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Home My WebLink AboutMay 13, 2004 - Protecting the piping plover • The Suffolk Times • May 13, 2004 �O � � �� • • e 1 ln ov r e ,, , �-�, , � ��, �i � A�� '� ��,n,,,, �� " r, � �u n, �4 Il'��,:w:, r �,nui, �irz � r� � rnr iii�ilAM �,7„'�i�!mv � �. � � � 1 � 1 � ,,,, �„ ,- � '""� . . ,�l�d"��'Nl�,� �v M'iimu „ u l M �� .. . . . "� µ ni�; �� 4 Ma Sw . i x � Ly�� ,� ;� Nbr.� � � —..,. A —��Hu" . 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" � � : F�� i i r li l �il� � i i �l ii � r, >,r . - y '" r"'"� ir '�M� rPl"� i��p��li ��,� v �� ra�r �n�i� ��' " , n � �S � ��:��1��i'�l(�l!l"�i'Nin , r, � �i� ,� � �iiil�/7 i l��l ' � � � � � ..r�n,J�� fli � . .. y l��l,l�l �' i �'" ii l . ri4 i�/il�l/��r ' � � �, � u ry�il urll��ry��i�P( � ,�� "i, � i„ , , i Times/Review photos by Paul and Barbara Sfouronhnrgl�� The sand-colored piping plover usually arrives in mid March. It nests on our sandy beaches and needs all the pro- t�ec#9on it can get. Let's hope people will respect the piping plover nesting areas. The sign tells the story. Wiii u wi�, iii�nn ��r.�h�>E�E�ii;� ur Thc story of the piping pl��vcr fc�r go on an errand we usually take time me goes back many,many years.Let to run down to the bay or creek or me take you to my high school days Spund to see whaYs going on.We use when I first became interested in pho- our binoculars to scan the area and tography and birds in general.We had usually we can find something of a camera club at school,which Mr. intcresY.This week we were at a town Dart,our science teacher,encouraged beach that could be anywhere in us to attend.It was during that time Southold or Riverhead and noticed we had an assembly program put on that an area of the beach had been by the Audubon Society.I was mes- marked off Par the protection of the merized as slide after slide showed endangered piping plovers.These birds and animals and plants close up managed areas in full color.From then on,my goal are usually was to get a camera.I was"hooked" ��(:u$ enclosed by on the wonders of the natural world. ON string with red So I saved my dollars for a long time markers tied to and finally bought a Kodak 35 mm 1`IATU RE stakes around with an f.35 lens and started taking by Paul an area where pictures of flowers,animals,fish,birds Stoutenburgh Piping plovers —any aspect of the natural world. are nesting. One of the birds 1 wanted to photo- Along these graph was the piping plover,which fenced-in areas are signs explaining was quite common then on all our why the area is enclosed.It's nice to beaches.I knew they nested on the see that the public is becoming more sand spit on the north end of Robins aware of the warld around them and Island,so I rowed over and set my acce tin these areas as off-limits. camcra u on a makeshift tripod a Raccoon another meal. Later we'd hear the soft call of the catbird.Good to see it back.They'll be with us all summer long,a cheerful calculated number of feet from t e bird to have around.They are a nest.You could find that distance friendly bird,one that can be trained because the camera had marks on th to eat out of your hand.Of course,it lens showing the number of feet you takes a little patience.First you get should be from your subject.Then I are respecting the off-limit signs. the bird to come to your favorite attached a long string to the shutter �is weather draws you outside and feeding area for small pieces of and hid to wait for the bird to return last week Barbara and I were in the cheese.Then gradually you drop the to its nest.When it did,I pulled the garden pulling weeds and transplanti- pieces of cheese closer and closer to string and the shutter went oi'f and I ng this and that,when we heard the you until the catbird,with much con- familiar call of the Baltimore oriole cern got my picture. for the first time this ear.It came ,Will quickly snatch a piece of The photograph you see above is y cheese from your open hand ... and that very picture taken in the early from the handsome orange-and-black be off!As trust builds up,Mr.and male that we later spotted in the Mrs.Catbird will soon be eating out 1940s,some 60 years ago.It was when orchard.He had just come up from of our hand. Kodachrome film was only rated at 25 the South where he s ent the winter. y ASA.The picture you see is probably ' P Last year we had the largest num- Each year a pair will build their hang- ber of catbirds around that I can as good a picture as I've ever taken. ing nest in our area,usually at the end remember.I could tell the w So that's how I got started photo- of a tree limb.He was busy in the in in the area to our north,as the est- graphing birds. apple tree,which was in full bloom. g y An interesting note about my first would head for the heavy underbrush camera:I took that Kodak 35-mm We think he was with food in their mouths to feed camera with me all through the serv- W�th a little eating insects that their young. ice.I kept it in a 30-caliber ammuni- p8t1@I1C@� th@ �'�'ere in the blos- Another one of the local birds that soms or,perhaps, recentl arrived is the house wren— tion box,which had a rubber gasket catbird can he was eatin a y around its lid.That meant when it was g that busy little creature that stuffs be trained to blossom itself— ever bird box it can find with sticks, i locked down tight,it was waterproof. we couldn't tell. y When our ship was sunk in the eat out of presumably to keep away competi- With that encour- tion.The one that cau h Philippines,I grabbed my ammunition y0U1' h811I�. agement,we g t our atten- box with my camera in it and jumped tion was chattering and flitting about sharpened our as it brou ht sticks to a overboard.I used the watertight con- g gourd I had ears in hopes of hearing other new hun u near the house.The tainer to stay afloat.I believe it saved g P gourd m life. arrivals. was left hanging outside all winter y Soon we heard another one of our and was now read f But let's get back to photographing earl son sters—but then I shouldn't y or a tenant.A i in lovers... y g lady had given it to me some years p p g p say songster,far the great-crested fly- a o and it haddt attracted anyone Barbara and I had been shopping,' catcher has more of a ras hi h- g as I said,and we stopped in at the py g until this year.Now in true house pitched call than a song.This bird wren tradition,it was filling the gourd town beach.We scanned the area with builds its nest in cavities and often our binoculars and picked out a pip- with sticks. I only hope she uses the uses discarded snakeskins in its nest- gourd for her true nesting site to raise ing plover running along the shore- buildin .I've had them nest in o en line.We stayed in the car watching. g p her young,for it hangs right by our boxes I've put up in our woods,but arch window where we can watch it Slowly it worked its way up to its nest lately we've had trouble with rac- c�losel and nestled down into the sand.It coons vandalizin our hirdhouses.I'm y� was almost impossible to see the bird g As we worked in the garden we a little concerned aboui givinU Mr. could see assin crows bein on the sandy beach because its color P g g blended in so well with its surround- harassed by red-winged blackbirds. ings.We weredt close to the bird and The redwings have already staked out didn't stay long,but it was good to their territory and whenever a crow know that these yearly visitors are gets too close,they're on the attack being taken carc<�f and thal pco�Ic and will try to drive it away.They have good reason to be concerned, for crows love birds' eggs and,yes, even the young.They'll rob any nest they can. So while you're outside working around your yard or in the garden, keep your eyes and ears open for sights and sounds of new arrivals. They are all about ou.