June 18, 1992 - The Early Bird Catches the Early4A •The Su'46"Ik Times • June 18, 1992
The Early Bird Catches the Early
By Paul Stoutenburgh
It's a little before 5 a.m. and I have to
pay the price for not getting my article to
the paper on time. Dawn is a gorgeous
pink in the east. There's no wind but
already the birds
are starting to be �OCU,
„
heard. It's that
time of the year an Mature
when hungry
mouths have to be
fed. I'm sure each of you has your own
robin's nest or some other nest that
you've been watching as the season pro-
gresses.
Years ago we'd be on the SeaWind,
anchored in some quiet harbor on one of
the many legs of a cruise that made this
time of year so memorable. I'd get up
early on days like this just to drink in the
freshness of the day before anyone
stiffed. The boat would be drenched in
dew, the life lines dripping with liquid
gems of water. Ours was another world
then, one with awakening gulls and mir-
rored water.
Today I sit looking out over the dew -
laden pasture up back. I've cut and teth-
ered the hay and with this period of ex-
ceptionally good weather it is ready for
baling. I'll have to call John Tuthill in to
finish the job for my mere four acres of
hay don't warrant a baler. The dew will
dry off at the first sun but for now it's cov-
ered with an early - morning dampness.
Silhouetted are the woods across our
field three quarters of a mile away. My
hedgerow, a mere 400 feet from the
house, is lost in the darkness of that sil-
houette. Above it all stands the windmill,
now silent in the early - moming stillness.
Sitting on one of the cross pieces of the
windmill is an American Kestrel, or as
some would call it, a sparrow hawk. It
watches over the box I put up below
where I'm sore wondrous things are going
on because I see the parent birds going in
and out on a regular basis. These little
hawks eat mostly insects at this time of
the year and the back fields make great
hunting for them. Remember you can tell
them by their standstill flight as they
hover over an area awaiting the right
moment below so that their dive will catch
the grasshopper or other insect off guard
and provide a meal.
Not Too Tasty
We had one such hunter years ago and
it used an old hay -rake wheel to perch on
and eat its grasshopper victims. I could
see exactly where it perched for below
were the unpalatable legs of the grasshop-
pers. Evidently everything else was tasty
Birds
Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
RUFOUS -SIDED TOWHEE —Each of us probably has a nesting bird of some sort on his property by now. The
towhee is a ground nester found throughout our woods.
but those stiff legs.
This is strawberry time and at 8 o'clock
Barbara will join a dedicated group going
to pick berries for a huge picnic the
Peconic Land Trust is putting on. Straw-
berries have been a cash crop for the
farmers out here on the East End as long
as I can remember. Yes, I can even
`We had better start
changing our ways or
our children are go-
ing to pay dearly for
our mistakes.'
remember the 50 cents a quart (three for a
dollar) days when we ate strawberries for
a whole week. Great strawberry short-
cakes could hold us over as we filled our-
selves with their sweetness, smothered in
rich, real whipped cream.
It was the time when weakfish were
coming into the bay loaded with roe
(eggs). It was the time of big business for
everyone had a boat and capitalized on
Nappy Father's pay
from
Bunny, Carol and Melisa
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their numbers. Party boats were busy with
guests. Fishing poles and refreshments
were boarded early to get out to the best
spot. Then the boats would anchor and
chum with shrimp that was caught in our
creeks by people who sold it by the quart.
It was a devastating business with boats
coming in with hundreds of fish. Today
there's hardly a weakfish caught in our
bays. Bluefish have taken over our waters
it seems. They're a fighting fish but can-
not compare in looks to those silvery
pink- and -blue- spotted sleek weakfish I
remember so vividly from years ago.
Ospreys Doing well
June is the month that most birds nest.
Our ospreys already have young in some
nests and more will follow. The early
days of rearing the young are critical.
Cold and wet are the big killers, particu-
larly in old nests that have matted down
through the years so that the nest
becomes waterlogged and the young get
wet and cold. So far the outlook is good
for this handsome fish eater. They surely
deserve a good life for they've come up
the hard way, having almost been done in
with pesticides years ago.
M
By now the sun's up. It actually rose
over the back trees around 5:30. It's
funny but whenever I get up early I can't
help but think of the hustle and bustle that
seems to grind on continuously down in
the West End. Don't they ever sleep?
Often we try to get off the island early
when we're going on a trip but as soon as
we hit the road to the west there seem to
be cars coming and going. At least out
here there's a lull in our busy summer
roads in the early morning but down there
there never seems to be a quiet time.
No wonder cars are the biggest polluter
of our air and one of the major causes of
the depletion of the ozone layer. We, and
the other industrialized nations of the
world, had better start changing our ways
or our children and their children are
going to pay dearly for our mistakes.
There will always be those nonbelievers
and those who don't care about tomorrow
but if we all are civilized and have the
least bit of religion in us we will stand up
and be heard. The great meeting of the
nations under the UN flag in Rio de
Janeiro is a good sign but only if we as a
nation have the guts to admit our faults
and pledge to correct them.
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