HomeMy WebLinkAboutApril 22, 1962 - ShadbushShadbush
Exclusive
Sunday
Review
Sketch
by
Dennis
Puleston
of
Brookhaven
Focus on
Nature As I am writing this it is
still cold and windy out. The sky
has lost its lustre and turned to
a gun - gray overcast. It's
funny how the weather plays such
an important part in our own
person - al
outlook. A week or so ago when
every- thing was spring and
sunny, everyone was bright and
life seemed to be bubbling over.
You could feel the growth of
things all
about. How I long for the true
spring day when the ground will
seem spongy underfoot and the old
oak leaves will talk back as you
pass along the old familiar path in
the woods that is such an
inspiration. One such path down near
the creek by our home is a
favorite of; mine for here I look for
the first sign of shadbush to
brighten the
countryside. Earliest
Blossom This bush, or tree gives us
our earliest mass of blossom. It
is too bad it lasts for such a
short time. This period of blossoming
is something like the Fourth of
July when the fireworks light the
even- ing sky. There is a
tremendous burst of bloom and -
everywhere we look we see clusters of
white brightening the woodland.
Then, in a few days it is all over.
The frail white petals that made
such beautiful clusters have been
re- placed by green leaves. But
this is the price we pay for
this spring beauty. First the
flowers - hen the
leaves. Most of us know that the
name shadbush comes from the fact
it was during this time of
blossom- ing that the Indians knew
the shad were running in the
rivers. How else could the redman
tell when to hunt or fish without
his calendar of events such as
these. The seasons for the Indian
were make up of the flying duck,
the hibernation of animals, and
the flowering of trees and
plants. Not only did the Indians
know this shadbush: for its
forecasting of the run of fish but they
knew it also for the sweet
crimson - purple berry that later
develops. And I am sure that they,
like ourselves, knew the spots
where these trees grew and when
the time for ripening came they
set out to pick the fruit. We are
told this fruit was pulverized
and dried and later use4 during
the winter but I am sure, if the
Indian children were like my own
when picking strawberries or
cherries, that more than a good share
were devoured
immediately. - For Cake; and
Pies
Even in the olden days
there are records of the shadbush,
or serviceberry as it was
known then, being used in the
making of cakes and pies. It was
used something like our
blueberry, Which it closely
resembles. The large tree in our front
lawn still produces its share of
these tasty berries. This tree is so
high that we are unable to pick
the berries and therefore it is a
spec- ial delight to the birds. The.
ro- bins and catbirds and other
wild - berry eaters find this
source equally as inviting as the
local cherry
trees. This inaccessibility of
some berries proved very
disastrous a half century or more ago
for like so many thoughtless
people, berry htlnters would cut down
the trees merely to get at the
berries. Hence, in some areas these
trees nearly
disappeared. Height of
Shadbush Shadbush grows to
considerable height in some localities but
here on the Island usually 10 to 12
feet is average, although as I
said' before we have one in our
yard that is probably 25 foot tall
and there are records that go as
high as 60 foot. Should any of you
ever come to our woods, you will
find it made up mostly of hickory
and when we were putting up
our house we left as many
trees around as
possible: Now as you know hickory
trees grow straight up and our
shad sticks out like a sore thumb
for it breaks this rule. It slants
to one side and then up and
out. Many people have asked us
why we don't cut down "that
crooked tree" but those of you who
have come to know the shad will
know why we left it. Besides, it
makes a wonderful tree for our
children to swing and climb
on. Because the shad prefers
a sandy soil, it makes an
excellent shrub for natural landscaping.
As I mentioned before in
reference to the tree in our front yard,
the shapes of the shad are
usually erratic and remind you
some- what of a Japanese
planting. This adds to their beauty
an grace and makes the
shadbush one of our outstanding spring
de-
butantes. FIELD
OBSERVATIONS L R Ernest
reports: North Sea — April
8 Great Blue Heron (
4) Water Mill — April
9 Tree
Swallows East Hampton — April
9 Savannah
Sparrow Montauk Point — April
9 Snowy
Egret Myrtle Warbler (
2)
Kingfisher Dennis Puleston
reports: Brookhaven — April
12 Double -crested
Cormorant Shinnecock — April
14 Semi - palmated
Sandpipers Quogue Sanctuary —
April Pine Warblers (
2) Brookhaven — April
14 Fish
Crow Yaphank — April
15 Ruby - crowned Kinglet (
4) Yaphank — April
15 Wilson's
Snipe Rusty Blackbird (
2) Wood Duck (
4) Southaven — April
15 Brown
Creeper Brookhaven — April
16 Chipping
Sparrow
30)
20)
14 Please send all Field
Observa- tions and comments to
Paul Stoutenburgh, RD No 1, Box
105, Bay Avenue, Cutchogue, N