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April 24, 1975 - Who's First With the Eggs?The Suffolk Times April, 24,1975 MOTHER SWAN Serenly guards her clutch of eggs by an Orient Pond photo by Scott Harris Focus On Nature Who's First With The Eggs? by Paul Stoutenburgh Usually when you enter our yard you're greeted, or perhaps I should say harassed, by three white geese. People sort of ignore them because generally they're not a problem. Lately though, it's a different story! People are now chased and hissed at. Some don't get out of the car at all! Why the aggression now, when before it was only passive?The days grow longer and the heart stronger in geese, chickens, birds and as a matter of fact—well,you know the story.The gander is protecting his two lady friends who are laying eggs now.One has a nest in our window well and the other is just thinking about where to put one. Anyone who has had chickens knows now's the time for egg-laying. Even the city dweller knows the price of eggs is down because of over-production at this time of year. Our Bantams are really doing a job. They not only lay their eggs in the chicken coop but in the barn,under the porch,in the hay pile or anywhere in the woods. Talk about an Easter egg hunt—we have one every day at our house.The problem is if we don't locate the eggs, a clutch will develop and then some day we'll miss the little brown or black hen. That's right—she's setting.That's open game now for Mr. Fox. Can't blame him. We've kept them locked up each night and now here it is—Christmas dinner with the trimmings of a dozen eggs to boot. It's happened more than once! Some birds in the wild are already sitting on their clutches of eggs.I know where there is one bird that has young now. Yes, right here on the North Fork there is a Great Horned Owl that had eggs in late February or early March. This bird, nesting on the North Shore, is so rare that I dare not tell anyone where it is. This species of owl has been known to incubate her eggs during freezing weather, with snow completely covering the bird. Seems the owl doesn't have to wait for nature's food supply to break out of its winter sleep as most other birds do. Rather they hunt better when the leaves are off the trees. So food for their young is available almost any time. Another early nester is the Swan. We should, by now, know where our own pet pair are nesting. Most of their nesting sites have been picked out and that large reedy nest built. Already eggs have been seen in one of the nests on a Nature Conservancy Sanctuary in Mattituck. By the way, they deserve great respect, as I can vouch for from a canoe trip Judd Bennett and I once took up in the Yaphank Lakes one spring. We made quite a sight in our canoe going just as fast as we could down lake with Mr. Gander in hot pursuit. We had, unknowingly, gotten too close to his "lady fair", who was nesting on one of the small island bogs in the lake. The Mourning Dove—the one we hear that many people mistake for an owl when calling, is another early nester. I've found the crude stick nests in mid-April.The nests are usually so flimsy you can look up through them and see the eggs. To keep the eggs warm, they bring the eggs up under their feathers right next to their skin. During and after incubation you can tell a bird that has been setting by what is called an "incubation patch" in the feathers; kind of like a part in your hair. It's quite noticeable. The first photograph I ever took of a Prairie Horned Lark was over in Westhampton on a driving range. I couldn't believe it.I'd seen them there on the course and couldn't believe they were collecting insects. Here it was early April. But sure enough, back and forth they flew. With a little patience and a pair of binoculars, I finally located the nest.It was nesting there in a depression in the grass with four fluffy little birds huddled together. It was a rare treat to set my blind up and photograph them as the cold wind swept across the area. Closer to home I photographed a Killdeer and its chicks on the Greenport High School grounds.The school was just being built and the rough open ground made an excellent spot for this ground nester to build. It was nice to see the rough, rugged bulldozer operator with the 10-ton machine avoid the nest. I told him what it was and sure enough—work went on everywhere but there! Again it was only April. I've seen a pair of Killdeer on the driving range outside Greenport for the past three weeks. In the early morning they look half frozen, but by the time I go by in the afternoon they're moving about as if spring was here to stay. We've many early nesters here on Long Island. I've mentioned only a few. Like spring, it's encouraging to see how nature persists.That ever onward,never die spirit is something we all could take heed of. Perhaps we've had it too easy and our natural instincts have been slowed down.