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November 18, 1993 - The Birds of Autumn from Bay to SoundbA • The Suffolk .Times; • November 18, 1993 The Birds of Autumn from Bay to Sound By Paul Stoutenburgh A group of old friends from Brookhaven came out to visit me and see the North Fork. Of course they had their binocu- lars, for without them much of what we'd be seeing would be missed. Today with the relative- ly low cost of binoculars there is no rea- Focus on son forty Nature go with- out a pair. Then, too, they should not be tucked away in a drawer somewhere when you are out sightseeing. Our first stop was just down the road where the newly arrived bufflehead ducks were enjoying themselves diving. These easily spotted ducks can be identified by the most ama- teur naturalist, for their small, black- and - white, ever - moving bodies give them away at first glance. Some I'm sure were this year's birds having been raised in a cavity of a tree like the wood duck. It's hard to think of ducks living in trees but the wood duck, bufflehead, hooded merganser and others do. We even saw a double- crested cor- morant working the bottom of the creek, which some 15 years ago would have been a rarity. We're seeing more and more of these long- necked, pointed -bill divers. Perhaps the ever - expanding, rel- atively new colony of cormorants that have established themselves on Gar - diners Island is the reason we're seeing so many more of them. From there we went over to the cause- way where we had a grand view of the bay. Here the common loons were the obvious bird. Gone was the gaudy, speckled, black- and -white attire with its white necklace. The loon is a much larg- er bird than a cormorant and can stay in the water forever while the cormorant likes to come out and warm up. We often see it perched on jetties, fish nets, buoys or rocks where it will open its wings to dry out in the sun. A pair of LAUGHING GULLS —After feasting on whitebait driven to the surface by hungry bluefish, the gulls now await their next orgy of fishing. goh.ert's black ducks probed along the shore but burst out of the water at the first sight of us, the ultimate in waterfowl behavior. Now we headed for the Sound on the north shore where a strong, northwest wind was blowing. At Town Beach we found little but the common gull pa- trolling the beach. We had all been look- ing offshore for ducks when someone said, "Look right in front of us on the beach." There, all heading into the wind, were 100 to 150 closely packed laughing gulls. Evidently they had been fishing and returned with full bellies and were now content to rest. Bluefish are still around and when they start their feeding frenzy a wild and spectacular feast is prepared. The gulls will rest here and at other spots along our shore until a roving scout sees bluefish breaking and then in some mysterious way the word gets out and the gorging starts anew. A Feeding Casualty I saw a gull with only one leg and sur- mised the bird had come too close to the snapping jaws of a bluefish. If ever you've seen this feeding display of breaking fish and explosive water with its milling and diving of hundreds of birds, I'm sure you'd agree it Is more than possible for someone to lose a leg. We were heading east toward the point, stopping here and there to look over the open water. At one point we could see flashing white wings of huge birds far to the north. Even with our best binoculars they were hard to distinguish, but when we got out the 20x scope they were easily recognized. Gannets, birds associated with the open ocean, were easily recognized in their prime plumage of all white with the exception of their black wing tips. They scan for fish 50 to 100 feet in the air and their prey below is usually caught by a spectacular dive that plummets them like a white rocket into the water below. It's one of nature's great spectacles that is usually seen far off shore. They nest far to the north on island buttresses in the sea where their tightly packed white bodies almost change the rocky cliffs to white. Bonaventure Island on the Gaspe :� AIA SJ;k nil WINTER SNOWFALL MADNESS Ikt* * $ nY Come to Robert's Jewelers. Make all your treasured gift purchases. Keep your receipts ... and pray for snow! If it snows 3 inches or more* on December 31 from 6 p.m. until midnight, Bob will REFUND 100% - COLD, HARD CASH - of your purchase price. t. (Promotion ends 12/24/93.) As measured at closest National Weather Service — Upton. N.Y. * Certain restrictions apply LY btrt 5 JEWELERS "Where notb ing says it better tban fine jewelry" wES�p �c r Main Road, Southold, Next to Kenyon's Book Nook •765 -1061 :t Mon.-Sat. 9:30 - 5:30 •All Major Credit Cards Accepted I„ Peninsula is where I saw all their splendor. At one spot along our travels we found 15 brant, the smaller cousin of our goose, feeding on seaweed in a sheltered cove. They were out of their usual shallow, salt -flat areas of the south side. Again with the aid of our scope we picked out three purple sandpipers resting in the shelter of a huge rock. These rugged, dark, little birds, about the size of starlings, eke out a living on rocks along inlets and other stony outcrop- pings to the east. At one place we found Bonaparte gulls, those small, almost tern -like birds that often join in the bluefish frenzy of feeding. They, too, Like the gannets and purple sandpipers, are found throughout the win- ter here on the East End. Now oldsquaw ducks were seen rac- ing along the water, only to wheel and drop with their usual splash. These black- and - white, medium -size sea ducks can usually be seen throughout the winter in our bays, Sound and ocean. Being deep bottom feeders they are continually div- ing and calling amongst themselves. Scoters were also seen, both the white - winged and the surf scoter which are moving into our area for the winter. These big, heavy, black - colored ducks with a `Every white wing spot on the day former and a white patch on the head of the Should latter can number in the thousands as they raft be up over good mussel taken as feeding grounds. a gift.' Our last bit of adven- ture was a two -mile hike along the beach where black - bellied plovers and still -lin- gering turnstones could be found. The day had started out with sprinklers but by 10 o'clock the sun was out, bright and warm. It just goes to show one that every day should be taken as a gift and one should make the most of it whether it's cloudy or bright. SONYMA Lowers Mortgage Rates THe State of New York Mortgage Agency ( SONYMA) recently lowered a the interest rates for its Low Interest Rate Mortgage Program to 5.9 percent f (6.09 percent APR). In addition the pro- gram has increased the qualifying in- come limits. New limits for one - and two - person households range from $44,100 to $54,800, and for households of three or more people the range is from $50,710 to $63,020. In target areas — areas designated for economic rede- velopment and not restricted by the first -time homebuyer requirement — income limits are higher. For more information on SONYMA programs, call 1 -800- 382 -HOME. Save Time, Save Gas,Save Money Shop Locally!