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March 09, 2006 - A most satisfying sightinge News - Review • March 9, 2006 most Satims 1 "vE OFTEN SPOKEN aoout our go- ing to the south side and driving along Dune Road in hopes of seeing some- thing unusual in the bird world, like a snowy owl or a bittern, or even a stray shorebird. We cross over from the main land to Dune Road at Westhampton and then travel east to Shinnecock, another great place to see unusual gulls, sea ducks and that rugged little purple sandpiper that somehow ekes out a liv -. ing amongst the rocks and spray FOCUS of the jetty. O N The first part of our drive alonl NATURE Dune Road is like driving by Paul through a tun - Stoutenburgh nel of the most extraordinary conglomerate of summer mansions that you can ever imagine. It's worth the ride just to see these architectural creations. Every once in a while you'll see a little house that has somehow lived through the grandiose period of-modernization, but they, too, are being gobbled up and transformed into someone's dream of the day. It's when the "architectural*review" things run out that we slow the car down- to. a crawl and our eyes are geared to the task of finding that some- thing special that will make our day. The best place to concentrate our attention is in the "borrow pit" that runs along the north side of the road. For those who are not familiar with the term bor- row pit, here's what it means. in si ht'i n News - Review photos by Paul Stoutenburgh Right alongside Dune Road is a dug- out section of the marsh that fills with water. This area is a good place to see herons, rails and, as shown at left, the American bittern. Above: If you're lucky, you might see a snowy owl as Ivou drive along Dune Road. When roads are put through low -ly- ing, marshy areas, the contractor digs out material that is close at hand to use as fill to elevate the road he is building. It is literally a "pit" from which some- thing was "borrowed." The result of this borrowing of fill is an area that fills with water, which makes an excellent place for birds to be found. Now let's get back to our drive along Dune Road. As the buildings thin out and the salt marsh becomes the prominent cover, our chances of seeing something un- usua are a of better. The first and prob- ably most abundant birds are the black ducks, many of which have already paired up. Sprinkled here and there were the familiar mallards that are so common around our north shore. Because it was so cold and windy, the little bird life we saw was huddled down behind the now -dead thatch grass and, sure enough, scrunched down in one of the borrow pits was a great blue heron. Its feet were in water. It amazes me how ducks, geese, herons or any of the birds can stand in icy water. We saw two more great blues as we crept along. All looked as if they wished they had gone south with the rest of their clan. At one point we pulled off the side of the road to let a car pass and as we stopped I saw one of the most memo- rable sights of my life. Scurrying along amongst the high -tide wrack was a tiny, slate - colored bird: I couldn't believe what I was seeing! It is tie most secre- tive of all marsh birds. A bit larger than a sparrow, it had longish legs and chicken -like feet. It was a black rail. Be lieve me, this is a bird few people have ever seen because of its elusiveness. I'd seen it only once before, when a friend of mine who lives in Maryland, near hi favorite salt marsh, showed us one. Barbara also saw this tiny rail. I jumped out of the car in hopes of get- ting a better view, but it was all in vain. Barbara, who stayed in the car, saw it again. We were so excited; we couldn't believe our good fortune. I had hoped to see it fly, but no, I'd have to be satis- fied with that five - second peek at this tiny black rail as it slinked past us. Though we had binoculars and cam- era in hand, we didn't have time to use either. Rails are not easily flushed; they would rather scurry away into the evidently been feeding in the wrack tha had been washed up during the recent strong northeaster. We drove over on two different oc- casions in hopes of seeing it again. My son also made numerous trips, with no results. We were interested to learn that there have been two or three sightings of black rails on Dune Road in the past five years. We completed our drive to Shin - necock Inlet and saw two or three purple sandpipers feeding on the rocks of the jetty. Here again, one wonders � ow the se bi ds can eke out a living in elow- freezing weather and howling ales — but thev do. We rode home with the adrenalin still iming high. All we could talk about as the sighting of "our black rail." ack home, out came the reference ooks and in one after the other they described exactly what we had seen. . Because we only saw the rail for a short time, we didn't see some of the mark- ings this little rail has, such as the white flecking on the body and the brown spot on the nape of the neck. Everything we read told how elusive and how almost impossible it is to see this tiny marsh dweller. Some called it the shadow bird, which, by the way, is the name of a book about two elusive rails: the black rail, which is found on the East Coast, and the yellow rail, which is seen in the north cen- tral United States and Canada. There's so little known The book is and written about this written by sparrow -size black rail Bill Burt, that I couldn't find a who has lit - picture I liked, so here erally spent Is my attempt to show . years stalk - you what Barbara and ing these saw along Dune Road seldom In Westhampton. seen rails. His fasci- nating tale is beautifully written and his outstanding photographs of these birds in their natural habitat are a real treat. For those who enjoy the world of the outdoors, this book is a must.