Loading...
December 18, 1997 - In Search of Elusive Sandhill CranesSA • The Suffolk Times • December 18, 1997 In Search of Elusive Sandhill Cranes I had just finished reading the three volumes of Lewis and Clark's explo- ration up the Missouri River, across the Rockies, down the Colorado to the Pacific and back, when all of a sudden their adventures came alive with the strange sound of haunting calls over- head. We had just come back from Focus our evening bike ride as the sun was On setting over the retirement com- Nature munity where Barbara's brother by Paul lives down here in Stoutenburgh Florida. The sky was clear and only the yellow radiance in the west was left before the night closed in. A lonely slash pine silhouetted the evening sky. Everything and every- one was settling in. Then from the east came this wild and haunting call, a call heard some years ago under entirely dif- ferent circumstances. This was the call of a family of sandhill cranes, their large dark silhouetted bodies flying just above the trees. They were headed in the direc- tion of an old pasture some distance away to the west. What a thrilling, wild sight as they flew one behind the other, calling loud- ly. Lewis and Clark's account told of when they came across these long - legged, four - foot -tall, red - topped cranes in the Platt River in Nebraska. Even to- day that area is a mecca for those inter- ested in seeing one of nature's grand sights of migration, as the sandhills pass through by the thousands each year on their way south. I had heard this raucous call before and had to think hard to recall it but when I did, my personal adventure once again came alive. It was when we were traveling across the country in our little pop -up camper and hhd stopped at a small private campground to spend the night. It was late when we got in and I remember it wasn't long before we were off to sleep as we were both tired from driving all day. It was Barbara's sharp ears that caught that same call during the night. She woke me but all we could tell then was that it was coming from far off the probing heads of the adults. I had found a family! I felt as if I was looking through a keyhole into someone's inner sanctum. My heart was actually beating faster. Could I be that excited? I had been half crouched, half stand- ing for 10 or 15 minutes. My back and leg muscles were killing me. I had to bend and rest. I lowered myself ever so slowly to the ground. I could feel the cold water as it oozed through my one of the great moments of our trip, alone out there in the soggy marsh with the cranes. Back in Florida, the next day we took our bikes to search the pasture to the west in hopes of seeing the cranes that had flown in that direction the night be- fore. Bright and early we were up and out before most of the community was awake. Mornings can be real cool, but let an hour of sun shine down here and shorts and light shirts are the dress of the day. We'd be chilly for a while but soon it would be warm. Our bikes took us across another whole com- munity of retired folks; their endless cul -de -sacs and lookalike houses passed by as we head- ed west. Round and round we peddled until we were along- side the road that par- allels the chain -link fence separating that community from the pasture. We couldn't see through at first as the edge was planted with a thick cover. More peddling and we found a gap in the greenery but no Sand- hill cranes. Evidently they had moved on. "Let's try further along," Barbara said. So off we went until we found another spot to look through. There was a shallow pond just beyond the fence. We didn't find sandhill cranes but it didn't matter for what we had found was our own little sanctuary of wildlife. There were birds of all sorts gathered here to take advantage of the small fish in the pond. Topping it all was a bald eagle sitting majestically in the top of a dead pine. What a sight! We watched eight or 10 wood storks at the edge of the pond. Some were probing and mov- ing along while others remained motion- less, their large partially opened beaks and heads half- submerged in the water. They seemed to hold that frozen posi- tion, their bills open in hopes that some- thing would swim by. It must work, for every once in a while one would jerk its head up and in its beak would be a squirming fish. We couldn't believe what this little pond had attracted. There were white snowy egrets like the ones we see in our own creeks back home, Louisiana herons, great egrets, little blues, white ibis, all wading about. There were even anhingas (snake birds) diving and spear- ing fish with their pointed bills. Mottled ducks, very similar to our mallards, dab- bled end -up in the shallows. Yellowlegs, those long - legged shorebirds, waded waist -deep hunting for anything that moved before them. We had missed our sandhill cranes but in checking the pasture to the west where we thought they flew, we had found something special. We would make this wet spot a regular stop on our bike rides from now on. One thing just led to anoth- er as it does in all of life, especially when it has to do with the outdoors. i w`Il.m i wwL nwwL lsaaa a UUU11% 110a111.ita 75 Years Ago Dec. 22, 1922 Advertisements: Here's Your Chance — 100 lots for sale at Greenport. 50 x 100 feet or more, prices from $200 and up. Inquire at Samuel B. Taylor, 421 Front St., Greenport. For his Christmas — Everything that man or boy can need, we have ready for him. Why not a new suit or overcoat? Prices range from $18 to $50. We have an exclusive showing of holi- day neckwear with prices from 50 cents to $2, also interwoven socks, mufflers, umbrellas, canes, trunks and bags, both fitted and plain, bathrobes, slippers, shoes, gloves, shirts and in fact any article that a man might wear. For the ladies we offer Phoenix and Gotham silk hosiery, Fownes gloves, shoes and slippers of every description. M. Brown & Son, Greenport. 50 Years Ago Dec. 19, 1947 Fact File: Forty -three percent of the nation's population live in communities of less than 2,500 persons. Only about 400 of the 3,070 counties of the nation are really urban. Such an urban state as New York has a greater farm population than the five rural states of North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming and Montana combined. Classified Advertisements: Turkeys — fresh killed, broad - breasted bronze. No finer turkey raised. Place your order now for the holidays. We deliver as far as Mattituck. Henry (Slim) King, Orient. Suffolk Times photo by Paul Stoutenburgh IK— Although we have shown wood storks before we loto of one sitting in this unusual position would be in- you ever seen a bird sitting like this? clothes in my new position, but that was a small price to pay for this front -row seat. Now with my binoculars I could bring the feeding family up closer as if they were 10 feet in front of me. The fo- liage was too deep and the light too poor to get any pictures, but no matter; I had Help Wanted — Male or Female: Wanted at once! Man or woman to service customers for famous Watkins Products in Greenport and Mattituck. Established business brings $45 weekly average, starting immediately. No investment. J.R. Watkins Co., Newark, N.J. 25 Years Ago Dec. 22, 1972 SI Gets 2 -Acre Zoning: Two -acre residential zoning for approximately 60 percent of Shelter Island was adopted unanimously by the Town Board at a meeting last Thursday. The decision to implement the first part of the Island Master Plan introduced last August followed close on the heels of a well- attended public hearing Friday, Dec. 8. Fear of population density seems to be the key to the island's decision to limit building on a large portion of its land. The island does not know the shallowness or depth of its water problem and rumors are that the board might seek a compre- hensive water study. Criticism of the upzoning has been expressed by real estate dealers and by property owners who hold three or four acres and had planned to give land sites to their children under the one -acre zoning ordinance. The town deleted two proposed areas in their two -acre zon- ing decision. The section known as "Cartwright Town" bor- dering on Coecles Harbor and a North Ferry Road area presently in C zoning were omitted.