October 21, 1993 - Snow Geese Signal Winter's Approachr%
6A • The Suffolk Times • October 21, 1993
Snow Geese Signal Winter's Approach
By Paul Stoutenburgh
Sunday morning early at the
cabin on the beach ... Last night
fall came racing in from the north,
chilling our East End. It's taken the
golden yellow out of our seaside
goldenrod and added loons to the
bay out front. Yesterday when we
walked the beach with friends we
could hear the loons calling in their
once - heard, never - forgotten yodel.
Back at the cottage I put my 20X
scope on
Focus on them and
Nature could see
that most
carried their
immature
plumage. This is a good sign for it
means they are reproducing. _
One loon had caught a Flounder
about five inches long and then
surfaced to rearrange it for eating.
This signaled the gulls and soon
they were trying to move in for a
free meal. Not to have his hard -
earned meal taken away, the loon
dove and surfaced some distance
away, the white - bellied flounder
still being maneuvered for swal-
lowing. All this I could see plainly
in my scope and soon the flounder
went down the throat of the loon,
bulging as it went.
Having the loons so close up
gave me a good chance to reac-
quaint myself with that powerful,
heavy - pointed bill loons are noted
for. Well do I remember that lethal
weapon from past years when we were
trying to help a group of oil- covered
birds along our ocean beaches. The only
trouble was the loons didn't appreciate
our help and picked fiercely at us with
their bills. Sorry to say, our efforts to
help proved only partially successful
because in removing the crude oil from
their feathers we also took out their pro-
tective natural oils needed to keep their
feathers in a dry condition. Once this
was taken away cold water could then
seep in around their skin.
Loons do not flock like ducks do.
Most often we see them fishing alone or
at most in scattered bands, and so it was
By Paul Stoutenburgn
SNOW GEESE —These white geese are occasionally seen among flocks of our more
common Canada geese. The immature birds are a bit more difficult to spot.
unusual to see four of these large birds
swimming in close formation in front of
me. I could see their bills moving and
I'm sure if I was up closer I'd hear them
talking to each other. It was a special
early- morning treat to be with them on
that cold, blustery fall day.
Shorebirds are still passing through. A
flock of black - billed plover stood out
large and clear as they wheeled about
within a flock of 20 or more sanderlings.
How they can twist and turn in perfect
unison and not collide with each other
always amazes me. I never tire of watch-
ing them.
Fall also brings geese from the north.
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82 Years Ago
Oct. 21, 1911
Oyster Co. Seeks Stamping Device: An arti-
cle in the Scientific American recently stated that the Seal -
shipt Oyster Company had offered a large reward to anyone
who would invent a practical method of making individual
oysters in the shell with the name and trademark of the
firm. This company spends great sums of money every
month during the oyster season advertising its product and
its methods of handling the bivalves. The managers believe
that it would be worth a lot to them to have each oyster
carry the company's mark and a label showing what kind of
oyster it is, particularly in the case of the prized Blue
Points.
What is wanted is a method of stamping the shells, tag-
ging them so that they would be indelibly marked, and of
course the method must be such that it would be practical
where millions of oysters are handled, and the cost of the
process must not be prohibitive. At fast thought this seems
very easy, on second thought quite impossible.
50 Years Ago
Oct. 22, 1943
Town Salaries Unveiled Notice is hereby given
that the preliminary budget of the Town of Southold for the
Some will say we have too many geese
already and I'm sure this is true, espe-
cially if you are a golfer. Geese are veg-
etarians and enjoy the lush greenery pro-
vided for them bymanicured golf courses
and the winter rye fields of the farmer.
Put these goodies together with an occa-
sional disced -over corn field and you
have a natural attraction no sane goose
would pass over. Last week we saw four
snow geese amongst the Canadas feed-
ing in one of the nearby corn fields.
These handsome white geese with their
black wing tips are not often seen here
on Long Island.
If you want to see thousands upon
fiscal year beginning Jan. 1, 1944, has been completed and
filed in the office of the Town Clerk at Southold, New York ...
... Further notice is hereby given that the Town Board of
the Town of Southold will meet and review said prelimi-
nary budget and hold a public hearing thereon at the office
of the Supervisor, at Greenport, on Nov. 4, 1943, and that at
such hearing any person may be heard in favor or against
the preliminary budget as compiled, or for or against any
item or items therein contained.
Pursuant to Section 113 of the Town Law, the proposed
salaries of the following town officers are hereby specified
as follows: Supervisor, $4,000; Justices of the Peace (5),
$6,000; Town Clerk, $2,000; Town Superintendent, $3,500;
Town Attorney, $1,200. By order of the Town Board, dated
Oct. 11, 1943. (Legal notice)
25 Years Ago
Oct. 25, 1968
Real Estate Classifieds: For sale — 2 1/2 acres,
three- bedroom house and two - bedroom cottage, all year ...
$43,000.
175 feet on water, three - bedroom ranch, two -car garage,
all year ... $40,000.
Three- bedroom cottage and two - bedroom cottage, fur-
nished. One acre, land near beach ... $23,500.
thousands of these tundra -white
nesters go south to Delaware,
Maryland or, better yet, Virginia,
for there at the Chincoteague
National Wildlife Refuge they put
on an annual show that reminds
one of snow- covered fields
because of their abundance. We
took a group of interested birders
there some years ago and we
watched in awe as thousands of
these birds settled like drifting
snow on the marshes around this
magnificent preserve. You'll have
no trouble seeing these visitors
amongst our Canada geese because
their white stands out like a light in
the dark. Even in flight they are
easily picked out. Two weeks ago
a most unusual number of 100 or
more flew over the south side
heading south.
The First Frost
Oct. 14 brought our first frost. I
could tell by looking up on the
back pasture hill. I walked up there
and reached down to a frosty blade
and pulled my fingers across it. Up
came winter's telltale mark — ice.
Yet the frost was so spotty nothing
seemed to be affected by it, but it
surely told us that colder days are
ahead.
It's about this time of the year
that people start talking about haul-
ing out their boats. We had a small
sailboat moored over at the cottage
and so I decided to bring it back
using a little two -horse outboard.
It was one of those days between
shifts in weather when there wasn't a
breath of wind. The water was a mirror,
punctuated only by
an occasional loon `We watched
or gull on its
glassy surface. in awe as
Voices of people thousands of
could be heard
across the bay. A these birds
chainsaw whined
somewhere in the settled like
greenery along the drifting
shore.
We went along snow on the
as if in a dream,
only a slight wake marshes. '
rolling from under
our bow to disturb the mirrored waters.
Old landmarks along the familiar shore
slid by; friends once lived there, parties
were held in that house, mystery sur-
rounded that one, and the sandy beach.
What happy times we had as kids there.
As we approached the creek the tide
was rushing out through the narrows and
our little motor barely made any
progress at all against the rushing water.
Slowly, ever so slowly, we inched ahead
until we got out of the turbulence. We
then traveled alongside the great salt
marsh that was turning to its fall colors
of browns and yellows. We disturbed the
fishing ballet of a great blue heron, who
indignantly flew off to a more secluded
spot. Our fall days are part of the great
procession of seasons that makes living
on our East End so rewarding.
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GREENPORT — "Lifeline," a 24-
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lation fee and a monthly rental fee. Call
477 -1000, ext. 104, for details.
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