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October 17, 2002 - Fall: when squirrels go nutsOctober 17, 2002 • The Suffolk Times • all, when squirrels THIS HAS TRULY BEEN A nutty year. By that I mean the past dry weather hasn't seemed to affect the nuts at all, for my yard is strewn with hickory nuts. My son's black walnut tree is stil laden with big green- husked nuts although half of them have already fallen on FOCUS the ground. And ON of course, if you live in an oak NATURE tree area, your by Paul driveway is prob- Stoutenburgh ably strewn with crushed acorns. The squirrels are having the time of their lives in the tops of our trees. They're chewing away the husks and then gnawing through the hard shell of the hickory nut to get at the tasty meat inside. All this nut debris rains down from above. You can hear it falling all day long. If you leave your car out, it will be sprinkled with bits o nut and pieces of chewed husks. Squirrels are also getting ready for winter by building their leaf nests. We can tell what tree they're building in because many of the clusters of leave; get away and float to the ground, where they become quite noticeable. Evidently squirrels are sloppy nest builders. The logic is that they use these small clusters of green leaves that are now pliable to build their nest, and then as the leaves dry out they become stiff and stay in place. Then the nests are ready to stand up against the winter winds. As we drive down our driveway and look across the creek edge, I cai see the white blossoms of the high tide bush now in full bloom. These blooms will stay with us for a week or two until they become fluffy and drv. then with the wind their seeds o nut Times /Review photo by Barbara Stoutenburgh Butter - and -eggs is a common roadside plant seen from May to October. Its origin is in Europe but it will drift in the air. That's why we find this high tide bush .all along our creek edges. Many of the seeds fall in the water and are washed up on the high tide line, where they sprout and grow. It's interesting to note that they also drift inland and we find them grow- ing in the open fields where they often become large bushes. Of course, we couldn't help but see the plume grass, or phragmites, grow- ing farther up the creek. This noxious tall grass is threatening to choke out our most valuable_ wetlands. It has a large plume at its top that is now ripening and will soon send its seeds adrift. in the wind. Thousands and thousands of airborne seeds will be dispersed throughout the area. Some will find a spot of moist land where they will grow. It's an invasive plant that's almost impossible to control..At the Cedar Beach marine' center, they are working on ways to control phragmites. Let's hope that in the future we'll be able to have some rem- edy to keep this invader in check. If you look real clgsely at the upland part of the-salt marsh, where the salt hay grows, you will see salicornia (slender glasswort) growing. It's an eighth- inch - diameter, fleshy, cylindrical, leafless plant that grows six to eight inches tall. It's now starting to turn crim- son red to add to .our parade of fall colors.. One can't help but notice the clusters of grayish berries on the cedar trees. This is survival food for birds during the winter months. By the way, if you're, walking -by a cedar tree and you see those beautiful gray berries, grab a few in your fingers and crush them. Then lift them to your nose'and 4mell that won- derful aroma. These are the same berries that, when crushed, fla- vor gourmet cooking. Seeing we are at the end of our - dri"veway, why don't you come with us as we take off and head over to Smith Point for a sort of "goof off" day. We'll head west and pick up the William Floyd Parkway. But wait a minute, I'm We're .going to take a short side trip first through Manorville, which to me holds a cer tain charm, for it still h the essence of an area days gone by. True, ther is a lot of development there, but yo can still feel the rustic atmosphere a you drive along the scrub oaks and pines that line the roadsides. We can to a place called Swan Lake that wa once a part of a most magnificent freshwater area. It was nestled in th untouched pine barrens of Manorvi Today it has been used as a backdro for a golf course. At lunch I reminisced with Barba about the days when I used to come through this area on business. It was the backwoods then and it still has some of that backwoods charm, but nothing like I remembered it. A golf course should not be sitting in what was once such a pristine area. I told the commercial cranberry bogs that Manorville was once noted for. Toda they have been taken over by phrag- mites, invasive trees and underbrush Time marches on. Enough of remi- niscing. With lunch over we now headed t the William Floyd Parkway, where w headed south. We just kept going un we came to the end, right on the ocean. It's kind of a neat setup on th off season. There's the big Smith Poi county park on your left and the 14- mile natural area of Fire Island Manorville still has the essence of days gone by. iNanonai beasnore on your right. as It's at the National of Seashore that we took our e walk. We headed for the old u boardwalk where we have s taken you before, but at a dif- ferent time of the year. The e Hudsonia, that ground cover s that in the early spring has a mass of beautiful little yellow e flowers, now has shriveled up.. Ile. looking as if it7s dead, but no, it's just resting and will come p alive in- the spring. As we walk along.this weathered ra boardwalk we see the rugged seaside goldenrod; slender- . leafed goldenrod and blue - stemmed goldenrod with its elongated flowers. There was a dint of fall in the brisk, cool air. We saw Virginia creeper of with its blue -black berries, its leaves turning scarlet to deep y shades of maroon, the same fall colors that paint the three- leafed poison ivy, which is quite handsome as the sea- son moves on. o The beach plums had long e since been eaten by birds or til picked by people and their leaves were now starting to e whither away. Bayberry, of it course, is everywhere with its clusters of light -gray berries that seemed extra heavy this year. Bayberries, by the way, are survival food for tree swallows that pass through on migra- tion. Days like we've just had, with clouds and cool temperatures, limit the flying insects the swallows usually feed on and therefore they need something to eat. I've seen hundreds of swallows descend on a large clump of bayberry and denude it of its berries in a matter of-minutes. It was a nice walk through the dunes for it brought back memories of when Barbara and I lived on the ocean beach near here. That was when I was a ranger naturalist work- ing for the national seashore. I even wore one of those "Smoky the Bear" hats. As we headed back to the car our eyes caught the yellow of a late bloomer, a clump of butter - and -eggs, a stowaway from Europe that has spread itself throughout our country. Barbara had to capture it on film.