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March 19, 1998 - Florida Provides Photo Ops Aplenty6A • The Suffolk Times • March 19, 1998 Florida Provides Photo Ops Aplenty We are once again sitting in our camper at the east end of Fort De Soto. The wind has shifted from its blustery northwest to the southwest and is now merely rippling the water's surface. How it sparkles in front of us. With the shift of wind, that wonderful array of shorebirds has left. Perhaps they are continuing their migration north Focus and stopping to on refuel along the Georgia coast Nature somewhere. As I look over the by Paul water, I see three Stoutenburgh large black fins — they must be dolphins on the prowl — working their way westward. The water here is only three to four feet deep and so these hunters in the shallows make quite a show as they chase after their noonday meal. It looks like they work in a definite pattern herding fish before them. To get a better view I mount my 20x scope on the pan head and then attach it to the camper window. In this way I can move the scope up and down by merely winding the window. It's a great gadget and gives steady support for the scope. Now I can see one of the three fins is a grayish color while the other two are jet black. I can see their bodies in the clear water and they seem to be eight to 10 feet long. Every once in a while there's a rush and thrashing about. I can only imagine what's going on. It gives an inkling of the savagery of the sea. Eat or be eaten is the motto. Seoping Out the Bay Down the bay men are fishing waist - deep in the silver- dappled water. I turn the scope on them when I see action and in comes a nice -sized fish with one -inch stripes running around its body. I believe they call them sheepshead. With the scope I can see the fisherman take his catch off the hook and string it on a line around his waist. Other fish thrash on the string line. Fishing seems to be good. I now pan the water further out. Two sailboats are slow- ly moving northwest, one a big cabin cata- maran, the other something like our old 28 -foot SeaWind. How I miss those care- free days of sailing. Back at campsite No. 128 we're greeted by a great blue heron at the water's edge. We get out books to read as this three - foot -high statue glares at us. Once again cameras come out and we click its hand- some feathering and plumed head. Time goes by and we seem not to disturb him at all. As a matter of fact, the bird faces the sun and par- tially opens its wings to enjoy a thorough drying out and warming up. I've never seen this "hanging out" pose before and so I capture it on film and we enjoy his company a mere 20 feet away from where we sit. As we read the sun sets across the bay and darkness creeps into our campsite. From the corner of my eye I see movement. It's like a shadow slipping in under the camper. I swing around and it's gone. Then from the other end of the camper, sneaking like a true bandit, is one of the many raccoons that are residents here. He's heading for the next camp- site. From here on these pesky robbers will be visit- ing every site to see who did not heed the park rules and regulations: "Do Not Feed the Raccoons" and "Keep All Food Concealed." Many a camper has had his or her food supply decimated by these always -hungry oppor- tunists. Often on our evening bike rides we'll see three or four of them scurry- ing through the bushes and around the park. I'm sure there are few places missed by their inquisitive noses. Evenings are always a special time for us whether it is here at the edge of our campsite by the water or at home looking over our pasture. Next morning, as we ate breakfast, we had another two - legged visitor. This time it was the great egret, equal in size and stature to the great blue heron, the differ- ence being this wader is almost pure white. Like some stately dignitary, it walked up from the water's edge showing off its shiny black legs and big feet to inquire, "What's for breakfast ?" Only in a blind while photographing these regal as if he were being photographed for the cover of Audubon magazine. We're get- ting into the nesting season down here in- Florida so this male was all decked out in his splendid mating attire. Not only did he have the long nuptial feathers that moved in the wind, but he also had a special green patch alongside his face, making him quite handsome. That, Suffolk Times photo by Paul Stoutenburgh OSPREY —By now some of you with a sharper eye than most have probably spotted a returning osprey. This means that one of the favorite foods of the osprey, the flounder, has started to move about. Time to get out the fishing pole and try your luck. ■ �al� ■ ��tr� ts��tf� MWa a Uuuaa a'naa.n 75 Years Ago March 16, 1923 Help Wanted: Farm Paper Salesman Wanted —If you are earning less than $50 weekly, our proposition will interest you. Many of our subscription solicitors earn $75 to $100 weekly. Write for details. American Agriculturist, 461 Fourth Ave., New York. Opportunity —Men now employed who are in a rut. Concern well known in this locality needs a man who is will- ing to learn; must be willing to start for $30 per week; must be ambitious and not afraid of hard work. Write at once for an interview. P.O. Box 41, Hempstead, L.I. Clerks — Railway mail, 18 upward, $133 monthly. Experience unnecessary. For free particulars write R. Terry, 2062 Barrister Building, Washington, D.C. Wanted —Man to sell electrical appliances, must be neat in appearance. A great opportunity for a live wire. Apply to Charles Walker, electrical contractor, Greenport. Local Gleanings: Miss Mary E. Barker has opened an office for insurance and real estate at her residence, No. 620 First Street, Greenport. Miss Barker's many years' expe- rience in this line of work guarantees the best of service. Fire, liability insurance. 50 Years Ago March 19, 1948 Defending the LI Oyster: John Plock, head of the birds nesting on Gardiners Island had I ever been so close to one before. We rolled down the windows of the camper to photograph our welcome visitor. He posed Shelter Island Oyster Company of Greenport, will be on the air on Sunday evening in defense of the high quality of Long Island oysters. Mr. Plock will broadcast over Station WINS, N.Y., 1010 on your dial, at 6:45 o'clock on the Don Gardard "How About It" program. Mr. Plock will defend the Long Island oyster against another oysterman who will speak for the Chesapeake Bay oysters. New Magazine: This week the first issue of Time and Tide, a new monthly magazine published by Duncan Hal- dane of Orient, went on sale. This first edition contained both stories and pictures of local interest. Many of the well -known residents of the North Fork contributed interesting articles. The new magazine is attractive in appearance and fills the need of a magazine devoted to both the historical and intel- lectual welfare of this locality. 25 Years Ago March 15, 1973 School News in Brief: A date has been set by the Cutchogue and Mattituck school districts for a vote on consol- idation of the two districts. Formal indication of the date, April 3, and the time, from 2 to 8 p.m., has been given. The polling place will be the auditorium of the Mattituck High School. The names of Parker Dickerson and Mrs. Dorothy Mathews will be placed in nomination for positions on the Southold Board of Education, it was unanimously decided by members of FACT at their meeting last Monday night. along with his thick, long - pointed yellow bill and glar- ing yellow eyes, gave one the impression he was not to be fooled with. Breakfast was forgotten as both Barbara and I shot with our cameras from all sides. It was a real treat to be so near this giant, three -foot bird. It waited patiently for a hand- out, but not getting one walked slowly over to the shrubbery that hides our camper and started peering into the cover, all the while slowly swaying its long head and neck in a rhythmic motion. This is a charac- teristic movement used by egrets and herons when hunting. He was looking for an anole or one of the many skinks we see scurrying about. We know this for it was only a few days ago when we both watched a great egret pick one off a branch and bash it. It then maneuvered it down its long, thin neck after much adjust- ing. We could actually see it slide down as it made a bulge moving along. Tonight we are again sup- posed to have strong winds, thunderstorms and rain. I must say we've had our share of some crazy weather while we've been down here. All day the wind has blown 25 to 35 miles per hour off the gulf. The temperature has been in the 80s and with a cold front moving in the stage is set for what could be some wild weath- er. There are lots of tenters here at Fort De Soto. They bring back memories of years ago when we went tenting with our three kids. Wind and rain always seemed ' to spell trouble. In those early days of camp- ing we had a big walled tent made out of a brown waxy material that was supposed to be waterproof and it was, up to a point. But when the really big winds blew and the heavy rains came, the tent leaked. Usually the kids, once asleep, would stay asleep as Barbara and I moved about dur- ing the night sopping up water here and there, moving boxes of groceries and clothes and getting little sleep in between. Then the next day was drying -out day, that is, if the weather cleared up. Everything wet would be brought out and hung up to dry. Come to think of it, we must have looked much like the pictures you see of a refugee camp, but the bad days are soon forgotten and it's the good times you remember. From our old -style tent we moved into new nylon lightweight tents that were eas- ily put up and proved more watertight. From there we went to a pop -up camper on the back of our pickup. It served us well. Then three years ago we bought a small motor camper with all the basic essentials. So tonight with all the bad - weather fore- casts we'll just lie back and let the wind blow and the rains come down.