with accommodations for 12 passengers, are to be placed in service in August. 25 Years Ago July 29, 1971 Town Hall Help: At the regular Southold Town Board meeting on Tuesday afternoon, Supervisor Albert Martocchia announced that 10th- grader William Sharp's suggestion to use students in town government has borne fruit. Since 14- year -old Billy first introduced his help- and -learn program, the supervisor has sat down with him, Southold High School principal Richard Hilary and humanities teacher Henry Cheney, who first encouraged young Billy to work out the notion. A schedule for seniors to work on a regular basis with town officials will be set up by mid - September. "I almost feel bad about it," Billy, a boy of considerable enthusiasms, said later; "I've finished my part and now all I can do is wait." This is dust one more step on the road to survival. The nest will be used for perching during the day but from now on the osprey will spend the night away. Sitting here I think back and remember about my walking out in the marsh and seeing small grasshoppers jumping before me. It seems odd for them to be out in this wet area. A more natural fellow was the small brown draggonfly that rose in front of me as I walked along. They feed on tiny insects like gnats, which, as the evening takes over, are becoming more and more prevalent. I hear them buzzing near my ear. As darkness sets in fewer and fewer swallows work the marsh. When it was lighter I could see there were two other species with the barn swallows, the little rough - winged swallow that nests in our banks along the bay and the white - bellied tree swallow that we'll see later on by the thousands as they congregate on the telephone wires and trees in antici- pation of migrating south. These are early migraters or possibly local breeders we saw today. 8:10 p.m. —The sun has now disap- peared behind the trees leaving yellow - streaked clouds above and a reddish -pink glow below. The marsh is quiet. As time moves on the sky above takes on a pink- ish tint and then it all disappears except for the long streaking pink clouds that once were yellow. A new visitor appears on the marsh. A small white moth drifts by and now another. Mysteries as to who they are go unsolved. A night heron gives a "quawk" call in the distance. It will move about all night long, stalking its meal of kitties at the water's edge. The night has come to wrap up the marsh and all its wonders for another day and so we pick i;p our chair and head home.