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June 25, 1992 - A Glimpse of One of the Great IslandsJune 25; 992'- Th& 8uffofk Tfines' • P. A Glimpse of One of the Great Islands By Paul Stoutenburgh It must have been in the late '40s or early '50s when I was first invited to Gardiners Island. Ever since then I've had the privilege of visiting the island to take Osprey sur- veys or bird Focus counts of one sort or another. The on Nature last time I was there was Dec. 17, when I took part in the annual Mon- tauk Christmas Bird Count. Last Wednesday when we were invited it was in marked contrast to that cold December day when the sky was over- cast and the wind blew out of the north- west. Our day was to start at 6:30 a.m. at the airport, for it was here we were to depart. My son, Peter, would fly us out, leave us and pick us up in the afternoon. I'd travel with Dennis Puleston, one of Long Island's great naturalists. Our mis- sion was to check on the Osprey popula- tion. The weather was clear and warm and as we flew over the island I thought back to those wintry days when ice and bare trees greeted us. This day the island was draped in its new green foliage and the water sparkled below. As Peter made his last approach be- fore landing on the grassy strip below, we could see the myriad white spots that represented thousands of gulls nesting below. To most, gulls are a welcome addition to our maritime edge but like some things in the natural world they have gotten out of hand because of man. We've eliminated most of the predators that in earlier days would have helped keep the gull population down. We've made it easy for them to survive, what with our careless housekeeping and readily available food supply at our landfills. Add all these facts together and the gull population has taken off in high gear. They are now overpopulating all of the offshore islands here on the East End. Nothing Is Sacred Gulls are opportunists of the first or- der, whether it be your leftover sand- YOUNG GULLS —Like kittens young gulls are cute but like everything else they grow up and often create problems. with or some unfortunate baby chick. The result is there are no endangered Piping Plovers on the island, a place that is perfectly suited for them except for the gulls. The Least and Common Tern and Black Skimmer populations are under constant threat and are losing the battle. Its population out of control. Gulls will even rob and kill their own kind. Nothing is sacred. As we landed we even found the gulls nesting right on the runway. Because of the gulls we were anxious to see if the heron rookery was still in- tact. We walked toward where they nest- ed last year. It looked grim. Gulls were everywhere. Then we noticed a tall, ■_A69w ■ wwL nwwVjw 78 Years Ago June 27, 1914 Family Specialty: Merwin, one of Edward Tuthill's twin boys of Mattituck, was taken ill suddenly with appen- dicitis and was hurried to Seney Hospital, Brooklyn, where Dr. Spence operated upon him. This is the third case of this disease in Mr. Tuthill's family in less than three years. His daughter, Elizabeth, was operated upon only a few months ago, and his son, Clark, about three years ago, and his broth - er -in -law, Charles Hamilton, only a few weeks ago, really four cases in the same family. Merwin is doing nicely. Fish Glut Fulton Market: Last week, Fulton Mar- ket was glutted with sea bass, porgies, fluke, flounder and butterfish during the entire week, and prices on these vari- eties were very low. 50 Years Ago June 25, 1942 Hollywood Star Is Guest: On Saturday evening of last week, Mr. and Mrs. Harrison McCann entertained a party of friends at their estate on the North Road in honor of Jean Hersholt, the famous screen and radio star whose characterization of Dr. Christian is one of the most popular of all radio broadcasts. In addition to Mr. and Mrs. Hersholt of Hollywood, Calif., Mr. and Mrs. McCann had as their guests several other famous musicians, authors and stage white outline. Our glasses proved it to be the three -foot, pure -white Great Egret. Our footsteps quickened and we soon found the colony was still intact. We started counting from a distance ... eight Great Egrets, 25 Snowy Egrets and six Glossy Ibis. They were conservative fig- ures for we dared not venture close enough to scare the birds off the nest. I'm sure the gulls would be quick to move in and take advantage of a free meal. A pair of American Oystercatchers called loudly as they flew by, telling us their young were somewhere ahead. They'd probably be crouched amongst some dry seaweed or alongside a piece of driftwood where they'd blend in per- and screen stars. S.I. Man Entertains King of Greece: S. Gre- gory Taylor, a summer resident of Shelter Island who has his home on an island in Coecles Harbor, had as his lun- cheon guest in New York last Sunday King George of Greece. Mr. Taylor came from Greece as a boy, took a job as a bus boy in a restaurant and has become one of the wealthiest Greek residents in the world, owning hotels in New York and being identified with many large enterprises. He spends much of his time around Greenport and Shelter Island in his little cruiser. 25 Years Ago June 30, 1967 Head Start Leases Welden Property: The Main Street property formerly owned by the late Harry Welden has been leased to the federally funded project, Year -Round Head Start. The program, staffed by profes- sionals and aides, will be directly concerned with 3 and 4 year olds from homes in the lower income bracket. Relaxing Hobby: The exhibit of petit point pictures at the Shelter Island Public Library by Col. Arthur Soule was truly remarkable. The rewarding hobby of the colonel's was taken up to relieve the tremendous tension of busy days in his office during his affiliation with the United Drug Co. He discovered this intricate needlework to be very relaxing. fectly. Oystercatchers have red, knife- like bills which they can slip easily into relaxed clams or oysters. They then quickly sever the muscle, allowing them to gain the morsel inside. Pretty clever, those oystercatchers. We'd see 10 or more pairs along the shore during the day and all seemed to have young be- cause they became very agitated and called loudly as we approached. Swallows Nest Along the great cliffs of the island there are colonies of bank swallows. These ingenious insect gatherers make their nests in burrows they've dug out in the bank where few predators can reach them. One locality where I pho- tographed them years ago was com- pletely gone. Erosion had taken a five - foot chunk of the bank away during the various storms throughout the year. No matter. They'll find another location and rebuild. In some offshore areas we found hun- dreds and hundreds of geese just drift- ing. It must be their resting period dur- ing the day, for being vegetarians they'll come ashore at night and feed in the many grassy fields throughout the is- land. Their goslings were well devel- oped and were already half the size of their parents. We visited the many Osprey nests throughout the island. There were many new occupied platforms inland. The hope is that the gulls won't bother the Ospreys if they are away from the wa- `Gulls are opportunists of the first order' ter's edge where the gulls are nesting. All Ospreys throughout our East End are doing well this year and we should have a bumper crop to report. Dennis and I often stopped and chat- ted about the world about us. We even did some reminiscing about our service years, each reaffirming they were mem- orable years and ones with no regrets. Time seemed to slip away and soon our stomachs told us we should eat; so out came our squashed sandwiches and fruit juices. We sat overlooking the great expanse of Bostwick Point with its 17 Osprey nests. No wonder it's a private preserve. With misinformed people romping about, the wildlife would sure- ly suffer. The present stewards of the island are doing a fine job of keeping it in its natu- ral state and pristine condition. We all can take heart that there is one place that's not botched up by man and is kept pretty much the same as it was when it was a self- sufficient, working island back in colonial times. It's not an easy task in these times of high taxes and ex- pensive maintenance but it's being done there on Gardiners Island. Our glimpse of one of the great islands in one of the great places in America came to a close with the roar of Peter's plane. As we lifted off into the sun I thought of how fortunate we are the right people hap- pened to come along at the right time to save the island.