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July 09, 1992 - Searchers Discover the Least Terns6A • The Suffolk Times • July 9, 1992 Searchers Discover the Least Terns By Paul Stoutenburgh Each year there's a group of volun- teers who check on the terns and plovers that nest in isolated areas along our shorelines. Their job is to report on whether they are gaining or losing in the all - important game of survival. The sur- vey requires two visits to each site and we were completing our last round. To get there we had to go through a wooded area that led to one of The Na- ture Conservancy's preserves where least terns and piping plovers had nested last year. Sorry to say the terns had very poor luck then and brought off no young, so we were hoping for a better showing this year. There are so many factors working against these beach/ ground nesters, such as pedestrian traf- fic, beach vehicles, stray cats and dogs, storms, and a host of natural predators, it seems a wonder we have any left at all. As we walked up the beach to where the birds nested last year I was amazed to see how much beach had been eroded through the winter. In some areas the sand and gravel had been completely washed away leaving the old and ancient bog from the marsh behind the beach exposed. It looked out of place with its brown root mass standing strongly against the waves of the bay. Perhaps hundreds of years ago this beach area was a flourishing marsh. It was a time when the sea level was lower. The rise and fall of the sea level can `We looked for terns but saw none. Where had they gone ?' make or drown a salt marsh and is one of the many reasons we are concerned with the phenomena of rising sea level today. With the loss of our salt marshes we lose that important nutrient factor that flows out into the bays, Sound and ocean, where it feeds a multitude of microscop- ic organisms that form the base of our marine food chain. Physical remains of old duck blinds dug in the beach some 50 years ago were now, out in the water, Focus on Nature showing how the beach has moved back and left their skeletal remains exposed. We could tell we had entered the beach area for as we turned the comer we heard an osprey calling his alarm. Sure enough, down the beach was a plat- form with an excited osprey flying above. This much commotion meant there were young in the nest. An inter- esting point about these big nests the ospreys build is that sparrows build their nests in the sides of the osprey's nest. Evidently they take advantage of "big brother" for protection, a true symbiotic relationship. On we walked, more apprehensive with every step for we could see no terns in the air. Could it be they left? On we went. When we reached the site where they had been last year it was completely void of birds. What could have hap- pened? There were two possibilities. One was that they had been wiped out in their wintering grounds in the Caribbean or along the shores of South America. The other possibility is that they returned, and knowing their poor results last year, chose a different location for nesting. My hope was for the latter but I hadn't seen any new activities through- out our area. We kept on going and our spirits rose as we saw one adult piping plover and then the other. These endangered birds nest by themselves in contrast to the group nesting of terns. This is good for this gives them an edge by not being observed as easily as a group of flying terns. One bird tried to lure us away with its "broken wing act" so I knew it had young or a nest nearby. Sure enough, down the beach we could see two young, downy piping plovers. Hopefully others were in the grass nearby. Ticks Are a Concern So we had one disappointment and one success. An hour had passed by and we had three more locations to check. Back at the car we checked each other Umh *9 . ■ ....L n....L 78 Years Ago July 11, 1914 Note Tells of Disaster: Thomas J. Verity of Greenport picked up a bottle off Hay Beach recently in which was a note telling of a very thrilling experience. Some of the writing is not legible, but a portion of it reads as follows: "The good vessel Molly Wash, of Bangor, Me. We are leaking very bad after the heavy gale. Think some of her butts are started. In case we sink, which I am afraid of, I cast this overboard. May God help us. The water is gaining on us. Capt. Fred Willing" No wreck has been reported in this vicinity answering to this description. The Biggest Ever: Greenport's Fourth of July cele- bration was the greatest one in history. There was some- thing going all day long, and thousands of people from all over the county were here to see them. There were many visitors here, and it was made a day of reunion and rejoicing. It was a great day and a big adver- tisement for the village, one of Long Island's most favored spots. 50 Years Ago July 9, 1942 Potatoes To Be Made Into Alcohol ?: Farmers Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh CAMOUFLAGED EGGS —This clutch of endangered piping plover eggs has little chance of survival on one of our well - traveled beaches. over for ticks as usual, for we had walked through the woods to do our job. They are so small they are hard to see. Later in the day we found a deer tick at- tached to my arm with a red spot around it so I called the doctor and was put on antibiotics. It's a good thing to check yourself over if you are outside in tall grass, a wooded area or even your back- yard, for these pesky ticks are nothing to fool with. Yet, if proper precaution is taken and treatment if necessary, there should be no problem in still enjoying the great outdoors. Our next walk was along a long beach that had a creek at its end. Sorry to say, we saw nothing there. Years ago I had in Suffolk County may soon find an outlet for their cull potatoes, should the plan of James S. Richards, president of the new Seaboard Chemical Company, materialize. The firm has leased the factory building of Tatoe Indus- tries Inc. in Mattituck, planning to begin full operation by Sept. 25 in the manufacture of industrial alcohol needed in making munitions. While the company also proposes to use grain in the manufacture of alcohol, most of this material will have to be brought in, as Suffolk County farms produce only small crops of grain. Local farmers anticipate a demand for their cull, or unmarketable potatoes, as soon as the factory begins operat- ing. Formerly a potato chips factory was located on the site. 25 Years Ago July 14, 1967 Classified Advertisements: Southold — Brick Cape Cod all -year -round or summer home, 100 feet bulk - headed on Long Island Sound by 315 feet deep. 21' by 18' living room plus 20 -foot enclosed heated porch, dining room, kitchen, bedroom, study and full bath on first level. Large master plus two bedrooms and full bath upstairs. One -car garage and full cellar. Asking $42,500. photographed the sand - colored piping plovers with young right on that very beach but that was when there were fewer people around. Surprises meet you when you are out on surveys and the next beach we visited yielded a pair of plovers with their beautiful sand nest and four eggs. Last year the beach had nothing. Now, if the eggs can hatch be- fore the summer crowds move in, the birds will have a chance. We looked for terns but saw none. Where had they gone? On our way back we sat and watched a family of sharp - tailed sparrows in the salt marsh behind the beach. These sparrows could become extinct if our salt marshes disappear. They cannot adapt to an upland situation and so, if their habitat of a salt marsh disappears, so does the bird. Few people even know this handsome sparrow with its yellow face streak for it is so evasive that one hardly knows it's there. This is understandable and to the bird's advantage. Our last stop was the easiest. We merely had to walk across a beach grass lawn and look up and down along the water's edge with our glasses. Here terns and plovers had nested last year right in front of the summer bunga- lows but alas, again we were disappoint- ed. We could find no trace of them. It was disappointing to have lost the terns in my area and yet it was good to find the two nesting sites of the endan- gered plover. Perhaps next year things will change and the terns will be back, but I'm afraid people and terns don't get along too well, particularly when they're competing for the warm, sunny beaches the East End is so well known for. In a better world things would be different and terns and plovers would be given more of their truthful rights of nesting and the people would be more selective in using their beaches. For now, we do our best with signs and fences to protect these remaining endangered species.