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May 23, 2002 - Hitting the Corchaug trailMay 23, 2002 • The Suffolk Times Hi* ttin the Corchaug trail FORT UORCHAUG LIES ABOUT a mile west of Cutchogue Village and offers one of the nicest trails around here for hiking. It starts at the main parking lot right of Route 25 and extends southward for probably a good three - quarters to a mile, with side trails wandering down into the wetlands and into the mature forest to the south. When we walked it the other day, we had beautiful weather: not a cloud in the sky. We tucked our pants' legs into our socks and sprayed them with tick spray to keep any stray ticks from being a bother. They'd be unlikely as the trail is plenty wide and has been kept up very well. We saw no ticks on our two -hour walk. The tree that dominates the park- ing area where the walk starts is FOCUS a huge sycamore ON or, as some know it, a but - NATURE tonwood tree, by Paul probably planted StoutenbuMh by the Downs family who origi- nally farmed this, area. Back in the early '50s, Barbara and I can remember this as a working farm, for we used'to stop in and buy asparagus this time of year. You could watch them bundle it up with a spe- cial gadget that grasped the stalks in a bunch, allowing a string to be tied around it; then as it was held there, the bottoms could be cut off evenly. Since those early days, the house and farm have fallen to decay. Traces of the old barn and buildings can still be seen at the beginning of the trail. Times /Review photo by Paul Stoutenburgh Great crested flycatchers nest in cavities of one sort or another in the woods. Here they have chosen an open -front birdhouse to raise their young. As you can see, the young are eagerly awaiting the juicy morsel held by the adult. I ne first tnmg you notice at this time of hear as you walk into the trail is the abundance of that alien plant, garlic mustard, a native of Europe. It is a true invader of open space and one which should be cut out. It takes over and shades out any natural growth. We have many kinds of invaders like this, some alien, some alien invader multiflora rose will soot take over, which we saw in great pro- fusion along the trail. The predominant tree, as we start- ed our walk, was the black locust, which is an interesting wood in the sense that it was used by our earlier farmers for fence posts and post for buildings to be set upon. It is a very hard wood and one that resists decay it makes excellent firewood. It is the first invader in open areas, along with red cedar. Later oaks and hickories and others will start to move in and take over. They will make up the per- manent trees of the forest, slowly shading out the locusts and cedars and others, which will later die out. This is called succession, where one group of trees moves in and then late are shaded out by another. Along the trail we'd see the true Solomon's seal that is found through- out the East End. It has small bell - like flowers along its stem, in contrast to the false Solomon's seal that we saw in flower, which has a feathery flower head and later in the fall will have a cluster of red berries. As we walked along we could hear the great crested flycatcher. This bird has just come from its winter stay in the south and will now look for a crevice in a tree, or even an open birdhouse where it can put its nest. It doesn't make holes like a woodpecker but builds its nest in an area that will protect it. The nest usually has one or two cast snake skins in it. Years ago I photographed this bird in our woods and watched it all 'morning as it brought a particular moth that was just hatching out to its young. Catbirds were everywhere. It is an ideal place for them. These slate -gray birds nest in briers and bushes, which were everywhere we looked. At one point the trail looked down toward a low wetland where we could see yel- low warblers chasing each other around, telling us that they, too, would be making their nest in the brambles about. It was there we saw a flicker, our large woodpecker, clean- ing out debris from an old nesting site in a dead tree. In it would go and soon we'd see a cloud of dust and dirt being thrown out. It was getting ready to start anew. Carolina and house wrens were both busy calling. They, too, were sig- naling for mates. Some Carolina wrens will stay with us throughout the winter. You can hear their cheery song on cold winter mornings when everything else is drab and quiet. Of course, you could hear crows in the background. They were looking for a tall tree where they could build their crude stick nest. The trouble with crows is that when the young hatch out, the parent birds think nothing of robbing young from other birds' nests to feed their own. They are real nest robbers. Crows, star- lings, grackles and blue'a s are all bandits at nesting time. Halfway down the trail we knew where the fox den was and, sure enough, popping his head out was a young kit, curious enough to just stay there and watch us as we walked by. With binoculars, you could see his ears sticking up and curious eyes watching us. We are told there are probably six young ones there that come out and frolic but still stay close to the den for safety. At one point from the trail, we could look down and see a swan nest- ing on the marsh to the east. Usually each of our creeks has at least one nesting swan. They are very territorial and chase others away, leaving the pickings just for themselves. At one point we followed a trail that went down into a wetland onto a little island, where there were many nice -sized white oaks. This white oak was one of the favorite woods for shipbuilding and we're told that in colonial times the king sent out spe- cial wardens to mark the choicest while oak trees. These couldn't be cut except for use by the king's navy, where the wood was cherished for its strength and durability. The white oak leaf is easy to identify for it has rounded edges and if you remember what the emblem of The Nature Conservancy looks like, it is the white oak leaf. We walked and walked until my legs said it was time to head back. When we arrived back at our starting point, we noticed two old pieces of horse -drawn machinery that at one time had planted potatoes; one was a single row planter and the other a double -row, both rusted away and asleep in the woods. A few years ago Barbara and I had seen the Fort Corchaug area from the creek side as we put in a kayak at Downs Creek off New Suffolk Avenue. We paddled up almost to Route 25, passing the place where Indians once had their fort to protect themselves against marauding tribes that came from Connecticut. Though there are no remnants left of Fort Corchaug today, taking the walk along the trail does allow you to think about what life might have been like when it was an active encamp- ment of our Native Americans many years ago. In the busy times we live, it is good for us to make a connection to our past.