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January 10, 2002 - When cold can be a killerThe Suffolk Times • January 10, 2002 When cold can be a killer BR- R -R -R, IT'S COLD OUT THERE! I just came in from feeding the cows and chickens. There's a difference in the make -up of the animals since last week, as we put one cow down and the meat is now wrapped and put away in the freezer. To replace that cow, we bought another smaller one. Our cows are not pets; they're just part of the system that keeps our pas- ture down and Freeze -up time can be deadly for those who linger. Most herons have head- ed south but a few, like the one above, pay dearly for not follow - Ing nature's plan. Times /Review photo by Paul Stoutenburgh Focus keeps us in good supply of meat. ON It's kind of nice NATURE to know where your meat comes by Paul from. It's hard to Stoutenburgh know how store - bought meat is handled and what they do to it before you get it. Rough- dressed, our cow tipped the scales at about 1,100 10; It this cold weather keeps up, the combs on our chickens will freeze and soon drop off. Some chickens don't know enough to stay in where it's warm. There's nothing like coming back into a warm house after doing the chores when it's cold outside. Add to that the crackling of the fire in the woodstove and you've got pure con- tentment. I passed the bird suet feeder, just replenished with our own fresh suet, and I saw it is being well used by four different species of woodpeckers: the little black- and -white downy wood- pecker and its big brother, the hairy woodpecker (basically, they have the same markings, black- and -white with the male's little red topknot), then we have the two bigger ones, the red -bel- lied woodpecker, which has an almost all -red head and is about the size of a rol jn, and the other equally large woodpecker, the flicker. They have all found the new suet and are thorough- ly enjoying it. Occasionally a chick- adee or nuthatch will visit the suet, but their mainstay is sunflower seeds. Long, bitter cold spells can be deadly to some of our wildlife. When the bays and creeks freeze up, they shut off a food supply to an occasion- al lingering great blue heron, night heron or clapper rail that feed on the small killifish that remain active in certain areas. Then there are the ducks and swans whose food supply is cut off when ice takes over. I mention this because years ago I photographed a great blue heron in Orient that had succumbed to the cold weather. Everything had frozen up and it was left standing pitifully in the slush of a mosquito drain. Each day as I went by, it was standing there in the same spot. Then one day I noticed it had started to droop. It went lower and lower until finally it laid itself out on the cold ice and died. Kind of a sad story to be told but once you understand it, it makes sense. Most herons fly south in the winter where there is open water and an abundant food supply. Those that linger pay the price of meager fishing and sometimes complete starvation because of freeze -ups. It is these doomed herons that will not live to pass on the gene of staying up north. Only those that migrate and survive will pass on the gene to migrate south each winter away from the ice and cold. Another tale of hardship for ice- bound wildlife was the predicament that I saw some swans get into some years ago. But first a little back- ground about these handsome birds. Swans are vegetarians, which means they don't eat fish and things that ducks do. One of their staples is sea- weed locally known as cabbage, or as some people call it, sea lettuce. It's that very thin, paper -like mass of green that's found in our creeks. I now in our little creek I often have to stop the outboard and free the pro- peller of it. That's what the swans live on. When the water freezes up, they can't get to where the cabbage is and therefore face a real problem. As one area freezes, the swans move out to the next open water, usually some- where the tide runs fast. Years ago in West Creek in New Suffolk, 60 or more swans gathered, as it was the only open water for miles around. Luck was on the swans' side as concerned citizens brought grain and bread to them. With that mass of birds in the narrow area where the water ran fast, they were able to keen the water oven. The problem with feeding swans is that they sometimes get overanxious and aggressive. The situation can become frightening when people give children food for the swans. The swan, almost the size of the child, becomes a terrifying sight as it charges toward the child to get the food. And with those big wings, dam- age can result. So don't have children feed the swans. Throw it on the ground and leave it. Don't be the foolish one and have them feed out of your hand. It might be all right for you but perhaps when the next per- son comes along to feed them, the swan might become a little aggressive and what was supposed to be a fun thing to do could change into a prob- lem. Swans, as you know, are not an indigenous bird. They're escapees and have now become more or less resi- dents in each of our creeks. Many of us look forward to springtime, when they build their bulky nests in our marshes. There's sometimes a prob- lem when the high spring tides inun- date the nests and the eggs get cold and fail. Usually they'll build again. If you take time to watch swans on the nest, you will see them continually pulling reeds and debris from around them to build the nest to a higher level. But even then some of their nests are still not high enough and they will succumb to the extra -high tides of spring. And so survival for all wildlife is a continual struggle in the cold of win- ter. In the summertime, when the weather is warm, it's a lot easier but as winter draws on, life becomes more and more difficult with its ice and snow and freezing temperatures.