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February 08, 2007 - Stories from the wild sideThe Suffolk Times • February 8, 2007 Stories from the wild side i6kfn ilrNi l r� �. n� �,�,� �I i�NIN,��M�'�{wr �l�N'"N� �� � „Nl�✓�ni I l y M1linr Suffolk Times photo by Barbara and Paul Stc much as we find fault with the common gray squirrel, one has to anirit and tenacity of this lively bushy - tailed survivor. ere are some stories trom tioria that focus on nature. No matter where we go, we can usually count o Mr. Gray Squirrel checking us out. Even here in Florida, on an island, w find this ever -busy squirrel looking for handouts. If he were a long -dis- tance runner he could have perhaps made it acrosc the long bridge that connects the island to the mainland. 'Men there's the possibility he might have been caught in one of FOCUS those live traps because he was O N eating too many NATURE sunflower seeds that were in- by Paul tended for birds Stoutenburgh — not squirrels. If he was caught in a live trap he could have been let loose on the island. Another possibility could be he started to make his home in someone's house or garage, and that wouldn't do at all. His fate in that itenburgh situation could be exactly like the admlr live trap incident I just mentioned, where the squirrel, once caught, was let go on the island with hopes it would never return. I'm not sure if squirrels can smell each other and, seeing it takes two to "tango,” some- how the two would meet. It's all a guessing game. One thing I'm sure of, there are gray squirrels on this island. Someone asked, could a squirrel swim to the island? Who knows, cra- zier things than that have happened in the mating season. Ficture this if you can. The sun's been up for about half an hour, time enough to flood the bay with a touch of gold. Then from our left a mass of cormorants and red - breasted mergansers fly in like a low cloud over the water, their probing creat- ing a boiling froth of feeding birds. Everywhere there were birds mov- ing; a few rest for a short spell before they take off, running along the top of the water. Once airborne, they fly to the moving mass of fish below them that try to escape the plunder- ers from above. Then we see glistening black fins of marauding dolphins that add terror to the scene. They, too, want a share of the feast. There are times when things dive down only to explode in a haze of silvery splashing conflict. ine east goes on, birds diving, birds flying in and out, dolphins plowing through the mad turmoil of unbelievable car- nage. Twenty minutes later it was all over, the sparkling water of the bay once again took over. _ Though we are in Florida we re- ceive calls every day about dol- phins moving around Orient Point to the Sound — so many Bob couldn't count them, splashing, playing, an unbelievable sight. He also told us of gannets off of Orient Point. 1A lady called regarding binocu- lars; what size and weight to buy, etc. They are something no one inter- ested in birds should be without. She was enjoying feeding the birds with the cold weather you are now having up there and wanted to get a better view of them. This brings me to the call from Ray, who was so excited about his first sighting of a yellow - bellied sapsucker at his feeder. He was sitting in his car photographing it as we talked. I told him we had seen one at our suet feeder back home and how excited we were about it at the time. We also watched a sapsucker drilling holes in a hickory tree right off our back porch once. After it was full of sap, it flew off and a chickadee came and enjoyed the tiny wells of sap. Some fruit growers dislike the sap- sucker for they think the holes they make are detrimental to their trees; yet it's been proven that although they do mark up the tree, no long term harm comes of it. Keep your eyes open at your suet feeder for this yellow - bellied sapsucker. It looks very similar to our downy woodpeck- er with its black and white markings and reddish head. The red is also seen under the throat. In flight you will notice two white patches in the wings. Should you miss seeing this bird, you will know it's been around when you see the rings of small holes it has drilled in orderly rows around 11 this reminded me that my dad always had suet attached to a tree just outside our dining room windows. Then, like today, you had to cover it with half -inch- square mesh to keep from having Mr. Raccoon take it. Perhaps that is when I first got to know birds. We never got anything special on our' uet — just the regu- lars, hairy woodpeckers and chicka- dees and nuthatches or, as my dad would call them, "upside -down birds" after their unique ability to travel with ease in that upside -down position. It was a time before the handsome red - bellied woodpecker moved up from the South; today this bird has spread through our area. I remember when I first heard its strange call, Barbara and I were liv- ing in my dad's house in Fleets Neck. Though I heard the call, I could not find the bird. I had just received' a tape recorder I'd had one of my students, Ron, get for me while he was in Ger- many in the Army. (He bought a Uher portable tape recorder and delivered it to me in person.) Armed with my new tape recorder. I followed the elusive bird from one area to another, from the back yard of one summer cottage to the next. Then I lost my mysterious caller. It wasn't until the next day that I fi- nally caught up to what turned out to be the now common red- bellied woodpecker. To add to my find, the red - bellied woodpecker was excavating a cavity in a dead oak tree. All the calling I was hearing must have been part of the mating game. Sorry to say that in those days there were only a few red - bellied woodpeckers around, and the 1frustrated woodpecker never did call n a mate. However, I did get some reat tape recordings of our new visi- or from the South.