HomeMy WebLinkAboutSeptember 25, 1975 - Events Along The Burma Road On Fire Island September 25, �9�s (�l�e �uffnl� (`�imE�
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by Paul Stoutenburgh :�a� ���.;� �
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Events Along The
Burma Road On Fire Island
It's one of those lazy, wonderful days, One of the larger puddles was teaming ]etting him go. Probably he lau�hed at me
calm and warm without a h'it of adventure in with little black polywogs. The toad com- as he plodded slowly back to the puddle to
the air. Behind the dunes the air is hot and mon throughout the island seeks out these finish his meal of polywogs.
rippled. Out of this shimmering haze I can fresh water spots to lay its eggs.Few realize
see the erratic flight of Monarch butterflies how important these and other marsh areas
moving to the west. These large black and are to the survival of the toad. It's in these
orange butterflies are on a journey almost warm,still waters that the magic of nature , l .%`'
impossible to imagine. Weighing a bit more brings forth life each year for another • ` \ .�'%=--
than a feather, they will migrate south to generation.The best time to see these toads ��';
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Georgia, the Carolinas and other southern is in the evening. During the day they are ,;:�'r,,•��� ��
states for the winter. What a remarkable more secretive, but at night I'll see five or �
feat for such a small, fragile insect! What six just walking down the path to the boats.
storms, winds and rains will hamper their All sorts of insects make ug their diet, but Continuing on my way along tne t°vad :
journeys! What remarkable mechanism the mosquito is probably its chief food noticed,in a low moist spot,one of nature's
keeps therr� going? supply out here. We have five species of most delicate flowers—the Sea Pinks. They
We all marvel at today's microtechnology mosquitoes. (Sometimes I think there are are rather uncommon and I know of only or�
until we start comparing it to the intricacies five times that number.) But like anything marsh in Greenport where the.y still grow.
of the insect world.Imagine the energy pack else,one soon learns to live even with these -
the butterfly must muster to make this trip pesty fellows.Not only do the adult toads eat There wet•e others but dredged fill now
and how does it navigate? Today's designer mosquitoes, but the small squirming tad- covers them by two feet of crusted mud.
of rockets,computers,etc.,must surely feel poles in the hundreds of wet spots eat the The salt marsh itself does not usually give
humble before these specialists of the insect larvae of the mosquito also. It's that o:d us too many flowers,but as you get into the
world. story of who eats whom first. areas of brackish wather some flowering
As I was standing at the edge of a puddle, plants can tolerate the salt and we have the
amazed at the hugh number of tadpoles Sea Pinks and Marsh Mallows growing. The
below me, the water started to move. Like Mallow, a relatice of the hibiscus family,
_ something out of a nightmare, a black mud- grows four feet tall and makes the tiny Sea
- covered form moved half-submerged across Pinks almost inconspicuous.
' . the puddle. Looking closer I could see a As we eat from the back porch of the dune
N`""�,,�. J mouth like some gigantic machine opening cottage we can see a great Pink Mallow area
� and closing,taking everything in its path. It off to our right. I remember scannin� the
��''y".:-� was one af the relics of millions of years ago
in the form of a snapping turtie. He was area w�th binoculars, looking for deer one
. %r"� dining on tadpoles by the mouthful. evening, when I spotted the first blossom.
� Basically,I believe in letting nature work Like an old friend that single pink bit of
out its problems,but this was just a bit too color announced the great clusters that
MIGRATING MONARCH BIJTTERFLTES much. I benf down and carefully grabbed w'o�d arrive within the week.Now,as I look
sketch by Dennis Puleston the rough spiny tail and lifted the snarling, over the pink area, I spot a white one.
snapping turtle away from his Sunday Nature somehow has created a hybrid. My
My day goes on `til duty calls and I must dinner. I would not destroy him, but I did mind flashes back home for a momenf:to the
make a trip trip down the beach.On the way walk him a good distance away before pond in our pasture.I've introduced mallow
back I take the sandy road that straddles the t.here and they should be out now, too. I'm
whole of Fire Island. It's called the Burma wondering if the cattle, as they wander
Road by most and is used by vehicles only down to the pond to drink,are appreciating
for emergencies and of course by walkers them as much as I am.
any time. There are puddles here and there
where plant life has decayed and created a a
muddish thick layer heavy enough to hold
water. It's here,like the oasis in the desert,
that the wild life of the island come to drink.
The deer, the fox, the raccoon and a host of
other small animals and birds visit these
spots to be refreshed.