April 06, 2006 - Rising up from the ashesThe Suffolk Times • April 6, 2006 0
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Suffolk Times photos by Paul Stoutenburgh
Left: This kestrel, or sparrow hawk, as it used to be called, is on a fence post, probably looking for one of its favorite
foods — a grasshopper. Usually the best place to see one of these small falcons is on a telephone wire. Right: Nature
has provided certain pine trees with a thick layer of bark to protect them from fires. The pines in the pine barrens are
perfect examples of this.
TFIE FORECASTERS predicted rain for an can remam
today. It's been a month since we had there for years
any of that precious commodity, and FOCUS until the heat of
that's not good. Not only does the lack a fire sets them
of rain play havoc with the plant life, it O N free. It's nature's
sets the stage for wildfires. They can be NATURE way of guaran-
deadly for anything that happens to be teeing there will
in their path. Yet, there is some good by Paul always be an-
that comes from these fast - moving ren- Stout - nburgh other generation
egade fires of pine trees.
In the case of certain pine trees, their Not only do
seeds are held tightly in their cones the seeds drop from the cones be-
cause of the heat, but they drop on
the ash left by the fire, which acts as
a stimulant to the young seedlings,
giving them a headstart in the burned
over area that has been-cleared of de-
bris and is now open to the sun.
On some species of trees, nature has
provided a thick blanket of bark that
protects the vital layers underneath.
This thick outer layer of bark so insu-
lates the tree from fire that once the
fire passes, the tree goes on living with
only minor scars.
An interesting tree I've gotten ac-
quainted with down here in Florida
is the tamarind tree that dominates
our area. We have one stately tama-
rind tree that grows with its roots at
the water's edge just to the left of our
place. It's like so many trees up north;
it loses its leaves each year. One could
say it stands,stark naked, awaiting
nature's signal to come forth in its leaf
greenery.
It has special meaning to me for
it seems to attract birds of all sorts.
One day it will be the meeting.place
of the noisy fish crows and, like many
meetings, their meetings become a bit
unruly as each crow seems to want to
be heard.
If you have time, and that's what
we have a lot of down here, you can
usually find a tiny. bird flitting about
this naked tree, probably looking for
tiny insects' eggs, aphids or some othe
little creatures that thought they were
safely hidden from the likes of this tai
One highlight event in this special
tree occurred yesterday, when Barbara
pointed to the top of the tree and said,
"Isn't that a shrike up there ?" It was
so far away I could only make it out to
be a light - colored bird about the size
of but heavier than a catbird. The bin-
oculars came out and I could see it was
a loggerhead shrike, a close relative
of the northern shrike we have back
home. That Barbara is getting to be a
pretty good birder; her eyes and ears
are so much better than mine.
Down here in Florida the shrike is
quite common, in contrast to the oc-
,asional sighting we get of our north -
°rn shrike back home. Once, when we
were working for the Army Corps'
nanatee program at the Ortona Locks
)n the Caloosahatchie River, we had a
hrike build its nest in a small tree righ
alongside our camper.
Shrikes are nicknamed "butcher
birds." They prey on small birds, mice,
shrews, insects, etc. Seeing that some of
its prey is more than it can eat at one
sitting, the shrike will hang the unfortu
nate victim on a thorn or small branch,
where it will stay until the shrike gets
hungry again.
Years ago, when on a Christmas
bird count in Orient, a group of us
were privileged to see this "butcher
bird" in action. It had caught a small
rodent of some kind. We had dis-
turbed it while it was'eating so it flew
off; carrying its meal with it. It flew to
a low limb of a locust tree and hung
its meal on a thorn. We all stood in
awe of this relatively small bird that
had caught its lunch, eaten some of
it, and then hung the remainder of it
up for later consumption. We were
all anxious to see what the shrike had
been eating, so we went closer to take
a look. It had eaten so much of it,
we couldn't identify it. All we could
see were its feet, which told us it was
some sort of small animal.
Right now as I look out at the tama-
ind tree, there are a pair of collared
doves sitting together on a limb, mak-
ing goo -goo eyes at each other. They
fly away and then circle back and land
almost in the same spot. Could this be
where they're going to build their nest?
We'll have to wait and see.
Another bird that uses the treetop
as a lookout is the little kestrel, or
sparrow hawk, as it used to be called.
At one time on the East End it was
one of our most common hawks, but
of late we hardly ever see one. Only
a few years ago, we could count on
seeing one perched on the telephone
lines as we drove along. It would be
looking for a small rodent or one of
its favorite foods, the grasshopper. I'm
wondering what's going on with this
handsome little falcon that was once
so common.