monday, july11, beginning at 7:15 pm a walk around quogue

Nature ProgramsNature Programs are held at Quogue Wildlife Refuge. All programs are freeand the public is welcome.

Monday, July11, beginning at 7:15 pm

A Walk Around Quogue Wildlife RefugeJoin in to enjoy the summer evening as we take advantage ofthe extra daylight hours to explore Quogue Wildlife Refuge.We hope to hear (and see?) Whip-poor-wills and Chuck-wills-widows calling at dusk. Gigi Spates, a retired head of QWRwill give us some history. Members of the ELIAS Board of Di-rectors will be IDing the birds. If the weather does not coop-erate the back up plan is to show the movie Ghost Bird, thesaga of the search for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker.

Monday, August 1, beginning at 7:15 pm

Exploring the EvergladesScott Stoner & Denise Hacket-Stoner

The Everglades’ 1.5 million acres comprise the largest remain-ing subtropical wilderness in the United States. The Stonershave explored the Everglades National Park from its entrancenear Florida City all the way to Florida Bay. Through a slideand music program, they will look at different habitats and thebirds and other wildlife. The speakers: Scott Stoner is pastpresident of both the Hudson-Mohawk Bird Club and theAudubon Society of the Capital Region. Scott is a former LongIslander, from the Hamlet of Brookhaven. He was a member ofELIAS when it was Moriches Bay Audubon and participated inmany CBCs. Denise is a past officer and director of the Hud-son-Mohawk Bird Club. They are looking forward to the re-turn trip.

Monday, September 12 beginning at 7:15 pm

Visiting Jamaica with Eric SalzmanThe island of Jamaica, the third largest of the Caribbean is-lands, is not much bigger than Long Island. It has (by somecounts) the highest number of endemics in the West Indies. Ina visit of less than a week, we only saw 82 species but onethird of them were species that can only be found on this oneisland and another third were forms –species or subspecies –unique to the West Indies. There are not many places whereyou can see so many endemics in so small a space. There isgood birding in many parts of Jamaica but our visit last April

was focused on the famous John Crow and Blue Mountainswith its mix of coffee plantations, small villages, resorts, villas,rain forest and indigenous birds. The avifauna is a mixture ofneotropical and temperate North America types includingmany wintering birds and migrants familiar from back home.But when was the last time you saw a Rasta Bird, MountainWitch, Doctorbird, Hopping Dick or Old Man Bird?

Summer Field Trips Saturday, July 23 meet at 8 amPikes Beach, Dune RoadTrip Leader: Eileen SchwinnMeet at bay-side parking lot along Dune Road in the town ofWesthampton Dunes. Usually fall migration has started by thistime, and the tides will be cooperating as we catch the earlyshorebird migrants moving through our area on their waySouth. Meet at 8 am at Pikes Beach (along Dune Road inWesthampton Dunes). We will be looking for Oystercatchers,various sandpipers, plovers, and other shorebirds. We’ll keepour eyes open for various sparrows as well. On the field trip,ELIAS will provide Town of Southampton Temporary ParkingPasses for those who need them. Please contact your tripleader at 516.622.7751 if you need more information.

Saturday, August 20 meet at 8 amWesthampton Dunes Beach Bird WalkTrip Leader: Carl StaraceMeet Carl at the Westhampton Dunes County Park. It is eastof Cupsoque Beach, and not far from Pikes Beach. It is the lotthat has the viewing platform. We will be going for a walk ofthe area sponsored by Cornell and Suffolk County Parks. Youcan contact Carl at his e-mail address: [email protected] additional details.

EASTERN LONG ISLAND AUDUBON SOCIETY – From the Barrens to the BaysFormerly Moriches Bay Audubon, established 1967

July/August 2011 — Vol. XXXVI No. 4

THE OSPREY May/June 2011 2

From the Field…in search of warblers and other migrantsWilliam Floyd EstateSally NewbertOn May 2 ELIAS members were joinedby a group of students from East Islip onthe William Floyd Estate walk. The Estatedoes not open to the public until Memo-rial Day, so we roamed over the 600+acres led by MaryLaura Lamont. As weheaded out we started listening (Mary-Laura birds largely by ear) for a Blue-winged Warbler, who was not to be found.But as we crossed the field in front of thehouse a Kingbird watched us from a tree-top. Beside the creek was a cooperativeNorthern Parula. More listening for theEastern Towhee and the Blue-gray Gnat-catcher.

As we neared the marsh Ospreys wereflying over and a female was sitting on hernest on the other side of the creek. Barnswallows were flying by the marsh. TheWillets were calling from low in the marshgrasses as a cooling breeze was blowing.Very nice. On to the fields and other habi-tats, through the woods where there is anOsprey nest in a tree. Finally a pair ofBlue-Gray Gnatcatchers were spotted.Around another corner, there, in a beauti-ful, just blossoming oak where there werea trio of bright Yellow Warblers playing tag.Down the next path a Black and Whitewarbler. As we checked out another fieldwith Bluebird houses, oh my, a pair of Blue-birds laying claim to one of the boxes andfighting off a pair of Tree Swallows. In thesame field there was small flock ofGoldfinch, three Red-tailed Hawks circlingover head. We headed down to anotherarea of the marsh and with a littlebushwacking to a hidden pond we found a

pair of Ibis and several Egrets, mostlyGreats and a Little Blue Heron. Ospreyswere flying here too. Down another pathMaryLaura pointed out a Great-hornedOwl nest. Just as we arrived one of theadults flew leaving the baby to stare at usfrom the nest. Several Yellowlegs flew over.On the way back we encountered two foxcubs, near an upturned tree, presumablytheir den!

As a farwell we watched a Tom Turkey run in front of the group. n

William Floyd Estate, May 22ndSally NewbertOn our next trip to William Floyd wewere greeted by Tom Turkey in the largefield in front of the house, and by a bravebaby fox that just hung out and thenslowly sauntered off under one of thebuildings. Again the marsh was well-popu-lated by Osprey, and both Snowy andGreat Egrets. We got to the pond in themarsh, which had either a Yellowlegs or aninteresting Solitary Sandpiper. It never didshow us its legs. In the fields several pairsof Bluebirds had set-up nests. I still haven’tgotten tired of seeing Bluebirds. Perhapsbecause I had to wait several years beforeI finally saw one. It is the New York StateBird. It is said it carries the sky on its backand it just seems pictures just don’t do itjustice. In one field a male and femalewere both sitting on their box.

If you have a chance this summer do gosee the William Floyd house. It is open onweekends and on Federal Holidays.William Floyd was one of four signers ofthe Declaration of Independence fromNew York State. If you have a history buffas your weekend guest, here is somethingthat should be an enjoyable way to spendan afternoon and it probably won’t becrowded. n

Robert Cushman Murphy County Park, Sally NewbertOn May 7Carl Starace led agroup into the areaaround the CalvertonPonds, a new birdinglocation for ourgroup. As we walkedthe wide trails andstopped at twoponds we spottedseveral Pine War-blers, Blue-wingedWarblers, a BrownThrasher and severalKingbirds.

A few people pro-ceeded to the DECproperty by RockyPoint and discovered a gold mine of Ori-oles, both types, heard Scarlet Tanagerand decided it was definitely worth revis-iting. n

From Eric Salzman’s BlogMaple Swamp, May 8

Eric may have started off his comments ex-pressing disappointment, but any trip that includes Scarlet Tanager, Indigo Bunting andboth species of Orioles can’t be all bad. Editor

This morning’s walk in Maple Swamp wasdisappointing in the absence of theswarms of May migrants that have beenseen here in years past but there were

Teens from East Islip on the WFE walk

At the WFE the Owlet peaks out of his nestas the Yellow Warbler flitted around the oaktree.

continued next page

Sue, Eileen and Linda try to determine who is in the bushes in Maple Swamp


In Maple Swamp,(top) a Scarlet Tan-ager and a Chest-nut-sided Warbler.(middle) along thetrail by the NakedIndian sign, alsoknown as NinjaCrossing and. apreening Baltimore Oriole.

still some good birds and one mysterysighting that was probably an A+ bird.

The first question is always about war-blers. The best sighting was a Chestnut-sided male seen often and close. I’m notsure if that bird has ever nested in MapleSwamp but it has disappeared as a breederfrom most of Long Island and its returnwould certainly be welcome!

Other warblers: Blue-wing, Am Redstart,Ovenbird, Yellow, Common Yellowthroat,Black and White, Yellow-rumped and Pine,making a total of nine species in all.

Eastern Wood-Pewee was present andsinging along with Eastern Phoebe andGreat Crested Flycatcher. Breathtakinglooks at Scarlet Tanager, Baltimore Orioleand Orchard Oriole were easy to get inthe still nascent leaf canopy. A pair of Blue-Gray Gnatcatchers was foraging on theground and in the low bushes a few feet infront of us. Red-eyed Vireo was singing butno Wood Thrushes or Veerys (Veeries?).

A resplendent male Indigo Bunting made adramatic appearance flitting low and easy-to-see on Pleasure Drive at the beginningof the day. But the mystery bird, alas notseen by me, was at the end of the day: asparrow in the grass at the old horse farm

Eric Salzman

(left) and MarkCocker inHunter’sGarden.

(below)Singing

Red-eyedVireo

continued next page

seen together with and in contrast to aChipping Sparrow. This bird, seen first inthe grass and then on lower branch of aRed Cedar, was described as flat-headed,streaky, with yellow on the face and color-ful on the back. Both of the birders whosaw it well were fairly experienced andrecognized it immediately as somethingdifferent and “out of place,” describing itas “like a bright Seaside Sparrow.”A flat-headed sparrow is almost certainly anAmmodramus but our Seasides are notcolorful or bright (and probably do notvisit old horse farms very often) and theadult Grasshopper Sparrow is not streakyon the front. The bird that fits isHenslow’s Sparrow and I can say frompersonal experience that the facial colorof this species, although usually describedas green or olive, can look quite yellowishin the right light! At any time and place,even the suspicion of a Henslow’s is a‘wow’ moment! n

Hunter’s Garden, Eileen SchwinnWednesday, May 11 an intrepid groupof 10 birders met in the fog and cooltemps in the main clearing of Hunter’sGarden, located along County Road 51 onthe Southampton/Brookhaven Townshipborder. The following is as Eric Salzmandescribed it:

“It was, above all, a warbler day, with acount of 15 species including a couple ofthe less common varieties. Hunter’s Gar-den was active from the moment of ourarrival at 7:15 am, with, among otherthings, Bay-breasted and BlackburnianWarblers plus the more familiar species:

Yellow-rumped, Black-and-white, AmericanRedstart, Ovenbird, Pine Warbler, North-ern Parula and Common Yellowthroat. Apair of mysterious, rather unmarked graybirds with weak eye stripes, first thoughtto be warblers, were finally identified asWarbling Vireos, a bird that has becomemore common on Eastern Long Island andis being seen more and more in migration.Red-eyed Vireos were singing everywhere.Other birds included Ruby-throated Hum-mingbird, Eastern Wood-Pewee, GreatCrested Flycatcher, Eastern Kingbird, Balti-more Oriole, Scarlet Tanager, Blue-grayGnatcatcher, Brown-headed Cowbird,Eastern Towhee and Chipping Sparrow.”

Also spotted was Mark Cocker, British au-thor of Birders –Tales of a Tribe. Mark wasspending a few days as the house guest ofEric and his wife. He certainly added tothe groups enjoyment, and we were allamazed how well this foreigner couldpisch in the American birds! n

Terrell River, Sally NewbertMay 14 was a rather cloudy, chilly day, butthe rain held off. Jay Kuhlman led us on awalk that did not show us many birds, al-though we did hear many. But right at theend a Blue-winged Warbler perched andjust sat by the parking lot, while in thetree behind a Red-eyed Vireo was force-fully singing. �n

Hallockville Farm Fields and HallockState Park, Sally NewbertMay 21 took us to the fields of Hal-lockville Museum Farm and Hallock StatePark which does not have its own accessroad yet. The Farm was bustling with awool and fiber festival. It was awash withllamas, of all things. There have been quitea few changes in the fields, and unfortu-nately some of the hedgerow has been re-moved. Just as the hedgerow restarted wedid come upon an Indigo Bunting that

At Terrell River with Jay Kuhlman

lin

da

Su

ll

iva

nJo

hn

hE

idE

ck

Er

lin

da

Su

ll

iva

n

lin

da

Su

ll

iva

n

Eil

EE

n S

ch

win

n

Eil

EE

n S

ch

win

n


The Rose-breastedGrosbeakPheucticus Ludovicianus

Carl Starace

The Latin word Pheuticus, probablystems from the Greek, Phycticos,“painted with cosmetics,” as if the

male Grosbeak’s breast was rouged.The Latin word, Ludovicianus, means,“ofLouisiana or relating to the state,”where it was first identified. The Rose-Breasted is one of five North Americangrosbeaks, the others being the Blue,Black-headed, Evening and Pine. TheRose-breasted Grosbeak breeds in ourNortheastern States, (all of New Eng-land), and into Canada. In the U.S. itbreeds as far west as the Dakotas, Ne-braska and Kansas, down into parts ofIllinois, Indiana, Missouri and Ohio. Inthe east it breeds coastally south toMaryland and down the Appalachianchain to the northern parts of Georgia.In winter it resides from Central Mex-ico into South America to Peru.

Description: Breeding plumagedmales are very distinctive, striking re-ally. They have crimson red breasts inthe shape of a V. Fully black heads withoverly large whitish bills and the purewhite upon their bellies edges up thesides of that V ending at the base of itsneck. The flanks edging its white bellyare a buffy color.The wings are blackwith a large white bar and smallerwhite bars in the wing coverts below.The back,or mantle and tail are alsoblack. The breeding male’s rump isprominently white. In flight a breedingmale shows additional crimson in thearmpit and a white patch in its under-wing coverts. Non-breeding males arewholly different. Its head is dark cappedwith a white supercilium below it andwide dark auriculars and white malarstripe. The nape is buffy, throat andbreast almost a warm peachy colorwith fine streaking along its flanks. Itswingbars are not as well defined as inthe breeding males, the back is moregrayish than black. With the female we

have a streaky whitish breast, its othermarkings being similar to a non-breed-ing males. In flight the females under-wing linings are a warm buff color.

Behavior: The Rose Breasted is not avery conspicuous bird, spending a greatdeal of its time feeding in the leafycanopy. It plucks insects there and alsofruits. They enjoy eating the petals offlowering trees. This I well rememberfrom a bright, warm April day birding ata small preserve on Dauphin Island,near Mobile, Alabama. I had just satdown under a large trunked tree for asnack and looked up to see all thesepetals slowly drifting down to the mosscovered ground. I stood up to take alook above and there were 16 breed-ing-plumaged males hard at work in thecanopy. Oh yes! Its those kind of mo-ments that make birding in the field sorewarding. Rose-breasteds will eat theseeds of elms, (and sunflower seeds atfeeders on occasion), blossoms ofHickory and Beech, Gypsy Moths andsome wild fruits.

Flight and Song: If you are luckyenough to see one on the wing, itsflight is undulating with deep wingbeatsand shot glide. A male’s song is long, liq-uid and robinlike. He will often sing onthe nest and occasionally at night. Thecall is a harsh EEEK. The female’s songis similar to a male’s but softer.

Where to Find: I would only say: fol-low its song. The bird is neither abun-dant nor easily seen. Study its song onthe website, “all about birds,” and/orpurchase a bird program for your ipod,iphone or other device and spend agreat deal of time out birding and youmay come up with one, or a pair. Re-member this. They are very partial towooded edges of streams, orchards,pastures, even suburban yards.Go!

Good Spring Birding to All Carl Starace

perched a few times before disappearing.As we proceeded into the woods, we real-ized the woods were just loaded with Yel-low Warblers. Redstart were also thereand a highlight, I think, was finding a WoodThrush on a nest, at eye-level. n

Pine Meadow County Park/

Hunter’s Garden, Tom Moran

Saturday, June 5 was a sunny, mild, morn-ing when we met at Pine Meadow CountyPark/Hunter’s Garden for our migrantwalk. Carl, our walk leader, did a fine jobguiding us through the confusing web of in-tersecting trails on a loop hike over rollingterrain with a variety of evergreen and de-ciduous trees. In the parking circle wewere treated to a flock of CedarWaxwings, an Eastern Peewee and a Red-bellied Woodpecker. Other species that weactually had to work for included Com-mon Yellowthroats, a Wood Thrush, a Red-eyed Vireo, Scarlet Tanager, ChippingSparrows, RS Towhees, a few Pine War-blers, Ovenbirds, Baltimore Orioles, BCChickadee’s, Goldfinch, Downy and HairyWoodpeckers and Blue Jays. AfterwardsCarl and Sally saw and Indigo Bunting alongCounty Road 51.

Looking for the Redstart at Hallock State Park

Wood Thrush on its nest

To

m m

or

an


Beth Gustin

“Nobody can do everything but everyone cando something”

In the heat of summer when we arecranking up our air conditioners it is agood time to think about electricity

conservation. Although electricity is aclean source of energy at its endpoint(meaning us, the consumer) some ex-tremely serious environmental problemsare created by its source-coal mining, pro-duction, and burning. So besides savingmoney and preventing blackouts, here aresome other reasons to conserve electricity.

Most of the coal in the United States ismined by surface mining and much of thistype of mining is done in Appalachia. Surface mining dramatically changes theearth’s landscape as entire mountaintopsare stripped off to expose coal under-neath. Hundreds of thousands of acres oftrees are destroyed and tons of waste re-moved from the mountaintops are thenoften dumped into valley and streamscausing devastating pollution.

Each year, one coal burning power plantproduces millions of tons of carbon diox-ide (a leading cause of global warming),tens of thousands of tons of sulfur dioxide(a leading cause of acid rain), and hun-dreds of pounds each of carbon monox-ide, hydrocarbons, volatile organiccompounds (VOCs), mercury, lead, and arsenic. Hundreds of tons of ash andsludge removed from smokestack scrub-bers end up in landfills.

Water that is used to cool coal-firedpower plants is discharged back into theenvironment, causing “thermal pollution”in streams and lakes.

After all of this, only about 35% of thecoal’s heat is actually used to produceelectricity. The rest is emitted into the at-mosphere or cooled by the cooling water.

There are some easy ways to conserveelectricity:

n Turn off lights EVERY time you leavea room.

n Set your indoor air conditioning to areasonable temperature, and add a fewdegrees when you leave the house for

the day. Turn off the AC and open win-dows on cooler, breezy days. Checkthe filters on the AC unit once a year.

n Draw the blinds or shades duringthe day to prevent hot sunshine fromwarming your house and making yourAC work harder.

n Unplug electric “vampires”– all ofthose things that suck electricity whenwe are not actually using them – cellphone and MP3 chargers, coffee mak-ers, TVs, printers, microwave ovens.Plug other vampires into “smart” elec-tric strips.

n Put you computer into Standby or

Sleep mode when you are not using it.

n Only put full loads into your clotheswasher, dryer and dishwasher. Keepyour lint filter clean and avoid overdrying. Try drying clothes the old-fash-ioned way, on a clothes line.

n Insulate your hot water heater.

n Switch to compact fluorescent bulbs,especially for those lights that areswitched on for more than a couple ofhours a day. BE SURE to dispose ofthese bulbs properly – stores such asHome Depot and Lowe’s accept themfor disposal.

Conservation Column

Pheasant MeadowLast spring ELIAS set up a Bluebird trail in a newly preserved area in EastMoriches called Pheasant Meadow. It is along Evergreen Ave., and be warned, it isvery ticky in some areas. This spring there were Bluebirds, but unfortunately theyoung did not make it. It is home to many species, though. In addition to the everpresent Red-winged blackbirds, Beth Gustin, who monitors the boxes, has seen avariety of wildlife there. Her observations include a Mockingbird, a Red-TailedHawk, a female Oriole, a groundhog and a pair of Tree Swallows.

Ph

oT

oS

: BE

Th

Gu

ST

in


Colorado Rocky Mountain (and Plains) High Eileen Schwinn

Eileen Schwinn

I recently had the opportunity to travelwith Massachusetts Audubon to bird theNorth Central part of Colorado, in

search of high altitude birds and plainsresidents. The group of 8 birders and twoleaders traveled the state in comfort -two SUVs. And everyone had a window!Starting at the Rocky Mountain ArsenalNWR just hours after de-planing, weheaded north, eventually visiting thePawnee Grasslands, Arapaho NWR, theGarden of the Gods, and some out of theway, amazing places. We saw a total of 152birds over the week, and added somegreat memories. Highlights included Cinnamon Teal, Mountain Plover, ScaledQuail,Greater Sage-Grouse, Sharp-tailedGrouse, Clarke’s Grebe, Burrowing Owl,and OUTSTANDING view of Long-earedOwl, Lewis’ Woodpecker, Pinyon Jay,Clark’s Nutcracker, American Dipper, McCown’s Longspur, Chestnut-collaredLongspur, and ALL the Rosy-Finches! Wehad deep snow and winds to contendwith, as well as dust-bowl like conditions!A wonderfully cohesive group, this is a tripI will long remember, especially the 3:30am wake-up call to drive to a little dirtroad just outside Milner to witness theGreater Sage-Grouse breeding behavior,and the 50 mile and hour winds atopLoveland Pass (elevation 11,990 feet, insearch of the White-tailed Ptarmigan – wedipped!)

Juniper Titmouse Two SUVs made for comfortable travel, and everyone had a window!

Cinnamon Teal

American Dipper

Clark’s Nutcracker

Eileen freezing in search of the White-tailedPtarmigan

The unforgettable Greater Sage Grouse display Stellar Jay Long-eared Owl


Answers to last issue’s puzzle

Warblers

ACROSS

2 Water flavored with this can attract hum-mingbirds

5 Make your own suet feeder using one ofthese evergreen seed pods (2 words)

7 A fruit that is a special favorite of orioles

9 Egret with yellow feet

11_____thistle, especially popular withfinches

12 A device mounted on a pole to preventsquirrels form eating the seed

13 A fat product loved by woodpeckers

14 Tern with a black cap and deeply forkedtail

15 The long-billed is more partial to freshthan the short-billed

16 Could be a sandpiper or a plover

18 Very little eaten in bird tests

22 Smaller cormorant without white throatpatch

24 Save it for bread, not a good bird seed

25 Plover, not to be confused with Americanor European

DOWN

1 The waxwing you will most likely see on LI

3 Yellowlegs with a slightly upturned bill

4 Great _____, large bird with yellow bill,black legs and feet

6 Puts on an amazing show by dipping itslower mandible into the water while flying

7 Flamboyant red bill

8 Gray seed preferred over black?

10 Short leggeed night- heron

21 Marbled ______seen at Cupsogue lastyear

23 When served fine cracked can be a lowcost feed, hold the salt and butter

24 Often calls its name, a grayish sandpiper

12 Swallow with deeply forked tail

17 _______Hearts, often preferred for coldweather

19 Save this type of flour for the kitchen, too,not so popular with birds (2 words)

20 Crushed Hulled ____ , not for horses thistime.

Bird Food by Tom Moran

Kahler’s PondJay Kuhlman

The nature center is open as of May 28until September 18th. The usual hoursare Thursday through Sunday from 10

to 3 or 1 to 5 depending on the tempera-ture. People don’t come out in the heat.

Audubon Adventures ProgramThere will be an Audubon Adventure pro-gram running from July 7 - August 5th. JuliaHryvniak will be doing the programs thisyear. She graduated from Stony Brook inEnvironmental Studies and was an envi-ronmental educator at Cornell Coopera-tive Extension. The program will be held atthe center, 9 am until noon, on Thursdaysand Fridays. The programs are geared forchildren K - 5. The price is $295 for thewhole series. Activities include exploringforests, ponds and bays to learn about theanimals found there. Observe plants andanimals up close with help from ourknowledgeable staff. Check the Kaler’sPond web site or call 631-878-5576 forfurther information or to register.

The memberhip column will returnin the next issue. John McNeil is outof town for this issue.


Having just returned from a wonderful21-day adventure in Ghana, WestAfrica, I am excited to share my expe-

riences with you.

Travel seems to beget travel. Chris Mc-Cormick and I met Peter and Ranjit, aBritish couple, in Trinidad last year at theAsa Wright Nature Center. They attendthe Bird Fair each summer in London andmade contact with Ashanti African Toursthere. They set up a private tour for thefour of us, which traversed most of thecountry of Ghana and truly hit all of thestellar birding and butterfly locations.Ashanti Tours boasts of being able toshow clients 450 species of birds and 920butterfly species in 21 days! They are notkidding. I will not be listing them all here!

The Kakum National Park in Cape Coast,famous for its canopy walkway some 40meters above the rainforest floor, wasboth an aviary delight and an engineeringwonder. The canopy walk consists of a 350meter long wood and rope walkway sus-pended between 7 trees and broken up bya number of viewing platforms largeenough to accommodate spotting scopes.It offers a rare opportunity to actuallylook into the forest canopy. We spent sev-eral hours here on two separate earlymorning outings. The dawn symphony ofinsects and birds was as amazing as wereour visual delights. We were treated toviews of the African Cuckoo-Hawk,African Harrier Hawk, African Green Pi-geon, Red-fronted Parrot, African GreyParrot, Yellow-billed Turaco, Western GreyPlantain-eater, Black Spinetail, African

Pygmy-Kingfisher, Chocolate-backed King-fisher, African Pied Hornbill, Rufous-sidedBroadbill and many, many others!

Another trip highlight was our visit to aremote village near Aboabo, close to thenortheast border of Kakum National Park.It is here we searched for and eventuallysaw the exquisite Yellow-headed Pi-cathartes. Seeing a Yellow-headed Pi-cathartes is a chance in a lifetime event.These birds only exist in this remote areaof West Africa. It is an ancient bird, onethat only survives in the high humidity andeternal warmth of the equatorial jungle.Because the bird only inhabits rocky areasand makes its mud nest in and aroundcliffs and caves, it was a bit of a challengejust reaching the location. We walked forabout one hour in the heat and humidityand then had to climb a steep hill to reacha perch high up on some rocks where wecould wait for the birds to return to theirnests. These birds rarely venture morethan a few hundred meters from theirnesting area. The reason for this is theirpreference to eat insects that have bred inbat guano, which is only found in the cavesthey nest in. We were told to sit very stilland be as quiet as possible. We did this forthree hours. Much to our delight, our ef-forts were rewarded as ever so cautiouslythe birds slowly started coming into view.We were within 25 feet of them as theyarrived! We had an excellent and intimatelook… and even photo opportunities!

Mole National Park was our base of oper-ation for four action packed days. It washere that we had the privilege of seeing 3African Savanna elephants bathing in thewater hole located within sight of our hilltop accommodations. Olive-sided Ba-boons frolicking poolside and invitingthemselves to share lunch with the guestsentertained us. The resident family ofWarthogs would frequently be seen. Onceaway from the Lodge, we encounteredHamerkop, Saddle-billed Stork, HadadaIbis, White-faced Whistling Ducks, BandedSnake Eagle, Dark Chanting Goshawk,Grasshopper Buzzard, Wahlberg’s Eagle,White-throated Francolin, Double-spurred Francolin, African Jacana and just

so many more! On one particularly excit-ing morning we were treated to greatviews of the Pel’s Fishing owl.

Traveling further north, we arrived in Bol-gatanga in the upper Eastern Region ofGhana. Here, along the shores of a largeriver, we encountered the beautiful Egypt-ian Plover. This colorful shorebird curi-ously incubates its eggs in the sand andwhenever it leaves the nest, hastily coversthem over. This helps to conceal the eggsfrom predators and also might help toregulate the temperature of the eggs. Onhot days, the parents will sit in water tosoak their feathers and use these wetfeathers to keep eggs or chicks cool in thenest. The chicks leave the nest only a dayafter hatching but do not become inde-pendent of their parents for about 30days. Both male and female incubate theeggs. The Egyptian Plover has very boldpatterns of black, white, gray/blue andtawny feathers. Their plumage patternmakes them easy to identify.

Our next stop was the Bobiri Forest Re-serve, a butterfly sanctuary near the cityof Kumasi. This was something new forme. I was totally fascinated. Both ouryoung guide Andrews and our Britishtravel companion Peter were right athome in this environment. We saw somany different colors and sizes andshapes! Simply amazing! I did my best totry to capture these delicate creatures inphotos.

Our last bird and butterfly site was theAtewa Range, also in the Kumasi area. Thisinvolved an all day hike up to the top ofthe mountain range in pursuit of the Blue-headed Bee-eater. We managed to getspectacular views of a pair, hawking but-

Birds and Butterflies of GhanaText and photos by Linda Sullivan

A Spinning Jenny at the Bobiri Butterfly Sanctuary

A Blue Pansy at the Bobiri Butterfly Sanctuary


terflies in the brilliant sunlight. We also de-lighted in seeing Yellow-throated Cuckoo,White-crested Hornbill, Black-throatedCoucal, African Palm Swift, Black Kite,African Hobby, Black Winged Red Bishop,Golden Backed Weaver, Copper Sunbird,Fanti Saw-wing, Bearded Barbet and aFire-bellied Woodpecker.

Ghana was an exciting destination. We en-dured very hot and humid conditions, sev-eral long and difficult hikes and bus rides,strange food menus and a wide range ofhotel accommodations. We were re-warded with more bird and butterflyspecies than I have ever encountered onany adventure. We saw the varied lifestylesof the West African nation of Ghana, sawthe fascinating Baobob trees, visitedElmina Castle to learn about the earlyslave trade and even visited the Ghanaianequivalent of Home Depot!

For me, nature is always beautiful, fascinat-ing and somewhat familiar. The peoplesand culture ofan area are un-familiar and in-triguing. A tripthat encom-passes our nat-ural world andalso a nation’s cultureis a powerfulone.

The Yellow-headed Picathartes below, isan ancient bird, is edemic to one remotearea of West Africa. After a long hike anda three hour wait, the bird finally madeits appearance and was cooperativeenough to allow photos.

Pied Kingfisher makes a dra-matic dive after its prey.

Village Weavers, male (left) andfemale (right) are building theirwoven nests.


Changing AvianPopulationsLarry Penny

Some might say it’s global warming, butthe number of breeding birds extend-ing their range northward to Long Is-

land and beyond is more than a merecoincidence.

When I was a boy growing up in Mattituckon the North Fork in the 1940s and1950s there were very few egrets around.We were told that this scarcity had to dowith the shooting of egrets in the 1800sand early 1900s for their feathers whichwere in high demand for the women’shats. Whatever the reason, in the 1950sthe two white egret species began appear-ing on the North Fork in greater andgreater numbers.

I went into the US Army in 1958. By thattime egrets were common enough, but alot of birds that are now here each springand summer were not to be seen, at leastnot on the North Fork. When I came backto the East Coast in 1961 several newbirds were added to my list. Among thenew songbirds were Mockingbirds andCardinals. They were becoming almost ascommon as Robins. I went back to theWest Coast and found that the Mocking-birds were becoming as common in Cali-fornia as they were in the South. BrownPelicans, which were quite scarce, becausethey suffered from the fragile egg diseasecaused by DDT getting high in the foodchain.

When I came back to the East Coast, thistime, to the South Fork, in 1974, I wasmade aware that several more birds hadextended their range north to Long Islandin my absence and were now regulars.These included several water and shorebirds: Oystercatchers, Willets, Glossy Ibis,Little Blue Heron and Louisiana Heron.

A few years later, Red-bellied Woodpeck-ers established themselves and were soonrivaling Downy Woodpeckers and Flickersin abundance. Then came the Tufted Tit-mice. There is hardly a residential acrearound that doesn’t have a pair of TuftedTitmice nesting on it.

Ospreys also down due to the DDT, werebeing displaced by the Double-crested

Cormorants who began taking over theOsprey’s feeding territories. The Ospreypopulation began to rebuild after theDDT was banned nationwide in 1972. TheCormorants were spared the food-chainpoisoning effects and are still nesting herein droves on Gardiner’s and Fisher’s Is-lands. They had established nesting rook-eries on an island in Lake Erie, severalyears earlier.

In the late 1990s Pat Lindsey discoveredCerulean Warblers nesting at the tops ofblack locusts in the Grace Estate naturepreserve in East Hampton. Around thesame time Eric Salzman was pinning downBlack-throated Green Warbler nests inwhite pines in the same area. ChuckWill’s-widows had begun nesting inSprings and Amagansett in the 1980s andby the late-1990s one heard on a quietJune night as many Chucks singing asWhippoorwills. Not necessarily becausethe Chucks had become that common,but because the Whippoorwill populationwaned down to a precious few pairs, atleast in East Hampton and Montauk.

Lately, the Peregrine Falcon has been nest-ing on Long Island on tallish buildings inNassau County, while the Turkey Vulturestarted nesting in Montauk only three

years ago. Brown Pelicans have becomeregular summer visitors, but not yetbreeders, while Blue Grosbeaks havestarted to become more and more com-mon, especially around golf courses and inold field areas.

The house finch was not around Mattituckin my youth, but by the 1980s had becomequite common. It was mistakenly intro-duced when some imported ones werereleased in Brooklyn. Another bird, theWild Turkey, that is now commonthroughout the South Fork made its firstappearance, I should say reappearance, onthe East End in the early 1990s was alsoan introduced species. It had been extir-pated from Long Island in the early 19thcentury.

Two birds that used to be quite commonon Long Island up until the late 19th cen-tury, the Heath Hen and Passenger Pigeonwill never grace our area ever again,they’re both extinct. Another bird not un-common to Long Island in the 1700s andearly 1800s, the Labrador Duck was shotinto extinction three-quarters of the waythrough the 19th century.

So there you have it. The avifauna is inconstant change. Here today, gone tomor-row, on its way in, on its way out.

An environmental group from Hamp-ton Bays High School called HOPEbuilt and installed an Osprey nest

pole on Dune Road between the Pon-quogue Bridge and Shinnecock Inlet (onthe bay side). They are trying to put a re-mote video camera in place for a livefeed, and hoping for a resident family.

ELIAS helped support their efforts witha donation. Nice Job!

Teens Helping an Avian PopulationA New Osprey Pole is installed


Chapter Renewal & Membership

For $15 a year, you will receive 6 copies of

this newsletter. You will be supporting our

local education and conservation activities.

(Members of National Audubon who are

not chapter members receive one copy of

this newsletter per year.)

This is a

m Renewal m New Membership

Name____________________________

Address __________________________

________________________________

City/State ________________________

Zip ______________________________

Email __________________________

Please be sure to include your email. You

will receive an email confirmation, a pdf

of the first newsletter and occasional

important updates and program updates.

Although we try not to cancel or change

event dates and times, it does happen.

This list is not shared.

Make check payable to:

Eastern Long Island Audubon Society

and mail to:

ELIAS Membership, PO Box 206,

East Quogue, NY 11942-0206

If you are a member and not on our email list

please email

[email protected]

to be added. You will receive reminders of programs, and

program changes, or cancellations. This is only an ELIAS list.


Published by: Eastern Long Island Audubon SocietyP.O. Box 206East Quogue, NY 11942-0206

Address Service Requested

non ProfiT orG

u.S. PoSTaGE

Paid

Permit No. 3Center Moriches, NY 11934

EASTERN LONG ISLAND AUDUBON SOCIETYFrom the Barrens to the Bays

Serving Eastern Brookhaven, Western Riverhead & The Hamptonswww.easternlongislandaudubonsociety.org

ELIAS Officers & DirectorsPresident: Eileen Schwinn 631-728-8342

Past President: Alfred Scherzer 631-728-2898

Vice President: open

Recording Secretary: Chris Schmitt 631-727-2860

Corresponding Secretary: Gigi Spates 631-765-1436

Treasurer: Tom Moran 631-849-4434

Board of Directors:

Bob Adamo 631-369-1958

Ridgie Barnett 631-288-3628

MaryLaura Lamont

Catherine McCluskey 631-399-4782

Matthew McCluskey, Jr. 631-399-4782

Sally Newbert 631-281-6008

Evelyn Voulgarelis 631-727-0417

Dan Wilson

Byron Young 631-821-9623

Committees/ProjectsMembership, Mailing, Field Trips & Feeder Stats: John McNeil 631-281-2623

Program Chair and Nature Chat Open

Liaison - Kaler's Pond Audubon Center: Alfred Scherzer 631-728-2898

Hospitality: Ridgie Barnett 631-288-3628

Conservation & Bluebird Restoration:Gigi Spates 631-765-1436

Education: Evelyn Voulgarelis 631-727-0417

Webmaster: Annette Oliveira 631-833-4451

Newsletter Editor & Publicity: Sally Newbert 631-281-6008

[email protected]

Mark Your Calendars

Mon., July 11 Nature Program:

A Walk Around Quogue Wildlife Refuge (see p. 1)

Sat., July 23 Field Trip: Pikes Beach

Leader: Eileen Schwinn (see p. 1)

Mon., August 1 Nature Program:

Exploring the Everglades (see p. 1)

Sat., August 20 Field Trip:

Westhampton Dunes Beach Bird Walk

Leader: Carl Starace (see p. 1)

Mon., Sept 12 Nature Program:

Visiting Jamaica with Eric Salzman (see p. 1)

If there are any changes in programming,it will be announced on the website and on Facebook.

If you are on our email list you will receive an email about any program changes.

Join ELIAS on Facebook, click on like.

Please check the date on your label.If your membership is about to expire pleaseuse the membership/renewal form on page 11 tokeep your membership current. Thanks.

monday, july11, beginning at 7:15 pm a walk around quogue

Documents