HomeMy WebLinkAboutJanuary 27, 1963 - The Beach in WinterThe
Beach
in
Winter Exclusive Sunday Review
Sketch by Dennis Puleston of Brookhaven.
Focus on Nature GUEST WRITER: JUDD
BENNETT I am always glad when Judd Bennett contributes to our column for be
has the sensitivity that few writers are privileged to kindle. Perhaps this is
more easily understood when you know that he has been schooled from youth
as an artist. I am sure you can tell this as you read• over
this week's article concerning our winter beaches. P' S Beaches in the grip of winter still
have much of the charm that is so attractive to those of us endlessly fascinated by the
world of the tide lines. These shores along with their flanking land- ward bluffs, dunes and sweeping
low knolls — along with their adjacent of - shore depths have something altogethr dynamic, vital and stimulating. Many of
us constantly and strongely feel an urge to be down by the sea — for even
a quick scan of the open colt] waters or for a short stroll in the brisk
calm or a walk of many hours in the bitterest of stinging winds. Stinging winds — these espec- ially, violent stirrings of
air when whipped up even to the force of a gale and beyond are always the most active and real part
of a winter born of shortened days. They maintain the great beauty of the winter beach. The
drama and action in the winter storm - clash is all but ignored by most of those creatures
living .. within these cold and apparently barren miles. Herring Gulls soar for hours, little concerned as the raging winds tear over heaving slush,
ugly and heavy, in the surf below them. Many of us only visit the shores in the
best days of summer. While other s often only feel excitedly drawn there, the
year around, at the time of extremes of high tides and powerful winds. Some of us like
to be out' in and close to this power and danger for that surely is just what
the elements often become, a force dangerous and destructive during these highly dramatic hours. The placid
moments have their strong appeal too. The beaches in mid - winter, when one makes but a brief
and hurried visit, appear forbidding in the extreme. They seem forlorn and desolate and they are when compared
to the time, not sd very long ago, when all was sharply alive in a dazzle
of summer warmth. Now, in time of winter, all seems without
that teeming stir of life, yet this is somewhat of' an incorrect int- pression. Much of
life still goes on as usual, seen and unseen, in, over and on almost of all of these
lengthy shorelines. With but an alert glance out over the great bands . of gravels and sands where the waters
meet the land any idea of its being deserted quickly fades. There actually are many creatures liv- ing therein.
Some, a part of those birds seen, m a de a journey southward halting puhposely right
here to await the return of Spring to their own Arctic shores. Strangely these polar birds are possibly more
than content to be this far only into the southward latitudes when frigid long nights hold their summer homelands in a
glassy frozen grip. They even display a frolic - behavior in the midst of
the roughest turbulence our winters bring.. These visitants are mostly the birds of the sea
but there are others also here for the winter. The little birds cause the most wonder because of their size. They
make it, though, through the months of cold except for the stacking - up of occasional great - er
odds. One of the fascinating details of this apparently uneven struggle is ,the matching opposite
in an ex t r e m e temperature spread. Only the thin coating of feathers separates
the degrees of well over one hundred in the bird and the zero difference just out- side.
With a few possibly omitted, a short listing of the smaller birds to be found on the winter
beaches,, almost any day, are the Myrtle Warbler, the Snow Bunt- ing, the Horned Lark, the Lapland Longspur,
the Goldfinch, the Pine Siskin, the Song Sparrow, the Junco and the
Chickadee. One of the smaller rarities would be the Redpoll. Of the larger birds, all much the tougher, found
any . day, in the air over the beaches, on the nearer waters and just here - ahouts in
general on the strands, are the Marsh, Sparrow and Pigeon Hawk, the Short - eared Owl, the White . winged
Scoter, the Common and Red - throated Loon, the Horned Grebe and some few others all quite
often appearing on winter bird lists. The larger bird rarities would be the Snowy Owl, King
Eider, the Harlequin Duck, the Gannet and a few more, easily checked out. For wintertime even the -
mater- ial bulk of the beaches, the stony shores, in particular, • change. Each season has a typical form
in the summertime there is a flatish and gently sloping beach by Paul
Stoutenburgh with a shorter surf - line and greater water depth — in the wintertime there is a
crowned - up, steeply sloping and scooped beach with an extended surf -.line and lesser water depth. Many
tons of gravel are often drawn well out under water. The sands also pile
up differently as they form and reform under winter winds. The flotsam is made up of the
brittle• rigid dead: What lies cast on the beaches of a day seems to vary more around
this season. It seldom as a whole resembles the typical drift of summer. When tide - level water forms
in long pools which run along beach- es just beyond the real water - line many bits of the
abundant sea life float dead and dying on the still surface. A short listing of the somewhat commoner spec-
ies would include the Lobster, tiny and fresh fleshed, but dead; the little Rook Crab,
the plumes of Red Algae, the Hermit Crab, the Common Periwinkle, alive but only, after
being roughly scoured from rocks by ice; tons of Rockweed and Kelp, some of the Horny
Sponges; including the beautiful R e d be a rd Sponge; Deadman's Fingers Sponge, the
little Horse Mussel, the Mantis Shrimp; the Starfish, three — the Blood Sea Star, the Purple Star
and the larger plain pale Com- mon Star and, others. A rarity would be the
Sea Cucumber. If a beach is made up of gravel,. basically water - formed pebbles, the
storm - built crowns rising in mound- bands" just beyond the tidal limits are beautiful features fashioned
by the surf pound of winter. These bands run in great long ridges which appear to swirl
gracefully around _the massive boulders more than half smother- ing the smaller and now and then
partially burying a hugh wet tree skeleton, newly in as driftwood, and now
resting ignobly for the moment caught tightly in an
embrace of the base - rocks and millions of quartz pebbles. The winter
beach when heavily covered with salt - water ice can look very march like the all - white
beauty of Polar regions and some- times feel as cold. Wintertime beaches have
strong, direct and distinctive appeal — for where but here is that rarest of mo- ments —
the spell of solitude still found. FIELD OBSERVATIONS Lawrence Ernest reports: Shinneeock - Jan 13 -15
Marsh Hawks (2) Red - backed Sandpipers Purple •Sandpapers Great Blue Heron Floyd VanWyck
reports: Plum Island -
Jan 17- 18
Red - tailed Hawk J Bennett
and P Stoutenburgh
reports: Orient - Jan 19 Harlequin
Duck (
3) . Eiders (15)
Mrs Waiter Taylor
reports: Cutchogue -
Jan Purple Finches at
feeder Dennis
Puleston reports: Southaven — Jan
19 Bled Eagles (
2) Ring - necked
Duck (30) Canvasback (
200) Snow Goose Cutting
Arboretum — Jan
19 Catbird
Patchogue — Jan 19 Gadwall (
30)
Ring - necked Duck (120)
Shoveler (2)
Yaphank — Jan 20 Whistling
Swan (2)
Wood Duck • (2)
Common Snipe