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February 15, 2001 - An unusual winter wandererThe Suffolk Tlmes • February 15, 2001 An unusua winter wanderer WHILE WE WERE BUSY TELLING about the past, Mother Nature con- tinued to amaze us, so here are a few of her stories. Let's go back to Thanksgiving Day: 30 degrees, strong northwest wind. I'd been assigned the technical job of peeling the tur- nips and pota- FOCUS toes for dinner. As usual, I was ON keeping an eye NATURE out the big pic- by Paul ture window in $toutenburgh front of me to help with the - monotony of the job. Halfway through my second turnip, my eyes caught a large white bird that banked and then, in a long glide, settled into the back pasture. It had the familiar flight of a cattle egret. This is the very same type of bird you see so often in Florida, the one you see around shopping centers, roadsides, open fields — any place bugs of one sort or another might be found. For those of you who might not get to Florida but watch nature shows on television, it's the white bird you see feeding around animals in almost any African scene. Occasionally you'll see them feeding on the backs of animals, picking off ticks or flies. How the white egret got to this side of the world. is to this day still a mys- tery. One thing we do know is it worked its way north from South America and has found good pickings all the way to Maine. Like most birds, these usually migrate north in the Suffolk Times photo by Paul Stoutenburgh The cattle egret that visited our pasture in November but should have been down south, where insects would be more available during the cold winter months. spring and in the tall mi- Didn't the grate back down to the egret know e g south, but then there are always a few who get their the longer it signals mixed up and linger stays here the into the colder months of slimmer the winter. Why this particular cat- chances of its tle egret lingered instead survival? of flying south with the others is anyone's guess. Perhaps it found my vas ture a good spot where food just couldn't be passed up, so it was hav- ing its Thanksgiving dinner here. Evidently the food gave out up north and it got cool. No matter, it decided it was time to head south. Flying along, it kept an eye out for a particu lar kind of habitat. It was looking for a place where cows or horses might be, for if there were animals they would be stirring up bugs and flies as they grazed and that's where it wanted to be. And so our little egret spot- ted our two cows grazing up back. It swooped down, banked and glided in. I had lost sight of it for it landed in back of our little orchard. I had to make sure, and besides, I needed a break from peeling turnips. It was 30 degrees out with a strong northwest wind blowing, so I bundled up and headed out. My eyes searched the back field, but nothing there. I kept on going. And from the protec- tion of the trees I could now feel the full force of that chilly wind. The zipper came up and the hat was pulled down so as not to have it blown away. By now I was approaching the lit- tle building I keep my tractor in. Then I saw it. Huddled up close to the big sliding door was a cold and, I'm sure, hun- gry cattle egret. The bright sun and protection out of the wind made an ideal place to warm up. I went no farther. I quickly retraced my steps, leaving one not - too -happy egret to warm itself in the lee of the building. Hours later, now peeling my way through the potatoes, I looked out and there was Mr. or Mrs. Egret com- pletely thawed out, acting like cattle egrets should, chasing bugs and flies about. Granted it was later in the day. but it was still a chilly 45 degrees and the northwe: wind hadn't let up a bit. I got out the scope and set it up in front of the big picture window. Focusing in, I could see the egret was picking here and there, seemingly getting bugs. So it had found a way to sustain itself as long as insects were about. ror an hour I watched it move across the pasture. I noticed most of its pickings were in the lee of the hedgerow fence, out of the wind. I'm sure by then it had warmed up and the insect world was on the move. Then once when I looked up, the egret was gone. Had it gotten enough food to take it on its next leg of its journey or a it lust fl own to some other field? I preferred to think its Thanksgiving meal that was in our back pasture gave it enough strength to head back to the warmth of the south, where bugs are always. aplenty. But none of my predictions were right, for the next day it was back in our pasture. Now this was getting ridiculous. Didn't it know the longer it stays here the slimmer its chances of survival are? Days went by and still our cattle egret remained. It eve got so bold it ventured up to where the cows are fed and the chickens scratch. It even got so bold as to sit on the fence railing right along with the chickens. Cattle egrets don't eat Zrain, so the chickens' food wasn't It must have been npamonship or perhaps it rated to know the secret of chickens' ability to survive. :h morning when we went to feed the animals there it ild be, waiting for us. It n went into the chicken pen night when we went to le the chickens up. The next -ning when Barbara opened pen it walked out as if it mined there. uur cattle egret stayed for a full week, then the temperature really dropped, to 24 degrees: during the night and in the low 30s during the day. Where the egret went I don't know. Of course, we hope it made it to warmer climates, but if it didn't we thank it for favoring us with its presence during the Thanksgiving week, and if it didn't make it, its mistake will not be passed on. Only those whose genes tell it to move south early enough will survive and that's the way it is. Two days later Barbara spot- ted something white in the far corner of the pasture. Could it be our cattle egret was back? She got out the binoculars and focused in on the white object. It went back and forth in true egret fashion. Egrets do this waving of their body when stalking insects. But how could this be? The temperature was 24 degrees; no insects are out and moving about in this cold. She'd have to document this unusual event. So she got all bundled up, camera in hand, and off she went into the cold early morning. Ten minutes later she was back, red - cheeked and watery-eyed, and with the most astounding tale to tell. Her cattle egret turned out to be a white plastic bag caught on the low stubble and slowly blowing in the wind. How we- chuckled over the phantom cattle egret! Suffolk Times photo by Barbara Stoutenburgh A view of what appeared to be our cattle egret swaying back and forth feed- ing in our back pasture.