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February 24, 2000 - On the road ... Dune Road, that isFebruary 24, 2000 • The Suffolk Times • SA On the road ... Today we are being treated to a day of snow, then we're told it will turn to rain. It started about 11 o'clock with tiny drifting flakes, then kept increas- ing in strength all morning until now it is really coming down. Barbara seems to think the flakes are getting bigger. Could this be the turning point from snow to rain? How the weather does change. Focus Yesterday with ON Barbara driving, we took a ride NATURE over to the by Paul ocean. We always Stoutenburgh find it best to ride from West- hampton east to Shinnecock Canal, along Dune Road. Your mind becomes boggled at the unbelievable amount of wealth spent on oceanfront homes all along that road. Land along the ocean- front has become so scarce that they are now building to the north along the bay and marsh. When you ride along that Gold Coast of the youth side, you ride down a canyon of ultramodern homes that to me seem a bit overdone. Yet every once in a while you will still see a simple beach cottage of 50 years ago. They look so right nestled amongst the dunes and beach grass. These were the summer cottages of the local folks back on the mainland and some were from old -time summer resi- dents who wanted to spend time on the ocean. Most were modest, unpreten- tious structures that were built with the knowledge of past hurricanes and shift- ing sands. The '38 hurricane flattened most of them and those that survived were floated off their foundations, only to come to rest in the middle of the bay. I can still remember seeing pic- tures of those half- sunken structures out in the bay. The reason we took this road is that if you stay on Dune Road heading east you'll soon come to where the houses disappear. Then it's nothing but rolling dunes and vast salt marshes the way it always was. It was here we hoped to see something new and exciting in the bird world. Just last week both my son reported seeing eagles, so we had our Dune Road, that is Suffolk Times photo by Paul Stoutenburgh There have been numerous sightings of bald eagles during the past few weeks. When seen up close one can well understand why it became our national emblem. eyes tuned for these magnificent birds, but sorry to say we saw none. Dune Road is the best place in the winter to see snowy owls. Just a few years ago Barbara and I drove this road and spotted one of these winter visitors from the Arctic atop a tele- phone pole. We drove right up and took its picture from the car window. I can remember seeing those yellow eye! of that owl glaring down at us as we took its picture. Snowy owls are daylight hunters, so if you are in the area this is the best place to spot one, atop a telephone pole, on a rooftop or out on the marsh. Anything white is worth checking out with your binoculars. The trouble is with so many polystyrene buoys and Clorox bottles spot- ted about, your hopes jump and dwindle as you focus in on what you'd hoped would be a snowy owl. Time out. It is snowing heavily now and as I write a flock of blackbirds flies in to the seed we put out under our picnic table. What a collection! And why now? There were six or eight starlings, a dozen male cowbirds and an equal number of female red - winged blackbirds and, surprisingly, no males with their red epaulets. Usually it is around the middle of March that we start seeing flocks of male redwings that come up from the south to stake out their ter- ritories. Then about two or three week later the females come along to be courted by the already resident males. So how come the female redwings are here without the males and why so early? My speculation is that this is one of the roaming flocks of "blackbirds" tha for some reason stay up here all win- ter. It is something like the flock of a hundred or more purple grackles I sa, in Riverhead just the other day. My only reason for thinking they are rov- ing winter flocks is that we occa- sionally get these flocks on our Christmas bird counts in late De- cember and early January. Why they arrived just now I don't know, but the, sure know where the feed is and how to get to it. They ate in a feeding fren- zy. Then they left as suddenly as they came. It's still snowing. )~fifteen minutes later. (This will be our last time out.) Our beautiful snow turned to rain so quickly it was like someone just turned off a switch. By tomorrow it will all be gone and the sun will be out. The days are growing longer. As you probably know, the inland waterway runs just inside the barrier beach and travels all along the dune road. You get glimpses of it here and there as you drive along and it's here we spotted a small group of ruddy ducks and red - breasted mergansers feeding in the open water. Both groups continuously dove for food on the bottom. Swimming among them were half a dozen herring gulls. They were the winter pirates that would dash over to a duck that had just popped up from below with a tidbit in its bill, grab it and quick- ly swallow it. Such is the sometimes cruel world that goes on with few ever noticing its difficul- ties. Usually we see these ruddy ducks in freshwa- ter ponds and lakes but by now they are all frozen over. east we drove the more open anc marshy it got. Pairs of black ducks puddled in the shallow bay edges, their paddling feet wash- ing out worms, baby soft clams, snails and other bits of survival food. - In one wet area close to the road Barbara's sharp eyes picked out an American bittern hud- dled down with its marsh grass coloring so camou- flaged that it looked to me like a clump of wind- blown grass. Then a bit farther along she spotted a great blue heron hang- ing on to life by catching an occasional killie that chanced to move below its searching eyes. ost of the salt water was frozen, with only an occasional open spot that acted as a mecca to the few ducks and herons and bitterns. Previously, when the bays and creeks were open, duck hunters came here to sit in their blinds and wait for a chance to bag a passing duck. Today all that is left of those ear- lier duck - hunting days are the scat- tered crude duck blinds that spot the now- frozen wasteland we were travel- ing past. At the foot of the massive Pon - quogue Bridge that connects Hampton Bays to the outer beach, we took the newly developed fishing pier road the county has built utilizing part of the old bridge. We parked and swept the area with our binoculars. We saw red - breasted mergansers and black ducks, along with a lone pair of handsome pintail ducks. How picture - perfect their appearance. Then off to the right we picked up a low -flying marsh hawk with its characteristic white rump and long sweeping wings. The only other bit of life was a bayman's boat and two hardy souls clamming in the freez- ing waters to the west. I could see why fresh clams might bring 25 to 50 cents apiece. Our last stop was to look at Shin - necock Inlet. Delicate white Bona- parte gulls danced over the moving outgoing tide. They reminded me of our summer common tern that would soon be heading north. I couldn't get out of the car because of my knee but I'm sure there were seals, eider ducks, and even an occasional purple sand- piper along that rocky entrance but they'll have to wait for another time — right now my sightseeing has to be strictly from inside the car. rpA • The Suffolk Times • February 24, 2000 On the road.... Dune R that is Today we are being treated to a day of snow, then we're told it will turn to rain. It started about 11 o'clock with tiny drifting flakes, then kept increas- ing in strength all morning until now it is really coming down. Barbara seems to think the flakes are getting bigger. Could this be the turning point from snow to rain? How the weather does change. Focus Yesterday with ON Barbara driving, we took a ride NATURE over to the by Paul ocean. We always StoutenbuMh find it best to ride from West- hampton east to Shinnecock Canal, along Dune Road. Your mind becomes boggled at the unbelievable amount of wealth spent on oceanfront homes all along that road. Land along the ocean- front has become so scarce that they are now building to the north along the bay and marsh. When you ride along that Gold Coast of the south side, you ride down a canyon of ultramodern homes that to me seem a bit overdone. Yet every once in a while you will still see a simple beach cottage of 50 years ago. They look so right nestled amongst the dunes and beach grass. These were the summer cottages of the local folks back on the mainland and some were from old -time summer resi- dents who wanted to spend time on the ocean. Most were modest, unpreten- tious structures that were built with the knowledge of past hurricanes and shift- ing sands. The '38 hurricane flattened most of them and those that survived were floated off their foundations, only to come to rest in the middle of the tureg of those half- sunken structures out in the bay. The reason we took this road is that if you stay on Dune Road heading east you'll soon come to where the houses disappear. Then it's nothing but rolling dunes and vast salt marshes the way it always was. It was here we hoped to see something new and exciting in the bird world. Just last week both my sons reported seeing eagles, so we had our eyes tuned for these magnificent birds, but sorry to say we saw none. Dune Road is the best place in the winter to see snowy owls. Just a few years ago Barbara and I drove this road and spotted one of these winter visitors from the Arctic atop a tele- phone pole. We drove right up and took its picture from the car window. I can remember seeing those yellow eyes of that owl glaring down at us as we took its picture. Snowy owls are daylight hunters, so if you are in the area this is the best place to spot one, atop a telephone pole, on a rooftop or out on the marsh. Anything white is worth checking out with your binoculars. The trouble is with so many polystyrene buoys and Clorox bottles spot- ted about, your hopes jump and dwindle as you focus in on what you'd hoped would be a snowy owl. Time out. It is snowing heavily now and as I write a flock of blackbirds flies in to the seed we put out under our picnic table. What a collection! And why now? There were six or eight starlings, a dozen male cowbirds and an equal number of female red - winged blackbirds and, surprisingly, no males with their red epaulets. Usually it is around the middle of March that we start seeing flocks of male from the south to stake out their ter- ritories. Then about two or three weeks later the females come along to be courted by the already resident males. So how come the female redwings are here without the males and why so early? My speculation is that this is one of the roaming flocks of "blackbirds" that for some reason stay up here all win- ter. It is something like the flock of a hundred or more purple grackles I saw in Riverhead just the other day. My only reason for thinking they are rov- ing winter flocks is that we occa- sionally get these flocks on our Christmas bird counts in late De- cember and early January. Why they arrived just now I don't know, but they sure know where the feed is and how to get to it. They ate in a feeding fren- zy. Then they left as suddenly as they road. You get glimpses of it here and there as you drive along and it's here we spotted a small group of ruddy ducks and red - breasted mergansers feeding in the open water. Both groups continuously dove for. food on the bottom. Swimming among them were half a dozen herring gulls. They were the winter pirates that would dash over to a duck that had just popped up from below with a tidbit in its bill, grab it and quick- ly swallow it. Such is the sometimes cruel world that goes on with few ever noticing its difficul- ties. Usually we see these ruddy ducks in freshwa- ter ponds and lakes but by now they are all frozen over. The farther east we drove the more open and marshy it got. Pairs of black ducks puddled in the shallow bay edges, their paddling feet wash- ing out worms, baby soft clams, snails and other bits of survival food. In one wet area close to the road Barbara's sharp eyes picked out an American bittern hud- dled down with its marsh grass coloring so camou- flaged that it looked to, me like a clump of wind- blown grass. Then a bit farther along she spotted a great blue heron hang- ing on to life by catching an occasional killie that chanced to move below its searching eyes. Most of the salt water was frozeh, with only an occasional open spot that acted as a mecca to the few ducks and herons and bitterns. Previously, when the bays and creeks were open, cluck hunters came here to sit in their blinds and wait for a chance to bag a passing duck. Today all that is left of those ear- lier duck - hunting days are the scat- tered crude duck blinds that spot the now - frozen wasteland we were travel- ing past. At the foot of the massive Pon - quogue Bridge that connects Hampton Bays to the outer beach, we took the newly developed fishing pier road the county has built utilizing part of the old bridge. We parked and swept the area with our binoculars. We saw red - breasted mergansers and black ducks, along with a lone pair of handsome pintail ducks. How picture - perfect their appearance. Then off to the right we picked up a low -flying marsh hawk with its characteristic white rump and long sweeping wings. The only other bit of life was a bayman's boat and two hardy souls clamming in the freez- ing waters to the west. I could see why fresh clams might bring 25 to 50 cents apiece. Our last stop was to look at Shin - necock Inlet. Delicate white Bona- parte gulls danced over the moving outgoing tide. They reminded me of our summer common tern that would soon be heading north. I couldn't get out of the car because of my knee but I'm sure there were seals, eider ducks, and even an occasional purple sand- piper along that rocky entrance but they'll have to wait for another time — right now my sightseeing has to be strictly from inside the car. Suffolk Times photo by Paul Stoutenburgh There have been numerous sightings of bald eagles during the past few weeks. When seen up close one can well understand why It became our national emblem. came. It's still snowing. Fifteen minutes later. (This will be our last time out.) Our beautiful snow turned to rain so quickly it was like someone just turned off a switch. By tomorrow it will all be gone and the sun will be out. The days are growing longer. As you probably know, the inland waterway runs just inside the barrier beach and travels all along the dune CHILDREN'S PROGRAMS Playgroups -Ages Ito 6 years. Tumbletime - Ages 2 and 3 years. Karate -Ages 5 years and up. r FEBRUARY BREAK Feb. 22 - 25,10:30 a.m. -12:30 p.m. Register now. Ages 3 -10 years Birthday • Arts and Crafts Parties • Kids Bingo and Games • Puppet Show and Making Puppets • Gym and Play Activities Step- Aerobics Kick - Boxing Weight Training Stretch -N -Tone Personal Training 44 Yoga Tai -Chi For Adults 54655 Main Load, Southold (across from IGA) 76 S - 9118 February 24, 2000 • The Suffolk Times • SA On the road ... Today we are being treated to a day of snow, then we're told it will turn to rain. It started about 11 o'clock with tiny drifting flakes, then kept increas- ing in strength all morning until now it is really coming down. Barbara seems to think the flakes are getting bigger. Could this be the turning point from snow to rain? How the weather does change. Focus Yesterday with ON Barbara driving, we took a ride NATURE over to the by Paul ocean. We always Stoutenburgh find it best to ride from West- hampton east to Shinnecock Canal, along Dune Road. Your mind becomes boggled at the unbelievable amount of wealth spent on oceanfront homes all along that road. Land along the ocean- front has become so scarce that they are now building to the north along the bay and marsh. When you ride along that Gold Coast of the youth side, you ride down a canyon of ultramodern homes that to me seem a bit overdone. Yet every once in a while you will still see a simple beach cottage of 50 years ago. They look so right nestled amongst the dunes and beach grass. These were the summer cottages of the local folks back on the mainland and some were from old -time summer resi- dents who wanted to spend time on the ocean. Most were modest, unpreten- tious structures that were built with the knowledge of past hurricanes and shift- ing sands. The '38 hurricane flattened most of them and those that survived were floated off their foundations, only to come to rest in the middle of the bay. I can still remember seeing pic- tures of those half- sunken structures out in the bay. The reason we took this road is that if you stay on Dune Road heading east you'll soon come to where the houses disappear. Then it's nothing but rolling dunes and vast salt marshes the way it always was. It was here we hoped to see something new and exciting in the bird world. Just last week both my son reported seeing eagles, so we had our Dune Road, that is Suffolk Times photo by Paul Stoutenburgh There have been numerous sightings of bald eagles during the past few weeks. When seen up close one can well understand why it became our national emblem. eyes tuned for these magnificent birds, but sorry to say we saw none. Dune Road is the best place in the winter to see snowy owls. Just a few years ago Barbara and I drove this road and spotted one of these winter visitors from the Arctic atop a tele- phone pole. We drove right up and took its picture from the car window. I can remember seeing those yellow eye! of that owl glaring down at us as we took its picture. Snowy owls are daylight hunters, so if you are in the area this is the best place to spot one, atop a telephone pole, on a rooftop or out on the marsh. Anything white is worth checking out with your binoculars. The trouble is with so many polystyrene buoys and Clorox bottles spot- ted about, your hopes jump and dwindle as you focus in on what you'd hoped would be a snowy owl. Time out. It is snowing heavily now and as I write a flock of blackbirds flies in to the seed we put out under our picnic table. What a collection! And why now? There were six or eight starlings, a dozen male cowbirds and an equal number of female red - winged blackbirds and, surprisingly, no males with their red epaulets. Usually it is around the middle of March that we start seeing flocks of male redwings that come up from the south to stake out their ter- ritories. Then about two or three week later the females come along to be courted by the already resident males. So how come the female redwings are here without the males and why so early? My speculation is that this is one of the roaming flocks of "blackbirds" tha for some reason stay up here all win- ter. It is something like the flock of a hundred or more purple grackles I sa, in Riverhead just the other day. My only reason for thinking they are rov- ing winter flocks is that we occa- sionally get these flocks on our Christmas bird counts in late De- cember and early January. Why they arrived just now I don't know, but the, sure know where the feed is and how to get to it. They ate in a feeding fren- zy. Then they left as suddenly as they came. It's still snowing. )~fifteen minutes later. (This will be our last time out.) Our beautiful snow turned to rain so quickly it was like someone just turned off a switch. By tomorrow it will all be gone and the sun will be out. The days are growing longer. As you probably know, the inland waterway runs just inside the barrier beach and travels all along the dune road. You get glimpses of it here and there as you drive along and it's here we spotted a small group of ruddy ducks and red - breasted mergansers feeding in the open water. Both groups continuously dove for food on the bottom. Swimming among them were half a dozen herring gulls. They were the winter pirates that would dash over to a duck that had just popped up from below with a tidbit in its bill, grab it and quick- ly swallow it. Such is the sometimes cruel world that goes on with few ever noticing its difficul- ties. Usually we see these ruddy ducks in freshwa- ter ponds and lakes but by now they are all frozen over. east we drove the more open anc marshy it got. Pairs of black ducks puddled in the shallow bay edges, their paddling feet wash- ing out worms, baby soft clams, snails and other bits of survival food. - In one wet area close to the road Barbara's sharp eyes picked out an American bittern hud- dled down with its marsh grass coloring so camou- flaged that it looked to me like a clump of wind- blown grass. Then a bit farther along she spotted a great blue heron hang- ing on to life by catching an occasional killie that chanced to move below its searching eyes. ost of the salt water was frozen, with only an occasional open spot that acted as a mecca to the few ducks and herons and bitterns. Previously, when the bays and creeks were open, duck hunters came here to sit in their blinds and wait for a chance to bag a passing duck. Today all that is left of those ear- lier duck - hunting days are the scat- tered crude duck blinds that spot the now- frozen wasteland we were travel- ing past. At the foot of the massive Pon - quogue Bridge that connects Hampton Bays to the outer beach, we took the newly developed fishing pier road the county has built utilizing part of the old bridge. We parked and swept the area with our binoculars. We saw red - breasted mergansers and black ducks, along with a lone pair of handsome pintail ducks. How picture - perfect their appearance. Then off to the right we picked up a low -flying marsh hawk with its characteristic white rump and long sweeping wings. The only other bit of life was a bayman's boat and two hardy souls clamming in the freez- ing waters to the west. I could see why fresh clams might bring 25 to 50 cents apiece. Our last stop was to look at Shin - necock Inlet. Delicate white Bona- parte gulls danced over the moving outgoing tide. They reminded me of our summer common tern that would soon be heading north. I couldn't get out of the car because of my knee but I'm sure there were seals, eider ducks, and even an occasional purple sand- piper along that rocky entrance but they'll have to wait for another time — right now my sightseeing has to be strictly from inside the car. February 24, 2000 • The Suffolk Times • SA On the road ... Today we are being treated to a day of snow, then we're told it will turn to rain. It started about 11 o'clock with tiny drifting flakes, then kept increas- ing in strength all morning until now it is really coming down. Barbara seems to think the flakes are getting bigger. Could this be the turning point from snow to rain? How the weather does change. Focus Yesterday with ON Barbara driving, we took a ride NATURE over to the by Paul ocean. We always Stoutenburgh find it best to ride from West- hampton east to Shinnecock Canal, along Dune Road. Your mind becomes boggled at the unbelievable amount of wealth spent on oceanfront homes all along that road. Land along the ocean- front has become so scarce that they are now building to the north along the bay and marsh. When you ride along that Gold Coast of the youth side, you ride down a canyon of ultramodern homes that to me seem a bit overdone. Yet every once in a while you will still see a simple beach cottage of 50 years ago. They look so right nestled amongst the dunes and beach grass. These were the summer cottages of the local folks back on the mainland and some were from old -time summer resi- dents who wanted to spend time on the ocean. Most were modest, unpreten- tious structures that were built with the knowledge of past hurricanes and shift- ing sands. The '38 hurricane flattened most of them and those that survived were floated off their foundations, only to come to rest in the middle of the bay. I can still remember seeing pic- tures of those half- sunken structures out in the bay. The reason we took this road is that if you stay on Dune Road heading east you'll soon come to where the houses disappear. Then it's nothing but rolling dunes and vast salt marshes the way it always was. It was here we hoped to see something new and exciting in the bird world. Just last week both my son reported seeing eagles, so we had our Dune Road, that is Suffolk Times photo by Paul Stoutenburgh There have been numerous sightings of bald eagles during the past few weeks. When seen up close one can well understand why it became our national emblem. eyes tuned for these magnificent birds, but sorry to say we saw none. Dune Road is the best place in the winter to see snowy owls. Just a few years ago Barbara and I drove this road and spotted one of these winter visitors from the Arctic atop a tele- phone pole. We drove right up and took its picture from the car window. I can remember seeing those yellow eye! of that owl glaring down at us as we took its picture. Snowy owls are daylight hunters, so if you are in the area this is the best place to spot one, atop a telephone pole, on a rooftop or out on the marsh. Anything white is worth checking out with your binoculars. The trouble is with so many polystyrene buoys and Clorox bottles spot- ted about, your hopes jump and dwindle as you focus in on what you'd hoped would be a snowy owl. Time out. It is snowing heavily now and as I write a flock of blackbirds flies in to the seed we put out under our picnic table. What a collection! And why now? There were six or eight starlings, a dozen male cowbirds and an equal number of female red - winged blackbirds and, surprisingly, no males with their red epaulets. Usually it is around the middle of March that we start seeing flocks of male redwings that come up from the south to stake out their ter- ritories. Then about two or three week later the females come along to be courted by the already resident males. So how come the female redwings are here without the males and why so early? My speculation is that this is one of the roaming flocks of "blackbirds" tha for some reason stay up here all win- ter. It is something like the flock of a hundred or more purple grackles I sa, in Riverhead just the other day. My only reason for thinking they are rov- ing winter flocks is that we occa- sionally get these flocks on our Christmas bird counts in late De- cember and early January. Why they arrived just now I don't know, but the, sure know where the feed is and how to get to it. They ate in a feeding fren- zy. Then they left as suddenly as they came. It's still snowing. )~fifteen minutes later. (This will be our last time out.) Our beautiful snow turned to rain so quickly it was like someone just turned off a switch. By tomorrow it will all be gone and the sun will be out. The days are growing longer. As you probably know, the inland waterway runs just inside the barrier beach and travels all along the dune road. You get glimpses of it here and there as you drive along and it's here we spotted a small group of ruddy ducks and red - breasted mergansers feeding in the open water. Both groups continuously dove for food on the bottom. Swimming among them were half a dozen herring gulls. They were the winter pirates that would dash over to a duck that had just popped up from below with a tidbit in its bill, grab it and quick- ly swallow it. Such is the sometimes cruel world that goes on with few ever noticing its difficul- ties. Usually we see these ruddy ducks in freshwa- ter ponds and lakes but by now they are all frozen over. east we drove the more open anc marshy it got. Pairs of black ducks puddled in the shallow bay edges, their paddling feet wash- ing out worms, baby soft clams, snails and other bits of survival food. - In one wet area close to the road Barbara's sharp eyes picked out an American bittern hud- dled down with its marsh grass coloring so camou- flaged that it looked to me like a clump of wind- blown grass. Then a bit farther along she spotted a great blue heron hang- ing on to life by catching an occasional killie that chanced to move below its searching eyes. ost of the salt water was frozen, with only an occasional open spot that acted as a mecca to the few ducks and herons and bitterns. Previously, when the bays and creeks were open, duck hunters came here to sit in their blinds and wait for a chance to bag a passing duck. Today all that is left of those ear- lier duck - hunting days are the scat- tered crude duck blinds that spot the now- frozen wasteland we were travel- ing past. At the foot of the massive Pon - quogue Bridge that connects Hampton Bays to the outer beach, we took the newly developed fishing pier road the county has built utilizing part of the old bridge. We parked and swept the area with our binoculars. We saw red - breasted mergansers and black ducks, along with a lone pair of handsome pintail ducks. How picture - perfect their appearance. Then off to the right we picked up a low -flying marsh hawk with its characteristic white rump and long sweeping wings. The only other bit of life was a bayman's boat and two hardy souls clamming in the freez- ing waters to the west. I could see why fresh clams might bring 25 to 50 cents apiece. Our last stop was to look at Shin - necock Inlet. Delicate white Bona- parte gulls danced over the moving outgoing tide. They reminded me of our summer common tern that would soon be heading north. I couldn't get out of the car because of my knee but I'm sure there were seals, eider ducks, and even an occasional purple sand- piper along that rocky entrance but they'll have to wait for another time — right now my sightseeing has to be strictly from inside the car.