September 23, 1993 - Changes in Marsh Mirror Shifting SeasonsFocus on Nature
Changes in Marsh Mirror Shifting Seasons
By Paul Stoutenburgh
One of our recent beach walks
brought us to the entrance of a creek
where a huge pile of sand had been
created from years of dredging. We
climbed up the sand pile for a full pan-
oramic view of the whole area. On that
high perch we sat down in the sand to
watch the sun go down over the marsh
that stretched to the north and west of
us. What a delightful sel l
Below spread the marsh in the vari-
ous shades of the coming fall season:
there were patches of light purple where
sea lavender was in bloom while some
sections had tints of reddish -brown
where seeds were ripening. The major-
ity of the marsh is made up of the kind
of thatch grass that was used in Colon-
ial times for thatching roofs. The lower,
finer grass is what we call salt hay. It
was used by our early settlers for cat-
tle bedding, insulation and other uses.
Today it can be bought in bales in most
good nurseries for mulching.
In the middle of this expanse of green
is an osprey platform we put up years
ago. Each year it has had its clutch of
young, but this year we had an unex-
pected visitor. The State Department of
Environmental Conservation came and
took one of the healthiest young to trans-
port to western New York to help re-
establish the population there. That left
two in the nest.
Of the two, one was a runt that re-
mained in the nest for another three
weeks after the other bird left. We could
hear its pitiful call from the nest where
it still returns to beg for food. Appar-
ently the adults still feed it, for it sits on
the nest most of the time. Perhaps this
one will be a casualty, for those that
don't learn the rules of survival don't
make it in the natural world.
As we watched from our hilltop seat
we wondered if the runt would stay on
the nest during the night. Our answer
soon came for the young bird jumped
and flapped its wings as if beating the
air. Then it took off. It was not the most
graceful flier, for it swung down low
from the nest with wings flapping ra-
pidly and headed off toward the trees to
the north where it landed and —we
assume— stayed for the night.
When we came down off the hill we de-
cided to photograph some of the sea lav-
ender that grew around the edge of the
marsh. Soon we began to see hole after
hole that had been dug up. We got cur-
ious and looked closer. Sure enough, we
found remains of turtle eggs we had
looked for earlier in the season when we
had seen their tracks on the beach. Ev-
idently the fox or raccoon must smell
the eggs under the sand, dig them up
and make a feast of them. All that re-
main are curled up dry white shells on
the surface. Hopefully some are missed
to survive another year.
Later when we walked back along the
edge of the marsh, we found small
mounds of black muck here and there
At the Galleries
Bologna Landl Gallery
Works by painters Ralph Carpentier,
John Howard and Dinah Maxwell Smith
and sculptor Basil Racheotes go on view
this weekend in a new show at the Bo-
logna Landi Gallery at 49 Sag Harbor
Road in East Hampton. An opening re-
ception is scheduled at the gallery on
Saturday from 5 to 7 p.m.
Ralph Carpentier will be showing new
local landscapes. The artist, who feels
that the label "realist" is too narrow,
says that he considers himself "a regi-
onal landscape artist." John Howard, of
Greenwich, Connecticut, and East
Hampton, will also be showing land-
scapes and seascapes. Mr. Howard as-
serts that it is possible to "know East
Hampton from a tree or Amagansett
from a dune."
Dinah Maxwell Smith of New York
and Southampton will show new can-
vasses described as "loosely represen-
tational, painterly views of people and
landscapes." Basil Racheotes, a regu-
lar exhibitor at Bologna Landi, will be
ihowing sculptures of figures emerging
out of masses of terra cotta and plaster.
The show runs through October 13; for
further information, call the gallery at
324 -9775.
Hampton Bays Library
Works by Angela Flood are currently
on view at the Hampton Bays Library
on Ponquogue Avenue in Hampton
Bays. Ms. Flood has shown her work,
described as "expressions and themes
bf travel and people," in Europe, South
America and across the United States.
The exhibition will remain on view
through the month of October.
Anneli Arms
Works by Anneli Arms are currently
on view at the United States Embassy
in Jakarta, Indonesia as part of the U.S.
State Department's Art in Embassies
Program. Ms. Arms recently traveled
to Indonesia to view and oversee the ex-
isting installation of three large etching -
monoprints from her "Liberty" series
(on permanent display as donations),
five small polyurethane wall "Heads"
(on loan), and a wired sculpture,
"Three -Fish Spray."
Works by Ms. Arms are also included
in the current National Drawing Asso-
ciation show at the Thomas J. Walsh Art
Gallery at the Quick Center for the Arts
at Fairfield University in Connecticut.
A catalogue is available for the show,
which runs through October 24.
Carol Hunt
Carol Jewell Hunt of Southampton is
featured in an exhibition titled "Pain-
tings and Works on Paper" at the Car-
ney Gallery at Regis College in Weston,
Massachusetts. An artist's reception is
scheduled on October 3 from 2 to 4 p.m.;
the exhibition runs through October 27.
Carol Hunt is an alumna of Regis Col-
lege, class of 1965. According to exhi-
bition organizers, the combination of
recent paintings and monotypes in the
show captures the "essential spirit" of
Ms. Hunt's work, which Is found in "the
action of ideas realized through vigor-
ous movement and energy."
For further information on the Regis
College show, contact Rosemary Noon
at the Regis College Fine Arts Center,
(617) 893 -1820, extension 2706.
Celebrating Our 60th year.
0 '
ANO SON IMe $rNCf 11]]
Garbage Hauling & Cesspool Cleaning
portable Toilet Rentals
Container Service
283 -0604
;;E Doffy Marshaff KenneCs
.. Dog e Cat Bathing d
Boarding 'We have warm hearts far coil noses! Grooming
•1:
A. 4� Tanners, 9litckLane, Westhampton • 516- 288 -3535
and wondered what animal was doing
this digging. Then it came to me: it was
probably a raccoon. They are always
opportunists and with a little digging in
the soft marsh they can probably be re-
warded with a crab dinner. The fiddler
crabs on the marsh are the black ones,
not the sandy colored ones you see on
the sand flats. Here too nature has
matched up the camouflage: the black
ones for the muddy marsh, the light col-
ored ones for the sandy areas.
As we returned to the cabin in the
quiet of the marsh, a monarch butterfly
floated by. It almost seemed to suspend
itself in an effortless glide. These hand-
some orange-and-black butterflies are
heading south on their perilous journey
to warmer climes. It's one of nature's
great stories, their migration through
both good weather and storms. Yet
somehow there are always those that
make it.
One thing monarchs don't have to fear
is being eaten by birds along the way,
for they have a bitter taste and the birds
seem to know it. The monarch butterfly
lays its eggs on members of the milk-
weed family, which are toxic. When the
larvae feed on the milkweed, they in
turn become toxic. This toxic material
is carried through the various stages of
the monarch's life —as a butterfly it still
carries the bad tasting toxins and birds
stay away from it.
As a matter of fact, birds even shy
away from another smaller butterfly
that mimics the monarch in color. This
is the viceroy butterfly. It too flies un-
hampered by birds for it looks so much
like the monarch it is left alone even
though it has no bad tasting toxins.
Experiments have proven this theory.
Eggs of the monarch were raised on
cabbage leaves which had no toxins.
When offered to birds who had been in
contact with monarchs in the field, the
birds refused to eat them because of
their experience with the bad tasting
monarchs. But birds raised in capitvity
that had never seen or tasted a monarch
would eat them without hesitation. It's
all part of the intricate system of sur-
vival in the world of predation.
Further along the marsh I found a
matted down trail in the low grass that
led from the upland to one of the small
tributaries of the creek. Again I was
puzzled. Perhaps it was a muskrat that
lived in the high ground and traveled
across the marsh to reach water where
it could travel uninhibited in search of
food. Or it could be a mink or weasel.
I know we have them both, although I've
seen only the weasel around here.
The more we look, the more myster-
ies of the natural world we see there are
to unravel.
SHELLEY WILSON
PIANIST It TEACHER • ALL LEVELS
SOUTHAMPTON • (516)283 -2187
HELLO! My grandfather Bob Amodeo of Herb Obser
Motors is having a real juicy Sale on all
Pre -Owned Cars and Trucks! Please tell him
I told you to call because he gives me money
for my piggy bank for everyone that calls him,
Thank you and God Bless. Mary Cummings.
Del 727-0700
t
IERB OBSER Riverhead
727.0700
I ' s OPEN SUNDAY
11 -4 PM 1
ist*J
1/2 Miles East off Exit 73 L.I.
'OX Fr ^anaing it pmcM1ase y paid In lull feaval 90 Oat's you XI I Ca red veJ to pay any rarest. Rri lull tlelals. Mimmum monllrul oaymenls of y,, of the onelvel balance w f10 wfiiMrRar Is peeler a
I Bank Ona. D� NA, p ylon, On. <5i01 p0 Dry• Sam• A• Cash - I^leal PurtMN•.'e FinOnce L ^arges assessed rl paM In III rvCalore 90 Gays Irom purclvse OBIa. It n I e rerlui atl on ell 1. ^ase4. APR - �2.9Nio A cre0.l sa
Ya Sam A• Cash -1 McaalnI PurcllaNa. Flrgnca Cdarges ^n peal pum ^eSas will he calculated Bntl O to Ibe ecrounl un purclreseaitl In lull wrllrin So r.0y IinanCa IrI on rl o FARu AP Ira Ce19 of pum ^ee eet.
heCretlMOlo lM acCWnl.$ae slate for OeleJa.MWel NUmhers8 M1gs 5ugg. Prrc9a 0a not mpresenr Wna llhe yelling price inlpa N.V �alIF to II l' 1N'd in lull. However, rl llre parO rn lull wrdin 90 days Irom..Fee tlale, Fine— Chun,, lm that purcdese will
`Y"oiw Sw¢ ; � &Est.
It SON
ALL N. YC. LOCATIONS LICENSED BY N. YC DEPT. OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS
— BROOKLYN —
— QUEENS —
lath AVE. CAR AUDIO Sales & Installation
The Westhaimpton Synagogue
0111811Ac. 12&Satlffih R,ff718- 331 -2044
75 Mill Road, (One block off Main St.)
BAY RIDGE Lic itiva s..... 7167454300
Westhampton Beach, New York 11978
On 86th St. Bet. BOE & Ft. Hamilton Pkwy
516 • 288 • 0534
BENSONHURST Lic (thin r.. 718 - 265-6400
On 86th St At 201h Ave. IS Train)
Rabbi Marc Schneier, Founding Rabbi
SCHEDULE
FLATBUSH AVE L. RICO, 716377 -5710
OF SERVICES
YOM KIPPUR
ROCKVILLE CENTRE
Friday, September 24
516- 924 -8244
KOL NIDRE 6:30 PM
PATCHOGUE.....
Saturday, September 25
Morning Services 8:30 AM
a1�.516 -727 -8900
Children's Services 11:00 AM
WEST
WEST BABYLON
YIZKOR Memorial Service 11:30 AM
Neilah Service 6:15 PM
.516 -287 -2405
followed by a break - the -fast
BRR"KLYN
SUCCOT
Wednesday, September 29 6:15 PM
Thursday, September 30
Morning Services 9:00 AM
Evening Services 6:15 PM
Friday, October 1
Morning Services 9:00 AM
Evening Services 6:15 PM
Kiddush following services in our beautiful Suceah.
All are welcome.
and wondered what animal was doing
this digging. Then it came to me: it was
probably a raccoon. They are always
opportunists and with a little digging in
the soft marsh they can probably be re-
warded with a crab dinner. The fiddler
crabs on the marsh are the black ones,
not the sandy colored ones you see on
the sand flats. Here too nature has
matched up the camouflage: the black
ones for the muddy marsh, the light col-
ored ones for the sandy areas.
As we returned to the cabin in the
quiet of the marsh, a monarch butterfly
floated by. It almost seemed to suspend
itself in an effortless glide. These hand-
some orange-and-black butterflies are
heading south on their perilous journey
to warmer climes. It's one of nature's
great stories, their migration through
both good weather and storms. Yet
somehow there are always those that
make it.
One thing monarchs don't have to fear
is being eaten by birds along the way,
for they have a bitter taste and the birds
seem to know it. The monarch butterfly
lays its eggs on members of the milk-
weed family, which are toxic. When the
larvae feed on the milkweed, they in
turn become toxic. This toxic material
is carried through the various stages of
the monarch's life —as a butterfly it still
carries the bad tasting toxins and birds
stay away from it.
As a matter of fact, birds even shy
away from another smaller butterfly
that mimics the monarch in color. This
is the viceroy butterfly. It too flies un-
hampered by birds for it looks so much
like the monarch it is left alone even
though it has no bad tasting toxins.
Experiments have proven this theory.
Eggs of the monarch were raised on
cabbage leaves which had no toxins.
When offered to birds who had been in
contact with monarchs in the field, the
birds refused to eat them because of
their experience with the bad tasting
monarchs. But birds raised in capitvity
that had never seen or tasted a monarch
would eat them without hesitation. It's
all part of the intricate system of sur-
vival in the world of predation.
Further along the marsh I found a
matted down trail in the low grass that
led from the upland to one of the small
tributaries of the creek. Again I was
puzzled. Perhaps it was a muskrat that
lived in the high ground and traveled
across the marsh to reach water where
it could travel uninhibited in search of
food. Or it could be a mink or weasel.
I know we have them both, although I've
seen only the weasel around here.
The more we look, the more myster-
ies of the natural world we see there are
to unravel.
SHELLEY WILSON
PIANIST It TEACHER • ALL LEVELS
SOUTHAMPTON • (516)283 -2187
HELLO! My grandfather Bob Amodeo of Herb Obser
Motors is having a real juicy Sale on all
Pre -Owned Cars and Trucks! Please tell him
I told you to call because he gives me money
for my piggy bank for everyone that calls him,
Thank you and God Bless. Mary Cummings.
Del 727-0700
t
IERB OBSER Riverhead
727.0700
I ' s OPEN SUNDAY
11 -4 PM 1
ist*J
1/2 Miles East off Exit 73 L.I.
'OX Fr ^anaing it pmcM1ase y paid In lull feaval 90 Oat's you XI I Ca red veJ to pay any rarest. Rri lull tlelals. Mimmum monllrul oaymenls of y,, of the onelvel balance w f10 wfiiMrRar Is peeler a
I Bank Ona. D� NA, p ylon, On. <5i01 p0 Dry• Sam• A• Cash - I^leal PurtMN•.'e FinOnce L ^arges assessed rl paM In III rvCalore 90 Gays Irom purclvse OBIa. It n I e rerlui atl on ell 1. ^ase4. APR - �2.9Nio A cre0.l sa
Ya Sam A• Cash -1 McaalnI PurcllaNa. Flrgnca Cdarges ^n peal pum ^eSas will he calculated Bntl O to Ibe ecrounl un purclreseaitl In lull wrllrin So r.0y IinanCa IrI on rl o FARu AP Ira Ce19 of pum ^ee eet.
heCretlMOlo lM acCWnl.$ae slate for OeleJa.MWel NUmhers8 M1gs 5ugg. Prrc9a 0a not mpresenr Wna llhe yelling price inlpa N.V �alIF to II l' 1N'd in lull. However, rl llre parO rn lull wrdin 90 days Irom..Fee tlale, Fine— Chun,, lm that purcdese will
`Y"oiw Sw¢ ; � &Est.
It SON
ALL N. YC. LOCATIONS LICENSED BY N. YC DEPT. OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS
— BROOKLYN —
— QUEENS —
lath AVE. CAR AUDIO Sales & Installation
OZONE PARK loan eat' emn
0111811Ac. 12&Satlffih R,ff718- 331 -2044
a Lat Ave. Lu. 1.7%....... __718 -848 -6700
BAY RIDGE Lic itiva s..... 7167454300
ASTORIA. 1.193..,01111111i.....718- 204 -0012
On 86th St. Bet. BOE & Ft. Hamilton Pkwy
BAYSIDE L^ Perfect- ..___...... 718- 224 -1780
BENSONHURST Lic (thin r.. 718 - 265-6400
On 86th St At 201h Ave. IS Train)
FOREST HILLS Lx aa99rw._.718 -896 -6822
FLATBUSH AVE L. RICO, 716377 -5710
REGO PARK to ]E99ras....... ]10- 268 -8155
msh Ave. at 45th SL (6 blocks S.
Hwy, 6 Blocks No of Kings Plaza)
HWY oa N99re1....... 718- 382 -5006
' Hwy. • Kings Hwy. Station
(1 Block W. of McDonald Ave.)
AVE. w Hkooss .718- 968 -9631
1 Ave. at Ave M (NaH ke RDUmclbn)
IN HOME DELIVERY
9EV ENE +T OAY- ip/ yl ITE i1 N_EI 00I
auILDEX a c 5NTNACTOR DIVISION - -�
Cell Shell 6lit:l' "
Sales & Installation
7 Days a Week
•CAR ALARMS•
•CAR STEREO•
• CD PLAYERS • CBS -
•CELLULARPHONES -
•RADARDETECTORS
NASSAU
BELLMORE.......
aster. 516785 -0600
CARLE PLACE ...
sall 516- 294 -2900
ELMONT ...............
516- 285 -5700
GREENVALE/ROSLYN ... 516 -625 -8100
LEVITTOWN ......
O>! 516 -731 -0422
MANHASSET .
. 516- 627 -1500
OC EANSIDE.. ......
516 - 784 -3555
PLAINVIEW .....
All 516- 694-3300
ROCKVILLE CENTRE
.... 516 -764 -3600
SHOWROOM HOURS: MONDAY. - FRIDAY. 10AM- 9:30PM SATURDAY 9AM -9PM SUNDAY 10AM ]PM
THE SOUTHAMPTON PRESS / SEPTEMBER 23, 1993
c ID9] V C. RICHARD S SON
—SUFFOLK
Comm . - ....
- ..516 -543 -8500
DEER PARK ...........
516-254-0123
HAUPPAUGE.....
.516 -582 -3100
"ArFr
LAKE GROVE . ..��516-
981 -6500
' Aadne.Ap
MIDDLE ISLAND........
516- 924 -8244
Ple OF
PATCHOGUE.....
4.516.654 -0500
...
a1�.516 -727 -8900
n ma' OF 4y01
WEST
WEST BABYLON
...516- 587 -2700
SOUTHAMPTON.
SOUTHAMPTON .
.516 -287 -2405
VISA
BRR"KLYN
pE[R ast
./ B1I
THE SOUTHAMPTON PRESS / SEPTEMBER 23, 1993