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March 13, 1997 - Dealing With Dangers in the Wild6A • The Suffolk 'times • March 13, 1997 Dealing With Dangers in the Wild Some weeks ago I wrote that perhaps one of the reasons some of us have been seeing fewer birds at our feeders was that perhaps a hawk was chasing them away. Deadly proof of this came the other day when a sharp- shinned hawk, probably the most notorious offender, ran into our pic- ture window and killed himself. Our feed- ers are just outside our big picture window and I Focus assume the hawk came in after one on the feeding birds Nature birds and mistook our window as an by Paul avenue of escape Stoutenbuegh and crashed into it. These relentless hunters terrorize the bird population and this year we seem to have more of these woodland hawks than usual. Perhaps it's because of the mild winter. This accident got me to thinking of other wildlife disas- ters and in no time I'd written down quite a list of them. I'm sure some of you have seen or heard about similar misfortunes. It is getting pretty close to when we expect to see our ospreys return to their favorite nesting sites and so I want to tell you about some of their problems. You would think an osprey, who has such excellent eyesight, might see high- tension wires but a few years ago I was called to help with a downed osprey. Sure enough, it had hit a wire and broken its wing. I took the young bird to our good friend, Dr. Zitek, who rehabilitated it and let it go. A happy ending to that story. Another problem ospreys and other birds in our local area near the water get into has to do with carelessly discarded monofilament fish line that was used for building material. Twice I have been called out when ospreys have brought back this deadly menace to their nest. There the dangling osprey would hang, caught in this fiendish killer. Luck was with us and we were able to get them free but I wonder how many gulls, herons, shore birds and others have died a miser- able death unnoticed because of some line being thrown away by who knows who. Years ago I saw a deadly scene: A great blue heron had gotten himself electrocut- ed by some high -ten- sion wires. Whether this long - legged, long - necked bird had landed on one wire and in some way touched the other live wire, short- ing it out, I couldn't tell but it made me realize just how deadly we've made the world to wildlife. There's no need to mention the number of deer killed on the high- way by cars. We've had close calls, the last one so close that we now have installed sonic deer devices to warn the deer we're coming. Outside of cars, deer have many other prob- lems man has created. One got tangled up in my pasture fence last year and died. How he did it, I'll never know. Probably some of you remember when a deer ran into a plate - glass window in the village of Southold some years back. Hazards are everywhere. Many, many years ago when West- hampton had its air base functioning with armed jets to intercept any unknown intruder, they kept a searchlight beaming to the sky to determine cloud elevation. One night in the fall when the conditions were just right, we had a huge migration of birds pass over our island. Drawn and blinded by the light, the birds flew into buildings and structures of all sorts. The result was that the next morning there were dead birds everywhere, everything from warblers to marsh birds, from hawks to whippoorwills. More than 500 birds were killed that night and the killing goes on even today, not there but at lighthouses throughout the world and skyscrapers with their luring lights. All disasters don't end in death. I was called in to see an oddity in Mattituck some time ago. A man had cut an old dead tree down in his backyard. All went well until he started to cut the tree up in pieces Suffolk Times photo by Paul Stoutenburgh RED - TAILED HAWK —This hawk flew into a screened -in porch and desperately tried to get out. Before it could hurt itself, we caught it and released it back to the wild. ■ _a!_ ■ ,f— 1A - -2— ■ OIL l "WUR oRVR 75 Years Ago March 10, 1922 Big Radio Outfit Coming to Orient: "The Wigwam" at Orient, whose progressive proprietor, Charles Thompson, is always trying in new ways to provide pleasure for his patrons, is to be the home of a large radio outfit. Mr. Thompson went to New York last week to purchase the out- fit and it will be installed within the next few days. It is Mr. Thompson's intention to refit the side of his build- ing, which is used as an ice cream parlor in the summer, so that the ladies will have a room in which to enjoy the con- certs, lectures, sermons, weather reports, stock, crop and general news reports as relayed by the Newark station from all parts of the world. 50 Years Ago March 14, 1947 Potato Festival Proposed: At a meeting of the Long Island Farmers' Institute held at Hicksville last week, managing director Henry Ortega reported that plans were rapidly taking shape for the proposed Long Island Potato Harvest Festival in June. The climax of this festival will be the coronation of a Long Island Potato Queen. It was decid- ed that a farmer's daughter would be the logical choice for Long Island's Potato Queen. Tentative plans include ballot- ing by consumers by means of voting boxes in retail stores. Orient News: Nat Luce has a copy of the first annual with his chainsaw. As the pieces dropped off, one by one, he came to one that housed a young screech owl, still curled up in its nest. Luck was on his side as the chainsaw just missed the owl. That was a close call. Another owl story comes from a time I was called to the Mattituck bowling alley to identify a bird. When I got there I found a screech owl in a box. It had flown into a man's radiator grill while he was driving and believe it or not was not hurt. I have pictures to prove it. Owls often feed along the roadside and as cars come along and light up the road, a mouse is scared up, the owl darts down to grab it and is hit by the car. Usually it's a disaster but not this time. A lady in Orient called me about a big bird that flew into her screened -in front porch and couldn't get out. If it had been a summer home, the bird probably would have died of starvation but this tale also had its happy ending. I was able to capture this red - tailed hawk and release it. Seeing that bird fly away into freedom made everyone feel good. catalogue of the Northville Academy 1860 -61. The principal was Joseph N. Hallock, Yale graduate of the class of 1856, former editor of the Christian Work and brother of George W. Hallock and Mrs. John Henry Young of Orient. Pupils from Orient listed were Henry H. Terry and Orville H. Terry. Highest tuition was five dollars per quarter. To quote: "Good board can be obtained with quiet and pleasant families near the academy. The average price during the past year has been $1.75 per week or $2, including wash- ing. No place in the county is healthier or more free from immoral and vicious influences. There are no grog shops or taverns in the village and the only places of public resort are our schools and churches." 25 Years Ago March 16, 1972 Going, Going, Gone: A very old building in New Suffolk is being torn down piece by piece. It is the old Lowe mansion on the corner of Jackson Street and New Suffolk Avenue. Local Writer Publishes: Last week saw the publi- cation of a book, "Gordon Parks: Black Photographer and Film Maker," by Southold resident Terry Haman. The biog- raphy, prepared for 8- to 10- year -old readers, was published by Garrard Press. Miss Haman got to know Mr. Parks through working with him on Life, where she was a reporter and associate editor and he was a staff photographer. My wife tells me when she was a little girl she remembers seeing a skunk walk- ing around the yard with his head caught in a glass jar. It was the time when we had skunks here on the North Fork. We have none now. Pesticides did them in, for their diet is grubs, worms and bugs of all sorts. Farmers spraying to kill potato bugs and other insects left easy picking for the unwary skunk who ate them. In time they were gone from the North Fork. Whatever happened to that skunk Barbara saw she couldn't remember, but it does show the hazards wild creatures run into. I'm often called about the goings -on in 'chimneys. Years ago there were enough hollow dead trees about to take care of wildlife needs. This wasn't a problem. Now raccoons are the chief infiltrators of our chimneys. The smart person keeps the chimney covered with a wire mesh of some sort to prevent these unwanted intruders. Once in a while they'll find an unguarded chimney in which to raise their young and then it becomes a problem. One time a lady in Cutchogue called me with a noise in her stove. I thought it was probably a raccoon, so I went and took a look. Slowly I opened the door but there was nothing there. She insisted there was, so I got a flashlight and upon closer exam- ination found a chimney swift, a sort of swallow that lives in chimneys. I obliged by catching the frightened bird and letting it go. It, like the raccoon, once lived in the wild but today chimneys have to do. Accidents are bound to happen. You merely have to drive along our roads to see dead raccoons, possums, squirrels, rabbits and occasionally birds that have met their end along the highway. Sorry to say there's not much we can do about it. Drive slower, but then we're all in a hurry. Put deer repellers on your cars — some do. Help whenever possible when you see a disaster to wildlife occurring — some- times just the simplest kind of help can save a life — and most of all, be con- cerned about all wildlife. These are hard times for the creatures we have been given to enjoy. They need habitat, a place to live. In a better world all life would be precious, from the simplest worm to the giant elephant. In a better world man would think of himself as merely part of that wonderful world we call earth and with that in mind take better care of what we have about us.