August 12, 1993 - Flying and Crawling Creatures FascinateSA • The Suffolk Times • August 12, 1993
Flying and Crawling Creatures "Fascinate
By Paul stoutenburgh
Summer is slipping away before us.
We've just finished dinner out on the
deck overlooking the bay. Only one
sailboat is in view. In the beach grass
that covers the sandy area before the
beach a mockingbird is hunting insects.
By now everyone must have his own
neighborhood mocker for they have
spread throughout our island as readily
as the now- common house finch. The
big difference between these relatively
Focus on
Nature
new arrivals is that the mockingbird
does not like company like the finches
that always seem to be traveling in
groups. A pair is fine during nesting
time but let winter come and it's
everyone for themselves. It's then you
see the single mocker guarding his
favorite berry bush or tree from any
invaders who might have eyes on his
winter cache. If you have any berry
bushes or trees that hold their fruit,
you're almost guaranteed a mocking-
bird.
I mentioned above our mocker was
hunting. What he was doing was look-
ing amongst the grasses for grasshop-
pers. They are basically the same
grasshopper we see inland except that
instead of a green body and wings they
are sand colored, a camouflage trick that
makes them almost impossible to see
until they move. To find these often
overlooked insects, the mockingbird has
conjured up a trick that helps scare them
up so that they can be caught more eas-
ily. It runs along in the grass, opening
and closing its wings in such a fashion
that it evidently startles any insect into
movement and therefore falls prey to
this clever fellow.
Beware Cats and Dogs
Not only does the mockingbird de-
fend his winter supply of berries and
fruit he keeps a sharp eye out for any in-
truder into his nesting territory. Any
stray dog or cat is often bombarded by
his aerial pursuits and often one or two
Photo by Paul 5toutenburgn
CECROPIA CATERPILLAR —This harmless bluish -green caterpillar, four inches by three - quarters of an inch in
diameter, will soon pupate and weave a cocoon about itself. It will transform at a later date to a six -inch moth.
swipes is enough to send it on its way.
Here on the beach we often have crows
walking for tidbits left by the tide and as
soon as Mr. Blackie comes into range
the mocker goes into attack. Up and
down, in and out it dives as the crow
ducks and tries to evade the strikes.
Usually, if this activity is lively
enough, the nesting kingbird adds its
divebombing tactics to the now bewil-
dered crow. This is usually enough to
drive the crow away but only up the
beach out of the two attackers' territory.
The tenacity of the kingbird is exactly
the reason it is called "King bird" for it
is afraid of no one. Osprey, grackle or
any other intruder will feel the might of
this scrappy little flycatcher.
About this time each night the swal-
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82 Years Ago
Aug. 12, 1911
Truth About the Shinnecock: Early Wednesday
it was reported around town that the Shinnecock was
aground, but this was not true. The big steamer had broken
down and was at anchor down the bay. The bottom of the
cylinder head blew out, and the piston was broken, besides
other damage done. The passengers and perishable freight
were taken to Greenport on the Manhanset and the Shin-
necock was towed to Greenport. Thursday she was towed to
Whitestone for repairs.
An Unfit Place: Much complaint has been heard
lately about the conditions of affairs at the corner of Main
Street and Bay Avenue in Greenport, just above the post
office. It is a favorite hangout for boys and an unfit place
for women to pass after dark.
50 Years Ago
Aug. 12, 1943
Girls Make Good: On Long Island's famous potato
fields, 25 Westchester County high school girls, who enlist-
ed in the Farm Cadet Victory Corps, are individually pick-
ing 80 to 100 bushels of potatoes a day. Farmers like the
work the girls are doing and show their appreciation by pro-
viding them with ice cream and cold drinks at lunch time.
L _
lows come to the beach. I'm sure there
are special places they feed throughout
the day and this is one of their places to
hunt before nightfall. Like so many
things in the natural world, each has its
time and place. Something in or around
the beach must come out or hatch out
just before dark and the swallows know
it. Therefore, they make a habit of
patrolling the area with their graceful
forms, darting up to grab an insect and
then swooping down to continue their
pursuit. Later in the summer toward fall,
great flocks of swallows will congregate
at certain places on our East End,
awaiting the critical time when all will
take off like some giant cloud of smoke
on another leg of their migration. We
must remember that most swallows rely
The girls are housed at the Daniel Brown cabins in East
Marion, a most attractive center. The girls have made splen-
did progress in learning how to do farm work and farmers
express the hope they will be available again next year.
New Dimout Time: Effective Aug. 16, the official
dimout time for extinguishing all neon and outdoor adver-
tising signs and for the pulling down of curtains in private
homes will be 8:40. Your cooperation in this matter will
greatly aid the Air Raid Wardens in their work of comply-
ing with U.S. Army regulations.
25 Years Ago
Aug. 9, 1968
Excursionists in Greenport: There were about
260 on the Long Island Rail Road excursion to Greenport
on Sunday. The excursionists visited the well -known
restaurants for luncheon and then left by bus for Montauk.
Nixon for President: At the Republican Conven-
tion at Miami Beach, Fla., on Wednesday, former Vice
President Richard M. Nixon was unanimously nominated as
the Republican candidate for President of the United States.
As a Republican newspaper for over 100 years, The Suffolk
Weekly Times is proud that we can support a man of
Richard Nixon's experience and ability to head this nation,
especially in this period of internal unrest, excessive federal
spending, inflation and the war in Vietnam.
on flying insects and when the cold
weather moves in the insect population
disappears and those who have not
moved on to the south could perish.
A thoughtful reader called me about a
huge caterpillar she found eating her
rhododendrons. It was so big she said
she could hear it chewing. Well, my
hearing isn't that good but I'll take her
word for it. As a matter of fact I went to
her home to see this huge caterpillar.
Sure enough, it was a big fellow, four
inches long and about three- quarters of
an inch in diameter. It had a fascinating
greenish -blue color to it and was busy
chewing away on a branch of rhodo-
dendron she had cut and it seemed as
content as could be. On its body it had
short stalks of green topped with red
and yellow. Its suction- cupped feet were
baby blue in color. It looked like some-
thing out of a science fiction magazine.
Of course, all the grandchildren were
`The caterpillar
was so big she
could hear it
chewing.'
delighted with it and even some of the
adults seemed to take a guarded interest.
We put it in a small unused aquarium
with its rhododendron branch and some
water and waited and watched. Two
days went by and I was about to add a
new branch for it to feed on when my
daughter, whose house it finally wound
up in, called me and said it had started
to pupate. This meant it was starting to
spin its cocoon.
This cecropia moth is one of the large
silk moths and so we were all eyes,
watching it spin its spindle- shaped
reddish cocoon. It was fascinating to
See Focus, page 12A