July 10, 2008 - Nature's 'show of shows'July 10, 2008 •The Suffolk Times
Nature
ows
One evening in early June, Bar-
bara and I watched the sky slowly
turn into a mesmerizing black mass
that could mean only one thing;
someone was taking a beating from
a thunderstorm. As for us, we were
just spectators to a game that's been
played out many times since the
"big bang" that started it all.
Like most summer thunderstorms,
this one took its bag of tricks down
the Sound, leaving us with a light rain
and a continuous display of thunder
and lightning that lit up the darkening
sky with a show of power. Then, as we
watched, the distant rumblings seemed
to get.louder and louder. Had the sto
changed its direction? Would we soon
be in its path?
As we watched this show of shows
that now involved us, lightning contin-
ued to light up
FOCUS the evening sky.
Then out of this
O N turmoil came an
osprey with a fish
NATURE dangling in its
by Paul talons. It headed
S h right for the
toutenbur g windmill up back
— I quickly set
up my 20 -power scope and brought
the new arrival into focus. Evidently
the osprey had just caught a bunker
(fish) and was now coming to its.
favorite'perch on the windmill to eat
its evening meal.
We couldn't believe our eyes. Here
was a bird seemingly unconcerned by
what was going on about it. Evidently ,
food was its number one priority. I
swung my scope on the now perched
osprey and could see its prize still
moving in its powerful talons. Now the
rain, thunder and lightning literally
took over the stage before us. Only by
using the scope, which I had previously
focused on the osprey, could I see our
late visitor, but there it was, rain -soake
and seemingly oblivious to the storm.
Its only concern was the meal still
t
moving below. As time slipped by, it
became harder and harder t0 see the
Suffolk Times photos by Fain and Barbara stoutenburgh
osprey through the scope. The only
For some reason, ospreys enjoy perching on our 50 -foot windmill. At times
time we could make it out at all was
we've had as many as five or six ospreys trying to win the top spot. Others
during the brilliant light flashes that
are content to take a lower position to enjoy their meal.
now surrounaea us.
The next morning the storm had
moved to the east. I again got up early
in anticipation of seeing our osprey. But
o, it had left. It probably went fishing
arly in the waters of the Peconics.
That was not the only storm we'd wit -
ess in the month of June. More recent-
ly we had been in Greenport and were
headed home when all of.a sudden the
sky turned black, and within minutes
and a few blocks our day turned into
night; car lights went on, traffic slowed.
I didn't like what was brewing.
First there was just a sprinkling
of rain but that quickly changed to
a downpour, the likes of which I'd
never seen before. It was as if some
great power had dumped a huge
bucket of water mixed with wind and
chaos all at once that smothered us.
Windshield wipers were useless; we
pulled off the road and moved to a
safe place to wait it out.
As quickly as it started, it ended.
Slowly we began to move toward home.
All traffic slowly moved along, not
knowing what was ahead. Trees were
down and cars moved along off the
highway to get through.
Once home, the sun was out and the
wind had gone but we began to hear of
the great destruction the storm had left
behind. Our decision to take the Main
Road home from Greenport was a
good one, as the poles down on Route
48 caused much inconvenience for
those trying to move on it. One never
knows-what a day will bring.
We recently had a call from Ori-
ent about a young owl on the ground
being harassed by crows and others,
all enemies of the owl. We headed
right out and when we arrived the owl
slowly decided to make a move ... it
went a few feet, looked all around,
and finally took flight down along the
beach and up into some shrubbery, .
where we could hear the mother call-
ing to it. In most cases with birds or
deer, if you leave the young.where you
found it, or put it up out of harm's way,
in the case of a bird, the parents will
most likely return to find it and take
care of it. That is always the best way
to handle a wildlife situation.
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