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.