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June 30, 1994 - The Habitats and Habits of Herons12A • The Suffolk Times • June 30, 1994 Habits of Hero ns The Habitats and By Paul Stoutenburgh I was at someone's house just re- cently and was asked the question, "Where is my great blue heron? It's not around this year." I hesitated for a mo- ment for there was more to the question than a quick answer. Great blue herons, the tallest of all our marsh birds, are not nesting residents here on Long Island. They nest to the south of us and to the north of us and in many places inland but none on our island that I know of. The herons you see here now are non- breeding birds, sort of outcasts that live a lonely life stalking anything that moves in our local ponds and creeks. We see these three -foot giants year round, as a matter of fact, and some winters when it doesn't freeze up too hard, we'll see 10 to 20 of them trying to eke out a living along the marsh edge. Small killies are their main diet but don't let that fool you. Anything that moves is fair game, including mice, birds, frogs and snakes. Last winter when my wife and I were seeing some of this great country of ours, we happened to be near the largest freshwater marsh in the country, the great Horicon Marsh in Wisconsin. Seeing we carried our ultralight Mad River canoe along, we had to explore this marsh, particularly the great blue heron rookery in the middle of this great expanse of wetland. It was on an island for many years but time was catching up with it. The heron families are notori- ously sloppy housekeepers and their excretion covered a wide area below and around the nest. Trees are generally pretty rugged but Lunch or dinner is ready to go when you are. Call and stop in at CUPBOARD Retail Food and Catering Available OPEN TUESDAY- THURSDAY 10 -6 FRIDAY 10 -7, SATURDAY 9 -6 SUNDAY 8 -3 SUNDAY BRUNCH 9 -2 Love Lane, Mattituck (north of railroad tracks) 298 -5445 Focus on Nature when you get five or 10 or more great blues nesting in one tree and their whitewash continually pouring down on every leaf, limb and bough it becomes, after many years, too much to bear and the trees have literally died. This creates a problem for not only do the big trees die but everything around them dies as well: seedlings, brush, grass. It literally becomes a whitewashed desert. In time, the trees rot and crash to the ground and so what was once a thriving heron rook- ery becomes a disaster area. What To Do? So what did the keepers of the marsh do? They did exactly what we've been doing here on the East End with our os- preys. They put up poles with make -be- lieve limbs of 2x4s and sticks. It is the damedest sight you can imagine. There are 10 to 20 telephone poles with these make- believe 2x4 branches that the herons have adopted as their nesting sites. We can see this same whitewash dev- astation over on Gardiners Island but there it is not done by herons. The cut- The nuptial plumes from the great egret once brought up to $32 an ounce, rivaling the price of gold. prits there are the cormorants that nest there by the hundreds. For those of you with a boat, you will see this on the west side when you pass just north of the white windmill that stands as a monument to this unique and wonderful island. Although you are not allowed on the island, much can be seen just by sailing by its shores. Two years ago some of you will re- member Barbara and I sailed around Robins Island, Shelter Island and Gardiners Island in our canoe — trips you want to plan carefully, particularly around Gardiners Island. We traveled close to shore where you can really get to see the island from an entirely different perspective. It was then that we saw the whitewashed rookery of the cormorants and their devastation. For those not familiar with cormorants they are the large, black ducklike birds you see sitting on fish nets, buoys, rocks, etc. along our shores. They are fishermen par excellence. They can outswim the fish they are after and in their pursuit they get an extra burst of speed by using their wings underwater to help them along. The reason we see them sitting out of the water so much is that the oil in their feathers is not sufficient to keep them dry and so they often have to come out to warm up and dry out. Cormorants are not members of the heron family. To be so distinguished you must have long legs and long necks and spend most of your time stalking Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh GREAT BLUE HERON — Occasionally we'll see this three - foot -tall heron stalking anything that moves in our ponds and marshes here on the East End. prey in ponds and marsh edges. Included in the family of herons are the egrets and bitterns, which are all associated with wet areas. Probably the most common and most observed of this family is the snowy egret — pure white with yellow feet (golden slippers). It is often seen stalking along the edges of our local marshes. It's less than half the size of the great blue heron and it does nest on our East End at Plum Island and Gardiners Island. At one time there was a good population of these handsome egrets on Robins Island but lately I haven't seen any. Big White Beauty Less common than the small snowy egret is the large, three- foot -tall great egret. With its long black legs and pure white body, it's probably the most striking of all. So handsome were these white egrets that the demand for their feathers almost did them in. At one time, in the early 1900s, the nuptial plumes from these egrets brought up to $32 an ounce, rivaling the price of gold. Because of their slaughter, laws were passed to protect their dwindling numbers. As a matter of fact this rallying to protect these beautiful birds was the actual beginning of the National Audubon Society. So entrenched were the unscrupulous market hunters in the south in the early years that one Audubon warden was killed when trying to apprehend one of them. Things have changed for these beautiful wading birds. Today, all but a few of our birds are protected by state and federal laws but now they face a new threat, one that is more subtle and far- reaching. The habitat where these birds feed, nest and rest is being lost at a faster pace every year. Couple this with the problems all wildlife are having with pollution in its many forms, and one can understand why we are seeing less and less of the wildlife that once inhabited our East End. Hopefully, there is a new awakening and we will correct our many wrongs before it is too late, but this will only come with an educated public that has concern for our natural world.