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September 28, 2000 - Hawks are making their move6A • The Suffolk Times • September 28, 2000 Hawks are maki*n Barbara and I watched a Cooper's hawk harass our chickens, then fly to a nearby tree, only to be harassed itself by bluejays and crows. Usually when you hear the jays and crows call- ing madly, it means they have one of their enemies in sight. With a little serious stalking Focus you can usually O N find out who the culprit is. NATURE Sometimes it's a by Paul great'horned owl Stoutenburgh or perhaps the lit- tle screech owl or, as in this case, one of the many kinds of hawks that seem to infuriate the crows and jays. The appearance of this Cooper's hawk reminded me it was hawk migra- tion time. It's usually best seen along the south shore where the dunes and ocean -meet. It is along this stretch of barrier beach that we often see hun- dreds of hawks moving about at this time of the year. I remember one year when we went over there to see the hawks we counted over 500 kestrels moving through in only a few hours. Mixed in with this usual flight were sharp - shinned hawks, merlins, a few Cooper's and an occasional osprey, all heading south for the winter. So with a possible flight in mind, Barbara and I decided to go over to 3hinnecock and see if we could see my of those travelers heading south. [be wind was right at the time, blow - ng out of the northwest. That's the cind of wind they like to travel on. We should have started sooner, for by he time we got to Westhampton's dune Road the wind had swung ground to the southwest, killing our hances of seeine anv havdlcc their move Suffolk Times photo by Paul Stoutenburgh Cormorants are becoming more and more common in our local waters. Their feathers are not fully waterproof and so we often see them atop a piling or buoy with wings outstretched to dry. No matter, we'd make the afternoon worthwhile by just sightseeing along on our way to the inlet. After being over- whelmed by the huge, eleborate estates that line the oceanfront there, we final- ly worked our way out of those archi- tectural extravaganzas and found our- selves at the Shinnecock Inlet. People were all about — some fishine: some lounging in the sun, and others, like us, just sightseeing. It was a great day but no flight of hawks for us. Swallows eating berries Where the houses stopped there was just the natural dune area, with occa- sional clumps'of salt spray rose and poison ivy that had already started its colorful crimson and gold. We had noticed all along that the bayberry bushes were loaded with berries. Then we hit one particular spot where there were thousands of tree swallows milling just above three large bay- berry bushes. It was almost impos- sible to see the bushes because of. the swallows mov- ing in and out of them. We pulled off under a "no park- ing" sign and got out the glasses to focus in on the milling white -bel- lies tree swallows. Now we could see they were lighting on the bushes and eating berries. These are the bluish -gray, BB- sized berries that you'll find in clus- ters on their Bayberry is com- mon all along our oceanfront. It was the first time I had ever seen this phenomenon. Although we didn't see any hawks, we did see cormorants heading south. We have two species of cormorants, the double- crested, which we see now, and the great cormorant, which we usually see in the winter. On a good day you can see the black long - necked, almost goose - sized, double - crested cormorants flying in broken strings of 20 to 100 or more. Often they'll be mistaken for Canada geese.. Our double- crested cormorant gets its name from the two tufts of feathers on its head during the mating season. Most of our cormorants that we see locally nest on Gardiners Island, and then only in the last 10 to 15 years. Today there are over 500 nests, with more each year. They make their nests in trees or shrubs or even on the ground. Their excrement whitens everything within reach, so much so that from offshore you can tell where the colony is by the whitewash of these prolific birds. Cormorants dive for fish. They are mostly fish eaters, but anything that is within the marine environment — shrimp, small crustaceans or fish — ill do. They usually dive between ve and 25 feet deep, but fishermen ave found them in nets at 100 feet. ey don't spear the fish but hold it in heir long, saber -like hooked bill. Cormorants can be found in lakes and rivers in some parts of the country and have become so numerous that fishermen are complaining they are cutting into their commercial stock. This is particularly true in the Chesapeake and the Great Lakes. Cormorants return to the same nesting areas each year and so when you think about them living up to eight years you can see they can multiply and pro- duce great quantities of young. Often I've mentioned in my articles that as a kid I never saw cormorants in our creeks. Todav it is a common thing to see them tishing or drying their wings as they sit on top of a buoy or piling through- out the creeks of our East End. And -so our trip to Westhampton to see hawks was not in vain. We saw swallows and cor- morants 'and had a wonderful day just sightseeing. To catch up with another "first for me," I have this to report from out in the garden the other day. We all know gray squir- rels like the cover of trees and bush- es where they can scurry under and hide, so when I saw a squirrel out in the open pas- ture it drew my immediate attention. It waddled around and could hardly stand up. I knew there had to be something wrong. It was stumbling and weaving back and forth, eventual- ly making its way to the fence where it tried to climb up but fell over back- ward. What was going on? I thought for a moment, it was injured, but no, I could walk almost right up to it. It looked perfectly healthy except it had lost control of its body. It was literally drunk. Yes, I said drunk. I called Barbara and she wit- nessed this unusual event with-me. What had happened? I'm assuming the squirrel had found the old apples or cherries or grapes that had fallen to the ground and fermented. The squir- rel evidently had enjoyed the forbid- den fruit and had gotten tipsy. Once when we got close to it, it climbed about four feet up a small tree and promptly fell down and staggered off into the grass. I'd often heard of farm- ers' pigs that had gotten into ferment- ed apples, eaten too many and got staggering drunk. I guess that's what happened to our squirrel. It was so unusual to see him out in the open pasture staggering around. He had just had too much to drink. 6A • The Suffolk Times • September 28, 2000 Hawks are maki*n Barbara and I watched a Cooper's hawk harass our chickens, then fly to a nearby tree, only to be harassed itself by bluejays and crows. Usually when you hear the jays and crows call- ing madly, it means they have one of their enemies in sight. With a little serious stalking Focus you can usually O N find out who the culprit is. NATURE Sometimes it's a by Paul great'horned owl Stoutenburgh or perhaps the lit- tle screech owl or, as in this case, one of the many kinds of hawks that seem to infuriate the crows and jays. The appearance of this Cooper's hawk reminded me it was hawk migra- tion time. It's usually best seen along the south shore where the dunes and ocean -meet. It is along this stretch of barrier beach that we often see hun- dreds of hawks moving about at this time of the year. I remember one year when we went over there to see the hawks we counted over 500 kestrels moving through in only a few hours. Mixed in with this usual flight were sharp - shinned hawks, merlins, a few Cooper's and an occasional osprey, all heading south for the winter. So with a possible flight in mind, Barbara and I decided to go over to 3hinnecock and see if we could see my of those travelers heading south. [be wind was right at the time, blow - ng out of the northwest. That's the cind of wind they like to travel on. We should have started sooner, for by he time we got to Westhampton's dune Road the wind had swung ground to the southwest, killing our hances of seeine anv havdlcc their move Suffolk Times photo by Paul Stoutenburgh Cormorants are becoming more and more common in our local waters. Their feathers are not fully waterproof and so we often see them atop a piling or buoy with wings outstretched to dry. No matter, we'd make the afternoon worthwhile by just sightseeing along on our way to the inlet. After being over- whelmed by the huge, eleborate estates that line the oceanfront there, we final- ly worked our way out of those archi- tectural extravaganzas and found our- selves at the Shinnecock Inlet. People were all about — some fishine: some lounging in the sun, and others, like us, just sightseeing. It was a great day but no flight of hawks for us. Swallows eating berries Where the houses stopped there was just the natural dune area, with occa- sional clumps'of salt spray rose and poison ivy that had already started its colorful crimson and gold. We had noticed all along that the bayberry bushes were loaded with berries. Then we hit one particular spot where there were thousands of tree swallows milling just above three large bay- berry bushes. It was almost impos- sible to see the bushes because of. the swallows mov- ing in and out of them. We pulled off under a "no park- ing" sign and got out the glasses to focus in on the milling white -bel- lies tree swallows. Now we could see they were lighting on the bushes and eating berries. These are the bluish -gray, BB- sized berries that you'll find in clus- ters on their Bayberry is com- mon all along our oceanfront. It was the first time I had ever seen this phenomenon. Although we didn't see any hawks, we did see cormorants heading south. We have two species of cormorants, the double- crested, which we see now, and the great cormorant, which we usually see in the winter. On a good day you can see the black long - necked, almost goose - sized, double - crested cormorants flying in broken strings of 20 to 100 or more. Often they'll be mistaken for Canada geese.. Our double- crested cormorant gets its name from the two tufts of feathers on its head during the mating season. Most of our cormorants that we see locally nest on Gardiners Island, and then only in the last 10 to 15 years. Today there are over 500 nests, with more each year. They make their nests in trees or shrubs or even on the ground. Their excrement whitens everything within reach, so much so that from offshore you can tell where the colony is by the whitewash of these prolific birds. Cormorants dive for fish. They are mostly fish eaters, but anything that is within the marine environment — shrimp, small crustaceans or fish — ill do. They usually dive between ve and 25 feet deep, but fishermen ave found them in nets at 100 feet. ey don't spear the fish but hold it in heir long, saber -like hooked bill. Cormorants can be found in lakes and rivers in some parts of the country and have become so numerous that fishermen are complaining they are cutting into their commercial stock. This is particularly true in the Chesapeake and the Great Lakes. Cormorants return to the same nesting areas each year and so when you think about them living up to eight years you can see they can multiply and pro- duce great quantities of young. Often I've mentioned in my articles that as a kid I never saw cormorants in our creeks. Todav it is a common thing to see them tishing or drying their wings as they sit on top of a buoy or piling through- out the creeks of our East End. And -so our trip to Westhampton to see hawks was not in vain. We saw swallows and cor- morants 'and had a wonderful day just sightseeing. To catch up with another "first for me," I have this to report from out in the garden the other day. We all know gray squir- rels like the cover of trees and bush- es where they can scurry under and hide, so when I saw a squirrel out in the open pas- ture it drew my immediate attention. It waddled around and could hardly stand up. I knew there had to be something wrong. It was stumbling and weaving back and forth, eventual- ly making its way to the fence where it tried to climb up but fell over back- ward. What was going on? I thought for a moment, it was injured, but no, I could walk almost right up to it. It looked perfectly healthy except it had lost control of its body. It was literally drunk. Yes, I said drunk. I called Barbara and she wit- nessed this unusual event with-me. What had happened? I'm assuming the squirrel had found the old apples or cherries or grapes that had fallen to the ground and fermented. The squir- rel evidently had enjoyed the forbid- den fruit and had gotten tipsy. Once when we got close to it, it climbed about four feet up a small tree and promptly fell down and staggered off into the grass. I'd often heard of farm- ers' pigs that had gotten into ferment- ed apples, eaten too many and got staggering drunk. I guess that's what happened to our squirrel. It was so unusual to see him out in the open pasture staggering around. He had just had too much to drink. 6A • The Suffolk Times • September 28, 2000 Hawks are maki*n Barbara and I watched a Cooper's hawk harass our chickens, then fly to a nearby tree, only to be harassed itself by bluejays and crows. Usually when you hear the jays and crows call- ing madly, it means they have one of their enemies in sight. With a little serious stalking Focus you can usually O N find out who the culprit is. NATURE Sometimes it's a by Paul great'horned owl Stoutenburgh or perhaps the lit- tle screech owl or, as in this case, one of the many kinds of hawks that seem to infuriate the crows and jays. The appearance of this Cooper's hawk reminded me it was hawk migra- tion time. It's usually best seen along the south shore where the dunes and ocean -meet. It is along this stretch of barrier beach that we often see hun- dreds of hawks moving about at this time of the year. I remember one year when we went over there to see the hawks we counted over 500 kestrels moving through in only a few hours. Mixed in with this usual flight were sharp - shinned hawks, merlins, a few Cooper's and an occasional osprey, all heading south for the winter. So with a possible flight in mind, Barbara and I decided to go over to 3hinnecock and see if we could see my of those travelers heading south. [be wind was right at the time, blow - ng out of the northwest. That's the cind of wind they like to travel on. We should have started sooner, for by he time we got to Westhampton's dune Road the wind had swung ground to the southwest, killing our hances of seeine anv havdlcc their move Suffolk Times photo by Paul Stoutenburgh Cormorants are becoming more and more common in our local waters. Their feathers are not fully waterproof and so we often see them atop a piling or buoy with wings outstretched to dry. No matter, we'd make the afternoon worthwhile by just sightseeing along on our way to the inlet. After being over- whelmed by the huge, eleborate estates that line the oceanfront there, we final- ly worked our way out of those archi- tectural extravaganzas and found our- selves at the Shinnecock Inlet. People were all about — some fishine: some lounging in the sun, and others, like us, just sightseeing. It was a great day but no flight of hawks for us. Swallows eating berries Where the houses stopped there was just the natural dune area, with occa- sional clumps'of salt spray rose and poison ivy that had already started its colorful crimson and gold. We had noticed all along that the bayberry bushes were loaded with berries. Then we hit one particular spot where there were thousands of tree swallows milling just above three large bay- berry bushes. It was almost impos- sible to see the bushes because of. the swallows mov- ing in and out of them. We pulled off under a "no park- ing" sign and got out the glasses to focus in on the milling white -bel- lies tree swallows. Now we could see they were lighting on the bushes and eating berries. These are the bluish -gray, BB- sized berries that you'll find in clus- ters on their Bayberry is com- mon all along our oceanfront. It was the first time I had ever seen this phenomenon. Although we didn't see any hawks, we did see cormorants heading south. We have two species of cormorants, the double- crested, which we see now, and the great cormorant, which we usually see in the winter. On a good day you can see the black long - necked, almost goose - sized, double - crested cormorants flying in broken strings of 20 to 100 or more. Often they'll be mistaken for Canada geese.. Our double- crested cormorant gets its name from the two tufts of feathers on its head during the mating season. Most of our cormorants that we see locally nest on Gardiners Island, and then only in the last 10 to 15 years. Today there are over 500 nests, with more each year. They make their nests in trees or shrubs or even on the ground. Their excrement whitens everything within reach, so much so that from offshore you can tell where the colony is by the whitewash of these prolific birds. Cormorants dive for fish. They are mostly fish eaters, but anything that is within the marine environment — shrimp, small crustaceans or fish — ill do. They usually dive between ve and 25 feet deep, but fishermen ave found them in nets at 100 feet. ey don't spear the fish but hold it in heir long, saber -like hooked bill. Cormorants can be found in lakes and rivers in some parts of the country and have become so numerous that fishermen are complaining they are cutting into their commercial stock. This is particularly true in the Chesapeake and the Great Lakes. Cormorants return to the same nesting areas each year and so when you think about them living up to eight years you can see they can multiply and pro- duce great quantities of young. Often I've mentioned in my articles that as a kid I never saw cormorants in our creeks. Todav it is a common thing to see them tishing or drying their wings as they sit on top of a buoy or piling through- out the creeks of our East End. And -so our trip to Westhampton to see hawks was not in vain. We saw swallows and cor- morants 'and had a wonderful day just sightseeing. To catch up with another "first for me," I have this to report from out in the garden the other day. We all know gray squir- rels like the cover of trees and bush- es where they can scurry under and hide, so when I saw a squirrel out in the open pas- ture it drew my immediate attention. It waddled around and could hardly stand up. I knew there had to be something wrong. It was stumbling and weaving back and forth, eventual- ly making its way to the fence where it tried to climb up but fell over back- ward. What was going on? I thought for a moment, it was injured, but no, I could walk almost right up to it. It looked perfectly healthy except it had lost control of its body. It was literally drunk. Yes, I said drunk. I called Barbara and she wit- nessed this unusual event with-me. What had happened? I'm assuming the squirrel had found the old apples or cherries or grapes that had fallen to the ground and fermented. The squir- rel evidently had enjoyed the forbid- den fruit and had gotten tipsy. Once when we got close to it, it climbed about four feet up a small tree and promptly fell down and staggered off into the grass. I'd often heard of farm- ers' pigs that had gotten into ferment- ed apples, eaten too many and got staggering drunk. I guess that's what happened to our squirrel. It was so unusual to see him out in the open pasture staggering around. He had just had too much to drink.