December 09, 2004 - A weekend at the Manor (2)Suffolk Times • December 9, 2004
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THE NATURE CONSERVANCY donat-
ed a weekend at the Manor House in
Mashomack to the SPAT gala/auction
recently. They are working with SPAT
as partners to help restore shellfish
stocks in the Peconics. With the high-
est bid, our fami-
ly was fortunate F"�7UM
S
enough to be
able to take ad- ON
vantage of this NATURE
once-in -a- lifetime
opportunity. How by Paul
lucky can you Stoutenburgh
be?
We arrived at noontime and drove a
mile -or -so dirt road into the preserve
to reach the Manor House. All along
the way we saw catbrier, that devilish
rambling vine that seems to reach out
and snag you as you walk by. It does
have one good side to it, though.
When it first comes out, you can pick
the tender shoots and nibble on them
or take them home to be used in a
salad. Otherwise, catbrier says, "Keep
away or I'll get you."
As we bounced along, a deer ran
across the road in front of us. We
could see garlands of bittersweet here
and there, with its colorful orange -red
berries. This is one of the non - native
invasive plants we'd like to eliminate,
for it often takes over an area, smoth-
ering the native growth. Birds enjoy
the berries. The problem is, as the
berries are digested the seeds are
passed through and deposited helter-
skelter throughout the countryside. It
becomes an endless job trying to keep
this invasive vine in check.
We were surprised to see a group of
10 to 15 robins feeding on the bitter-
sweet. Whether they're going to spend
the winter here or be on their way
south, I don't know. We always have a
few that stay if they can find enough
berries to survive on.
Here and there we'd see half - buried
glacial boulders that were left as the
glacier retreated some 10,000 to
12,000 years ago. These "erratics" are
often found along our north shore;
usually they're covered with lichens
that chemically nibble away at the sur-
face of the rock. Lichens are infinitely
slow workers; their results are mea-
sured in millions of years. They, along
with other forces, help reduce rock
into soil.
Christmas side hunt, in the form of a Christmas
bird - census, and we hope that all our readers who
have the opportunity will aid us in making it a suc-
cess by spending a portion of Christmas Day with
the birds and sending a report of their `hunt' to
Bird -Lore before they retire that night." (Roy
Latham was one of those who responded to this
request in 1900.)
From that small beginning, Christmas bird
counts have become exceedingly popular activities,
involving thousands of people. As it grew, the
Christmas Bird Count became more formalized,
with various rules being set, such as 15- mile -diam-
eter circles, minimum 8 -hour counts, count periods,
and tallies of party hours and party miles of effort.
There are a number of counts around our area,
including the Montauk - Gardiners Island Count,
Water Mill Count, Central Suffolk Count and the
Orient Count on the North Fork, which includes
area bird counts.) The Orient count is one of the
oldest in the nation, having been started by Roy
Latham, Long Island's famous naturalist. It's
efforts of people like Roy Latham, whose early
records were carefully documented, that give
meaning to this generation's efforts, for without
their records, what we find today would be mean-
In going over our old files, we found a 1978
cle called "It's All for the Birds!" from the envi-
ronment section of Time magazine. It was written
by a man who joined our group to take part in the
count at Orient, and this is what he had to say:
"The frostbitten early - morning exercise on Long
Island was only a small part of an annual ritual
that is literally for the birds. Every holiday season
for the past 78 years bird lovers have flocked to
woods and parkland, marshes and meadow to par-
ticipate in the National Audubon Society's
Christmas Bird Count. The object is to identify
and tally as many varieties and numbers of birds
as possible on a given day.
"With the figures the volunteers provide,
ornithologists are able not only to check the health
and vigor of different avian species but also to
detect changes in their habitats, set up wildlife
sanctuaries and even help airlines reroute their
planes to avoid dangerous collisions with migrat-
ing birds.
"The bird count also acts as an environmental
early warning system. Recalling the canaries that
miners took with them into coal mines to detect
noxious fumes, birds are usually quicker than man
to react to changes about them; one example —
recent concerns over peregrine falcons, ospreys
and brown pelicans because of widespread use of
insecticides."
The author of the article ended with this
thought: "Most of the birdwatchers were chilled
and tired, eager to head for the hot cider and
chowder awaiting them at the end of the day."
We are privileged to have some of Roy
Latham's old bird count records that he sent in to
add to our Orient count when I was the compiler
for the area. Here are a few quotes
from his letters:
"1971 —This is the list for the farm
and the bird feeders in the village. You
may have listed the marsh hawk as it
came over the bay from Gardiners
Island in the morning and was over
the farm all day and returned in late
afternoon this is the winter habit of
the marsh hawk seen in Orient. How
far west they range now I do not
know. Years ago they went as far as
Southold.
"1972 — Here is my 73rd Christmas
Bird Count, 1900 to 1972. This count
was only on this farm and my sister -in-
laws place in the village. I did not see
the small flock of bobwhites. I know
they are on the farm.
"1974 — I wonder where the star-
lings are. None seen on the farm all
summer and none nested here, or only
one seen at a time for weeks. None
today here. Just like it was 70 years
ago. I do miss them and glad of it.
"1975 —Very few starlings record-
ed on this farm in 1975. Weeks at a
time when no starlings were seen. It
takes us back 68 years to 1907 when
the first starling was recorded on the
farm. Got just one on this count by
skin of the teeth when a single starling
came to the yard to drink.
'1976 — It is the third time a red -
shouldered hawk has been in a tree in
our yard since November first. This
hawk has history here. We settled on
this farm in 1888 (when I was 7 years
old). A pair of red - shouldered hawks
was nesting on this farm that year and
the following years to 1912 until that
grove of red cedars were cut off. This
bird alighted on a tree about 30 feet
from me.
"1977 — Very few birds around the
farm this winter. Perhaps others are
feeding them better. At 97 here is my
home list — "Herring Gull 2,
Pheasant 2, Mourning Dove 7,
Sparrow Hawk 1, Saw -whet Owl 1,
Downy Woodpecker 1, Flicker 2, Blue
Jay 2, Common Crow 5, Starling 0,
House Sparrow 2, House Finch 2,
White throated Sparrow 2, Song
Sparrow 2, Tree Sparrow 1, Junco 1,
Cardinal 2, Myrtle Warbler 1, and
Hermit Thrush V'
Mr. Latham used his old 1912
Oliver typewriter to record his bird
list each year on stationery that had a
picture of his windmill with an osprey
nest on the top. His farm was called
The Osprey's Nest. In one of The
Suffolk Times' interviews with Mr.
Latham in the '70s he said, "We used
to see 19 fish hawk nests from the
front porch. Now we only see two. We
had 60 osprey nests in Orient at the
peak. Now there are only four or
five."
We've been reminiscing about the
Christmas Bird Counts of long ago
and how this annual event got started
and how it's grown. Now I'd like to
introduce you to Mary Laura Lamont,
who now compiles the Orient
Christmas Bird Count and hosts the
after -count get together.
"This year the Orient Count will be
celebrating its 100th anniversary! As,
Paul stated earlier, the famous natu-
ralist Roy Latham established the
count in the year 1904. It is one of the
oldest published counts in the country
and this year will take place on Jan. 1,
2005. Approximately 50 -70 observers
are expected to participate in the
count in assigned areas stretching
from Peconic to Plum Island, Shelter
Island and the north side of.the South
Fork east and west of Sag Harbor.
"After a day of counting birds, many
folks come back to my house to have
dinner and hear the results of the day.
A semi - compilation is done that night
so we know of the highlights and the
approximate number of species. It's
always a highlight of the day to
exchange bird stories, see old and new
friends, sit by the fire and eat a hot
bowl of North Fork Fish Chowder.
(It's Barbara Stoutenburgh's old
recipe — I told her I wouldn't take
over the count unless she shared the
recipe with me!) Actually some peo-
ple just do the count to get to the fish
chowder afterwards!
"Last year the results were excel-
lent. We counted 28,535 individual
birds representing 113 different
species. It's anyone's guess what we
will tally this year on New Year's Day..
In 1904, when the Orient Count was
born, Roy Latham wrote "deep snow,
cold northeast winds, temperature high
of 16 degrees!" Let's hope the weather
this year will be a tad nicer than Roy's
first year, as we do the count regard-
less of the weather conditions.
"I wonder what he would think now
of his little Orient Count? It's an
honor for me to compile one of the
oldest counts in the country and to
continue in the footsteps of Latham
and the Stoutenburghs. The
Stoutenburghs compiled this count for
27 years! It's a great count and one I
hope will continue for another 100