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March 05, 1992 - Sure Signs of Spring on the WingSt?Ft rlar.sM r a3mii" ,� +uc' 3,11 • Ads March 5, 1992 • The Suffolk Times • 5A Sure Signs of Spring on the Wing By Paul Stoutenburgh We had dinner with friends last week and while the meal was being prepared I wandered into their spacious living room to look over the bay. The sun had just about set and the whole shoreline was cast in a grey -blue shadow. As I FOCUS watched I realized out of the corner on Nature of my eye I could see some ducks swimming toward each other about 30 feet offshore. The tide was high and the extra depth of water and the blanket of evening that was fast approaching evi- dently had given these red - breasted mergansers the added courage to swim in close to the beach. On the left was a single pair. On the right another pair, plus a trailing male. At this time of the year courting is on the minds of most ducks and this group before me surely showed off in all its glow. I use the term glow for here were the three males in their best plumage of the year. With their iridescent green beads and black- and -white bodies they almost seemed to strut rather than swim toward each other. They seemed to say, "Look here. There's no more handsome duck in the bay than me." But like so many situations when boy meets girl there can be complications and the paired ducks knew it. They now had competition from the lone male, who, I'm sure, if given a chance would swish away one of the demure females. The single male would try to get close to one of the females only to have the escorting mate quickly move in between them. No matter how the single male moved, he was always outflanked by one of the paired males. Ducks Try Anything When all of this outflanking proved no good he would go into courting dances with his head thrown back in a jerking action saying, "Look at me!" Perhaps this was to lure one of the females away, seeing all his other attempts had failed. I watched as they tried to outmaneuver each other and saw how chances to intervene would always wind up with the lone male being pushed out into the sidelines. The action moved down the beach and the last I saw of them the sin- gle male was still challenging the paired males for one of the females. This bonding of pairs is also seen in our black ducks but they seem to have started months ago. Black ducks are no- toriously found paired through the win- ter, particularly when away from the flock. Mallards, like black ducks, have also started to pair off but like all crea- tures of the natural world, there are the continual challenges being fought until final mating and egg laying take place. This will start in April, May or June, depending on a host of variables. The other side of pairing is the buf- flehead ducks, those small "butterball" ducks that nest in trees like our wood ducks but much farther north than here. They are continually scurrying about on the top of the water, chasing and chal- lenging each other. I often think they probably do the same below the water for it seems they spend as much time diving below as they do swimming .about on top. Some of these little black - and -white ducks will linger around in our creeks and bays until late March and sometimes into April before they, too, head north to raise their young. Hundreds of Oldsquaws I had an opportunity to be at the ex- treme end of our East end the other day where I have seen very few sea ducks in the last months but now there were hun- dreds and hundreds of oldsquaws in small groups flying fast and low over the water. I believe these ducks are be- coming restless and getting ready to move along with the multitude of bird life that is spurred by our longer days. These oldsquaws have the most wonder- ful wild yodel and on quiet days I've often sat and listened to them "talk" as they play and dive half way across our bay. It was good to see them for I was concerned at their scarcity during our Christmas bird count. Could they have been to the west of us up in Long island 1 _.M69AM ■ ....L nw..L 78 Years Ago March 7, 1914 The New Ballot: The ballot at the village election on March 17 will be a novelty and its effect will be watched with interest. No party emblems will head the columns and no voter can vote a straight ticket. He must make a cross mark in a small voting square at the left of the name for whom he desires to vote. A miniature emblem in a square at the left of the voting square will tell him which party nomi- nated each candidate. The fact that no straight tickets can be voted will require that each vote be counted and tallied sep- arately. Returns will not be completed until many hours later than heretofore. At Last: "A clean play for clean people," as announced in New York, leads one to the presumption that at last that city is awakening to the necessity of providing less ques- tionable entertainment for its many visitors. 50 Years Ago March 5, 1942 Easterly Gale: The most severe easterly gale since the hurricane of September 1938 swept eastern Long Island Monday night. During the height of the storm, between 4 and 6 o'clock in the morning, the wind roared a continuous gale at about 60 miles per hour. There was an unusually heavy rainfall. At the Greenport Basin and Con- MALE RED - BREASTED MERGANSER --Like so many of our ducks at this time of the year this handsome male will be courting the less colorful female. Within a few months they will head north to nest. Sound? Add these to the rafts of scaup now accumulating in our bays and we can tell for sure that spring migration is building up. All winter long the ducks have been feeding in our coastal waters awaiting these longer days. Now, partially paired up, they will take off to find their sum- mer home where insects and bugs of all sorts will supply their young with the necessary food to start them off on life's journey. Of course, the most striking example of spring arrival is the sighting of the first robin. And I've already had calls from people during these balmy days about their sightings of one or two robins. But the most interesting was when a lady called telling me she had her lawn "covered with robins. They were everywhere." This could only be struction Company's plant several boats broke loose from their moorings. At Orient part of the road to the state park was washed out and cellars along the waterfront were flooded. Disney's Newest: Walt Disney's newest cartoon creation, which was made for the U.S. Treasury Depart- ment, "The New Spirit," and featuring the indomitable Donald Duck, will be shown at the Greenport Theatre Sun- day, Monday and Tuesday. "The New Spirit," which is in Technicolor, presents its case in a manner no freedom -lov- ing American will be able to resist, and will make those who must pay an income tax conscious of the fact that they are really helping their country through its present crisis. 25 Years Ago March 10, 1967 New Telephone Office: Scores of New York Tele- phone men and women are now in the final stages of a major project designed to bring expanded phone service to customers in the Mattituck, Cutchogue and Southold areas. The project — which required the installation of enough wire to circle the globe more than two times — centers on the company's new office building in Cutchogue. Advanced switching equipment will make it possible for the 5,000 customers in the area to dial directly to any one of 90 mil- lion phones in the U.S. and Canada. robins moving in from the south. Normally there are a few that stay through the winter but numbers like that can mean only one thing. Spring is not far away. Registration Set For Kindergarten MATI"ITUCK— Kindergarten registra- tion for the Matti tuck - Cutc hog ue School District will be held on March 25 at the Cutchogue West School on Depot Lane, Cutchogue, at 7:30 p.m. To be eligible, a child must be 5 years old on or before Dec. 1, 1992. Parents are asked to bring a photo- copy of their child's birth certificate and health history. New York State law re- quires immunization against measles, German measles, polio, diphtheria and mumps. Forms have been mailed to the par- ents of children on the Mattituck - Cutchogue census list. Parents who have not received forms may call Cindy Schneider at 734 -6049. Lenten Services GREENPORT —The annual midweek Lenten services offered by the Christian congregations of the Greenport Ecumenical Ministries begin at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 11, at St. Peter's Lutheran Church on the Main Road. The services include dramatic pre- sentations about individuals who played important roles in the last days of Jesus. Subsequent services are scheduled each Wednesday at 7:30 as follows: March 18, United Methodist Church, Orient; March 25, United Methodist Church, Greenport; April 1, Clinton Memorial AME Zion Church, Greenport; and April 8, East Marion Community Church. Refreshments are served each week. For further information call Gary Haase at Orient Congregational. Church/United Church of Christ (323 -2665) or Alan Carvalho at Greenport United Methodist Church (477 - 0947).