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April 05, 2001 - Special delivery: spring chicksThe Suffolk Times • April 5, 2001 Specia chicks MY DAUGHTER'S BIRTHDAY was last week and naturally we had t all get together to celebrate. It proved to be a delightful occa- sion, one with all the fanfare and warmth that only a family can give. Of course, one of the high - lights was the giving of presents. Most were just tokens of joy, oth- ers a bit more serious. You might ask me, Focus "What does this have to ON do with NATURE Focus on Nature by Paul when it's Stoutenburgh springtime and you should be talking about the long - awaited coming events ?" So let me tell you now that one of my daughter's birthday pre - sents had to do with spring. It wa! Suffolk Times photo by Barbara Stoutenburgh Down on the farm setting hens and baby chicks usually Coincide with spring. Today with modern hatchery facilities and rapid transportation, baby chicks can be had with just a telephone call and a credit card. quite unique. It consisted of a colorful catalog dealing exclusively with baby chicks. It was marked specifically "chicks that make good laying hens." It seems some time ago my daughter had mentioned she would like to have some of the good, old- fashioned lay- ing hens we had years ago. She remembered the large eggs that were produced and the bright yellow color of the yolks that store - bought eggs just don't have. My son took her at her word and ordered spring chicks for her birthday. Sure enough, it was only a day or so later that UPS called and said they had a "live" delivery to make and would someone be home to receive it? And so springtime has arrived at our house in the form of little running balls of fluff that go "peep, peep, peep" day in and day out. It's remarkable to see how well the little chicks fared from their hatchery out west via their air flight and then their delivery to us in a postal truck. The whole trip lasted less than 24 hours. They arrived in a specially designed cardboard box about 12 inches square and six inches high. Their welfare was well planned and they arrived without a casualty. The reason for the small box was to keep the chicks close together so they'd keep warm. No food was necessary for chicks can survive on their stored - up energy from their yolks for the firs few days. So with a little food and water upon arrival and a heat lamp to keep them warm, they are busy scur- rying around in a big cardboard box in the living room. As'they grow, the heat lamp will be moved farther away until it will not be needed at all. Then as the tempera- ture warms up outside, we'll-put them in the chicken coop, where hopefully in six months they'll start producing eggs. This is how spring came to our house last week. Garden lunch between snows In between the snows of March we had one wonderful warm day and took advantage of it by eating lunch out in the garden. My, how winter has left it in shabby rags of brown, but then it won't be long before all this changes and green will once again take over. The one bright spot was the blossoming yellow winter jasmine cov- ering the tool shed. And so, after our warm spell and another snow with more cold weather, we decided to take a goof -off day and drive to Connetquot State Park to stretch our legs. The neat part about the trip over there is that while taking the Riverhead - Moriches Road you travel up and over the great moraine that runs the length of our island. This moraine, or pile of glacial till, was left by receding glaciers that formed our island some 10,000 to 15,000 years ago. I remember sometime in the '70s taking a group of young ecology stu- dents on a trip to introduce them to some of the wonders of our island. We stopped along this road and parked at a small road that led to the radar domes put up years before by the Air Force. The domes were built on the, highest point of land and we wanted to look about from that high vantage point. This particular area at the top of the moraine has fond mem- ories for me. On our way up to the domes a ruffed grouse ran across the road and everyone had a good look at this lame r,.ti- hrnwn_ chickenlike bird of the brushy woodlands. It isis u- ly not seen until flushed. It has a fan - shaped tail and a broad black band near the tip of its tail. These game birds, rare on Long Island, have been able to survive in the pine barrens away from develop- ment. Soon they'll be looking for their favorite stand where the male will beat his wings to lure the female to his side. Its drum- ming suggests a distant motor starting up. The muffled thumping starts slowly, accelerating into a whir: "bup ... bup ... bup ... bup, bup, bup, r- rrrrr. It is one of nature's rare and wonderful sounds. From the top, where we were looking across to the south, we could see the Atlantic Ocean and to the north the great expanse of Long Island Sound. From here we could see just how narrow our island is and how it splits to form the North and South forks. Park plan thwarted Back on the Moriches- Riverhead Road where there are literally no buildings, we passed the dirt road at the edge of Southampton Town that goes into Hunters Garden. It won't be long before that age -old organization of men will be enjoying their eel chowder, clams on the half shell and oysters at their semiannual meeting in the heart of the pine barrens. A few miles farther found us on Sunrise Highway heading west to our destination, but like many things in life the "best -laid plans of mice and men" don't always work out. We found the park was closed on Monday and Tuesday. This would not deter us, as Heckscher State Park was nearby and open. - We drove around its empty toads at the stated 20 miles per hour and saw deer browsing along the roadsides in many places, hence the name given it: "White- Tailed Deer Park." I must say the deer didn't look as healthy as the ones that walk across our back yard every night. Farther along the park road we came to a flooded area and had fun photographing killdeer feeding around it, but the best surprise was a flock of 20 to 30 brant. These are small geese that were almost wiped out because of their habit of feeding exclusively on eel grass, and so back in the '30s when the eel grass died off along the eastern seaboard, the brant almost became extinct. I say almost because they're slowly started to make a comeback.