August 21, 2008 - Melancholy and monarchsThe Suffolk Times • August 21, 2008
M
There's a bit of sadness in the air. I
felt it as soon as I got up this morning.
Those early sunrises are a thing of the
past; shorter days are here. No longer
will I awaken before everyone in the
household and walk amongst the
dew- drenched carpet of my lawn. No
longer can we watch the baby birds
being fed; by now they are mostly
fledged and on their own.
The hungry young red - tailed hawk
cries for attention atop the windmill
out back. An empty stomach will even-
tually give way to a dive on an unsus-
pecting field mouse. The results are still
an empty stomach! It will try again and
again until success is achieved. -
The milkweed is putting the last bit
of covering on its seed - packed pod.
Once complete the bundle of expand-
ing dry seeds within will burst and the
windblown parachute seeds of the
milkweed will be scattered through-
out the land where they will wait the
warmth of spring.
The cool nights will help the slow
trodden, box turtle start to find a
deep soft spot in the forest floor
where it can dig down and sleep
amidst the forest rubble while winter
plays its many games.
As the days grow shorter and the air
carries a nip of cooler temperature so
does the water in our bays and creeks..
This signals the eels to find a spot in
the mud they can move into and sleep
away the winter.
Focus We know this
on TV antennas. Others will rest, bathe
to be true as we
and feed, all in preparation for the
ON often go out on
time when they will leave us on their
NATURE RE the frozen creek
annual migration south. Each evening
where holes are
we watch them gather and mill about,
by Paul chopped into the
softly chattering amongst themselves.
Stoutenburgh ice and our long
It reminds one of some great rally.
mud spears hook
It is the time of year when we get
into the hibernating eels; awelcome
out our long bamboo snapper poles
change of diet when the frying pan
that have rested in the rafters of the
sizzles with crisping eels. I can taste the
garage all year. These surely have
now, eating them like corn on the cob; a
served us well through the years. Also
true treat on a winter's day.
in the garage we find the seine net that
Insects of all sorts will be looking fo
is used to catch our bait of silversides.
crevices and hiding places to winter
Once when we got out the rolled
in. Some will choose wisely as does
up net we disturbed a mouse nest
the woolly bear; some will become
with babies. The young ran for their
food for others and in some cases like
life scurrying this way and that. Need -
the yellow jacket, only the queen will
less to say there were squeals and
make it through the winter; all others
screams from the girls but little atten-
will perish having played their part
tion was paid to them.
earlier in the scheme of things.
We would stand at the edge of the
Swallows will gather by the thou-
water and whirl our baited hooks and
sands on telephone wires, on trees, or
IA small band
(the size of a
baby's finger-
nail) placed
on the wing
of a monarch
butterfly and
recovered in-
tact in Mexic
indicates the
true route of
daubers out. How many hours we
spent enjoying the snapper fishing
along the shore and then feasting on
them when we got back home.
The cows we see in the pasture have
grown fat and sleek they will know of
the temperature change as a gene from
their forgotten past creates a deeper,
thicker fur so cold and rain and ice and
snow will hardly be noticed.
I hope all who read this article know
the wondrous tale of the monarch but-
terfly that in the fall migrates from our
backyards on its 2000 -mile rendezvous
in the mountains of central Mexico. It
seems impossible and many a per-
son had doubts about the feat until a
professor at the University of Kansas
„v 4 �.
4
Suffolk Times photos by Paul Stoutenburgh
temperatures and shorter days signal the lowly box turtle to start
for a place to hibernate_
nanaea some
butterflies and
One reason
- actually found
Long Island
them in central.
enjoys such
Mexico proving
their long migra-
wonderful fall
tion route.
weather is that
Professor
Chip Taylor,
it's surrounded
leader of Proj-
by water,,,
Watch each year recruits some 15,000
people — schoolchildren, gardeners,
and nature lovers to help track the
butterflies. The volunteers catch mon-
archs, tag them with little numbered
stickers and send them on their way,
sometimes as much as 80 miles a day.
I haven't been there but I've seen
pictures of monarchs in Mexico clinging
to the branches of trees so thick they
almost form a solid sheet. The natural
world never ceases to amaze me.
One reason Long Island enjoys
such wonderful fall weather is that it's
surrounded by water; the Sound to
our north, the mighty Atlantic to our
south. These bodies of water have been
warming all summer. Now that the cool
weather from the north has arrived, the
warm air from the waters surrounding
us travels over the land. This gives us a
longer growing and harvesting season,
one of the major reasons for the vine -
muuve: i ne rewaras or snapper fishing are many. Not only do we get enjoyment out of catching snappers, I believe it's
how many people first learn the joys of fishing. Right: Each year about this time hundreds and possibly thousands of tree
swallows move through our area. They congregate to rest, feed and bathe in preparation for their long migration south.