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September 19, 2002 - A beautiful day on the bayThe Suffolk Times • September 19, 2002 beautiful da on the ba WE'RE GOING TO TAKE YOU on a lit- tle boat ride out into the bay on a beautiful fall day. We put a snack for later in the pickup and now are at the dock and ready to go. I have my tape recorder with me and will tape as we go along. FOCUS When we arrived ON we noticed the high tide bush NATURE hasn't blossomed by Paul yet. It is in bud Stoutenburgh now and has to wait its turn in the procession of things. The tall spartina marsh grass (thatch grass) has a lovely light -brown tint to the top of .the stems and has already cast its seed upon the waters. It's low tide and I can see the barna- cles on the dock posts are closed up. When the tide comes in they'll open and fan the water for the nutrients that the creek provides. Along the bog edge we see ribbed mussels. They also close up and wait for the returning ter out the nutrient$ from our rich waters. As we walked out on the dock, we could see the beautiful, little, white half -inch aster that grows in the salt marsh. Few people realize we have this little beauty that can withstand . the salt and yet blossom away as if it were in the upland. Where we parked the pickup, there is a rose — not the multiflora rose that is so common in the fields and along the roadsides, but rosa rugosa, the one that can. with- stand salt spray. It is still blossoming and building up energy to produce its rose hips to end the season. We're about ready to shove off from the dock. As I look in the water behind the motor, there's a school of sand shrimp lazily moving along above the green cabbage that lies on the bottom of the creek. These sand shrimp are the ones that were collect- ed years ago and sold by the quart for chumming of weakfish, an art that has long since passed. The tide is going out and we don't want to get caught here in shallow water. So, "Let's go, Barbara. Take the lines off and we'll get going." (There's a short break here while she puts sun cream on my nose.) Our next report comes from the boat under way. It's low tide so we go really slowly. We stop every once in while and put the motor in reverse to get rid of the cab- bage collected around the pro- peller. This green, paper -thin alga that grows in our creeks can be a real prob- lem. We pass boats till moored in the creek. One of them went up on the marsh when we had that big blow last week, which goes to show that if you don't properly moor your boat, you'll have problems soon- er or later. The wind has started up in the southwest, which tells us we're going to have a beautiful breeze all day. Off to my right I see a green heron stalk- ing the low parts of the marsh right at the water's -edge where he picks up killies. There's a seagull with a spider crab in its bill. Right alongside, a big black- backed gull moves in. The her- ring gull drops its meal and leaves it for the bigger gull. The black- backed are the largest of our gulls and no one fools around with them. There's also a yellowlegs, a shorebird, giving its alarm call as it flies away. And now we pass the beautiful sea lavender that grows in the marsh. It's finished blossoming but we can still see its tiny, dried, lavender flowers. Because of the low tide we can see at least three feet of the bog. It would be interesting to know how old this boa is. We can see a pair of ospreys still staying around. That's kind of unusual for this late date. Perhaps they're just waiting for nature to tell them the fish are gone and it's time to head south. Where's no one on the beach as we leave the creek and head out into the bay. One thing that has changed from when I was a kid is that we're finding more and more cormorants in our creeks and bays. These are the long - necked, black, duck -like birds that you see swimming about, diving and catch- ing the small killifish, baby bunkers and others. They were never here back when we were kids. They've chosen a spot on Gardiners Island, where they have 500 to 600 nests. We recently visited the island and could tell just where they nested.because all the trees were white - washed from their excrement, and below on the ground every- thing was dead. It looked as if it had been sprayed white. Out in the bay I see a lone migrating monarch butterfly There is something wrong in the butterfly world because at this time of year we should be seeing monarchs by the hundreds. I can count on one hand the ones I have seen so far. Someone called me a month or so ago saying he was con- cerned that there were fewer butter- flies this year than last, and I agree. We move slowly across the bay, past several new houses going up. How big they are. Then we pass New Suffolk and head across to Robins Island. How lucky the community is that Mr. Bacon purchased this island and will keep it forever wild. It's a grand island and has been made grander with Mr. Bacon's presence. We saw two ospreys right at the edge of the water, taking a bath. I've observed them doing that before. Whether these are the, resident ospreys or the ones that are moving through I don't know. The wind is strong now but we're in the lee of the long sand spit that works its way to the north. It gives us protection and as we putt along the -dge, a green pickup comes down and ,tops. Its driver watches us. If this was :he middle of summer this protective ;ove would have all tvpes of boats ancnorea, enjoying the protection of this long sand spit-The interesting thing is that we see more and more of the big royal terns here. Today there are probably a dozen of them resting on the beach. Now we're moving across the bay to the Nassau Point side. On the maps they call this part of the bay Cutchogue Harbor. We'll anchor in the lee of Meadow Beach, which is a product of littoral drifting sand that moves northward along the whole western side of the point, finally end- ing up here. This area was slated for 50 homes after the meadow and marsh were filled in and roads added, but that idea disappeared in the '38 hurricane when the dredge that was. to be used to fill the marsh was sunk. The 4and passed through many hands and'was finally taken over by the people of Nassau Point and eventual- ly transferred to The Nature Conservancy, which is now the steward of the area. We're anchored in the lee of that sand spit, where we can see an osprey platform with its bulky nest that I put up some 20 or more years ago. It's been used every year since. The tide has swung and is starting to come in. The wind is out of the south- west and all the boats moored in the cove behind the beach are headed into the wind. After relaxing here for a half -hour or so, we head home. By the time we get back into the creek, we find swallows passing through. They seem to be moving just above the water and then over the marsh. They're all tree swallows, with their white bellies. There must be a thou- sand of them. Since we headed out this morning, five great blue herons have moved into the marsh. They, too, are migrat- ing south. There are also a few snowy egrets and great egrets, but the thing that was most interesting was that flock of tree swallows passing through. We're back in the creek and at the dock now. The water is calm here and the air is warm and delightful. A nice day to spend on the water. Thanks for going along with us. We enjoyed your There is something wrong in the butterfly world...