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Home My WebLink AboutAugust 21, 2003 - Tracking the 'tiger of the sea' August 21, 2003 • The Suffolk Time • ac ln e � • � 1 er o e sea , F w µ.��. ., � � . nW ... �N.1��.. l ' l l�Ir��1�'�'� . �� I ld��7 . � �� mdm�m. ,�,w �� _ �� .� ��, .,.. ., .�„w��mm�vnumurmum�qu�nl ��., �%�,.�. Times/Review pholo by Paul Stoutenburgh This Royal tern is a nice visitor to our bays each fall. As the summer winds down, look for—or better yet, listen for—this almost gull-sized tern. Look for its large orange bill. Often you'll find them resting on a sand spit or buoy, where you can get fairly close to them before they fly away. SoMLON�sAi��rH�,uE wcre bluefish in the mouth of the creck.That was a ��c �vcrc �ible to �ret ti�c E,i!i;,<;�:;�ci good enough excuse for Barbara and m��t��r clown and start it in thc �lceper me to get out on the water.We left water.We headed out. about 7 in the morning on an over- No sooner had we gotten partway cast,dreary day.You know,sometimes down the creek than wc noticed a cir- that kind of a day is better than a hot, cle of ripples moving on the glassy sunny one.We'd been looking forward surface of the water,telling us bunker to getting out in the boat,so in no were below.(Bunker,or menhaden,as time we were down at the dock and some call them,are a type of herring rcady to shove off. that at one time were so prolific a The tide was extremely low—so whole new industry was started on our low that we had East End.Bunker boats from all along FOCu$ to use the oars to the Eastern seaboard set their nets push the boat and funneled their silvery catch into �N clear of the shal- the waiting ships,which then went to NATURE �ow water and Promised Land over on the south sidc. the cabbage that In a big tin-roofed building their by P8111 ��y in the cr�ck. catclles were turned into fish meal and $tOUt@I1bUlgh W�th a little huff fish oil that was marketed in a clozen ing and puffing, ways.) �^�C iL��fi'l'Cs iilC '.�hii;:C3i� U{� �1C1�9 iCi F'1C boat lide u to the ri Ic,cl water. Years ago,when I was a kid,thcrc � P PP ' Whcn wc wcrc kids,tl�crc was a Looking down,we could see the silver used to be oysters all along the boggy I.ij-��sand bar out at the mouth of the sides of the bunker as they swam by, banks of the creek.Because oysters creek.It was part of our summer edu- mouths wide o en,filterin the are so sensitive to pollution,it's P g cation,for it was here w�could run unseen soup of the creek with its almost impossible to find them in our around barefoot and spend hours dig- nutrient-laden plankton.Here was just creeks today.You might find one or ging for little hard clams and trying to one wa our creek functions as an two occasionally,but nothing like Y capture the elusive razor clam that im ortant nurser area for these fish years ago,when you could pull in half P Y would pump itself down into the soft and others.We waited to see if a blue- a bucket without moving. I am ver concerned about our salt sand just out of reach of our small fish or striper might be underneath y hands.Later,when they dredged our the millin school of bunker.Yuu can marshes.Parts of them are under some g creek,they went right through the tell the 're there when the water kind of threat,for they are dying.Why y this is,I don't know.I have brought it sand bar so that today there is none.It explodes as the"tigcrs of the sca" was a wonderful piece of nature that dash in and tr to ca turc a meal.But to the attention of many people,and y p taught us kids much about the world no,nothin s ooked them,and so we no one yet has come up with an g p we lived in. left in ho e oP soon findin the elusive answer.Where once was lush green p g marsh grass,there is nothing now but As we moved back and forth on the bluefish we were after. , mirrored water,tree swallows on their It's always a pleasant ride out of the brown bog,lifeless and empty.What s doing it? I don't know.The bog way south were taking advantage of creek.We enjoy the trappings the the reen flies,snapping them out of marsh has to offer.Along the edge a appears to be sloughing off and wear- the air.What welcome visitors the tree great blue heron was stalkin killies or �ng down.To the average person it g may not mean anything,but to some- swallows are.After an hour or so we shrimp or anything that happened tc� decided to head in as we had other move.In th� �>ne like myself,who has been around these marshes since childhood,I can things to do.Back in the channel we same feedin>_� saw a lone cormorant fishing,no doubt 011l' CI'@@�(S rounds thc sce the difference and it worries me. � doin better than we were.When I was snow e rct. As we approached the mouth of the g aet as a y g creek,we dropped our lines over,one a kid we never saw these fish eaters in � with its yellow the ba or in the creek.They just MeDonald s legs,was also With a silvery lure,the other a white y weren't bucktail.We'd troll and see if we for migrating feeding.Thosc around. could pick up any fish of any kind.We As the os re e rets. yellow legs p y Cormorants g give it its could see an osprey sitting on the old �eaves for its are those nest in the middle of the marsh now interesting duck-like grown high with weeds.I wonder if winter home, It nickname,"the golden slipper bird." they'll be back next year,since many birds that The egrets have finished nesting by of their young were wiped out with leaves its nest y�u see rest- now and are heading back south for the wet weather this year.Some to the house ing on buoys the winter.Our creeks act as a osprey have left already and the rest sparrow. and pilings, McDonald's on the long trip ahead of �,�,ill be leaving soon.Some will go as sometimes them. far as Brazil,in the upper reaches of with their Along the boggy banks were occa- the Amazon.Some will sta in Florida W�ngs spread out,drying.They have sional ee s.The 're the smallest of and others will make the Caribbean become quite a problem. our s are birds.Their technical name I can remember when they first is least sand i er,but" ce works their winter home. p p p p No matter whether the osprey nested over on Gardiners Island.First fine for me.Like other shorebirds, �eaves or not,the little house sparrow there were just 10 or 12;the next year they,too,have finished nesting in the there were more.Each year the far northern tundra and are on their �'ill still tly up into the rubble of the osprey nest,where it seeks protection colony grew,and today there are over way south to their winter quarters. and builds its own nest. So as the 500 nests.The cormorants have We were in no hurry,so we just osprey leaves for its winter Lome,it become commonplace on both the putted along.We were the only ones leaves its nest to the house sparrow, North and South forks.There are out on the water.We could see a mass which will spend the winter nights some who believe they're taking so of mussels clinging to the muddy ��p inside,protected from the ele- many fish that they're interfering with banks.These are the ribbed mussels; mcnts. the osprey's ability to find enough fish the ones you get in the restaurants are We trolled up and down the chan- to feed its young.This could be,but it the blue mussels.Thcy're found in the 11�I,which is marked with red and takes more than speculation to con- Sound and in the ocean waters.Some grcen buoys.On one of them we were vince me. of these bank mussels were huge.They ��1d to see a Royal tern,with its iden- We had a good morning out on the have a holdfast,a threadlike attach- tifying large orange bill.We see these water.We weren't disappointed at not ment that,once fastened to the bank ettin an fish,for when we go out or any othcr object,keeps them from larger terns each fall as they search g g Y being washed awa . our bays Por fish.You can tell this tern, there are always so many interesting far it has a much diffci-cnt call from things to see.We never tire of seeing our common tcrn,whid� wc also saw. the same things,whether green heron, schools of bunker or swallows working over the marsh.It's all part of the rhythm that makes the world go round.