Loading...
October 11, 2001 - Fall flora takes center stageThe Suffolk Times • October 11, 2001 0 M lFall flora stage es cen LAST WEEK WE TOOK OUR camper off to enjoy some of the nice fall days at the beach. We never visit Smith Point County Park without taking in the Fire Island National Park handi- cap walk to the immediate west. Right from the very beginning of the walk we noticed there was a bumper crop of beach plums and bayberries. I don't believe there's Photo by Paul Focus ON NATURE by Paul Stoutenburgh the bushes all peen a year that we've visited or lived there that we've ever seen beach plums like we saw that day. There were clus- ters of velvety blue plums on the walkway. It's too bad we couldn't pick tTem and make beach plum jelly for that's a taste once tried, never forgotten. These beach plums will provide food for migrating birds and the many resi- dent deer. We had seen 11 or 12 of them earlier in the day. There was a four -foot chain -link fence that sepa- rated part of the herd from the others and as we watched, old and young jumped the fence with what seemed tc be no effort at all. Some were this year's young and they were learning the tricks of the trade at an early age. The bayberries were at their peak and made the bushes stand out with their clusters of whitish -gray berries. Little did we realize at the time that the very next day we'd see a spectacle of birds feeding on these same berries, Next day. While eating a late break- fast outside this morning and watching the monarch butterflies as they dainti- ly made their way westward along the ancient migration route, we were sud- denly inundated by birds. It was 9:20 a.m. Like magic, the air had come alive with tree swallows — 1,000, possibly more - white - bellied swallows were milling around in a loose ball of flut- tering wings. It was a dazzling sight. Then, just as if someone had given a command, the mass of swallows dipped and landed amongst the heavi- ly laden bayberry bushes. All I could see were fluttering wings as the birds frantically gorged themselves on these clusters of berries. This feasting lasted but a short time. Whether the birds had completely stripped the bushes or their crops were filled, I couldn't tell. The whole mass rose and drifted away to the east. I watched and could see that same loose ball of fluttering wings drop down and again start their orgy of feasting on the new, inviting berries. wuiU IL ue Mai wnen so many swal- lows travel together they actually deplete the flying insect population and therefore have to resort to their survival food, bayberries? I say "sur- vival food," for we know that on our Christmas bird counts, taken in the last days of December, we often get a few tree swallows to add to our list. Knowing there are no flying insects in December, it stands to reason the tree swallows rely on dry bayberries to sur- Speaking of berries, the Virginia creeper, with its dark blue berries, could easily be picked out by the fall color of its leaves. This plant is usually found climbing trees and bushes but in the primary dune area where there are no such invitations to climb, this creeper spreads itself on the sand and at this time of the year adds its shades or rich red and brown to the area. On our walk we'd run into half - inch -size reddish-orange rose hips of e rosa virgmiana. Yhese were quite small compared to the larger, one -inch rose hips of the rosa rugosa or salt spray rose. There are some of them at this park but nothing compared to the masses along the dunes at Hither Hills State Park in Montauk. These latter rose hips are loaded with vitamin C and are quite palatable. The high -tide bush is starting to blossom and soon the air will be filled with its silken parachutes of seeds. Many of these seeds will fall in the water and be washed ashore. This is why the bush is called high -tide bush and why we find it growing along all our creek and bay edges. It, like phragmites, takes advantage of any moist spot to germinate and this is why we also often find it growing In this dry dune area that the board - ilk oasses through we were sorry to see some of the invasive plants mov- ing in. There was the stunted phrag- mites, with its small plumes only three to four feet tall compared to man - sized stands or taller near the water. Dry areas are not conducive to the growth of phragmites and hopefully these invaders will be foiled by the dryness of the dunes. The other invad- er was bittersweet. It seemed so out of place in this unique area but there it was, with its bright - yellow berries just waiting to pop open and show their scarlet -red interior. Many will recog- nize this climber after the leaves have dropped, leaving garlands of color. You might wonder how bittersweet could be found in such a sterile area. It all comes from the fact that birds like berries. As the undigested seeds pass through their systems, they dis- tribute them all along the way. Each seed is dropped along with its own lit- tle packet of fertilizer to start it on its way. Part-way on our walk we met a group of birders with their scopes and binoculars, which told us they were no amateurs. They were all excited about a rare find they had just seen in the parking lot: a northern wheatear not normally seen here. It's a bird of the far north, "Alaska, Greenland and northern Canada, appearing very rarely in northern U.S." They had heard about it on the Bird Alert hot- line, which said it had been seen in this area. (We didn't get a chance to see it this time but the name rang a bell. We had seen it years ago when we took a group on a natural history tour of Iceland.) As we walked past the group they said they had also just seen a yellow - breasted chat, which proves the theo- ry that the more eyes you have when you go birding, the more birds you'll get to see. The last time I saw one was on a Christmas bird count in Orient some 10 years ago at the county park area opposite the ferry. Take time to get out. Take a walk by yourself or with friends or family. Walk our beautiful beaches during these delightful fall days. The out- doors has great healing power.