SOFO & ELIAS Get-together

The South Fork Natural History Society (SOFO) and Eastern Long Island Audubon Society (ELIAS) held an historic joint walk this morning at the SOFO Museum and I had the privilege of leading the walk around Vineyard Field -- the large recovering pasture or meadow in back of the museum on the Bridgehampton/Sag Harbor Turnpike. It was very well attended with perhaps two dozen participants. Among them were Eileen Schwinn, president of ELIAS, Dai Dayton, president of the Friends of the LI Greenbelt (which manages the field), Frank Quevedo, director of SOFO, and my daughter Eva Salzman, a poet who often writes about natural history on Eastern LI).

This area specializes in birds that like to live at the edge or ecotone between woodlands and open meadows. The optimum time for a visit is probably early to mid-spring when migrants are passing through and the local birds are all singing. By early August, many birds have shut down for the season, their nesting activities having come to an end. They have either moved on or, if they are still in the area, have become inconspicuous.

There was one major exception and it is one of our most sought-after birds and still a fairly uncommon species around here: the Indigo Bunting. Some buntings are inconspicuous sparrowy birds but that's not the Indigo Bunting. The male of the species is a spectacular blue of a deep indigo color that, in the right light, can seem to shimmer (ironically, the female is one of the plainest of birds and the males lose their spectacular plumage in migration and winter). Since the males only hold this plumage in breeding season and since the Vineyard Field was full of singing birds -- more Indigo Buntings than I have ever seen in a single place -- it would seem to be the case that Indigo Bunting breeding season in Bridgehampton is not yet over!

Did we see any female Indigo Buntings? Any youngsters? Nests? Of course not. But it was a remarkable show of male Indigo Buntingness: perhaps a dozen or more displaying and singing both in the trees around the edges and on the top of small bushes in the meadow. Sometimes there were chases that looked like territorial disputes. How territorial is the Indigo Bunting? It's a good question worthy of further investigation. In any case, the singing males were always perched high or in the open, anxious to broadcast their vocal and visual assets to the world. I don't know of another place on Long Island where it is possible to see these birds so easily and dramatically. The whole field was like an exploded lek -- a field of display for male birds.

There were other birds of course. Green Heron and Purple Martin flying overhead, Eastern Kingbird in the meadow, Barn Swallows around the buildings (with active nests and second broods under the eaves), Carolina Wrens singing away here and there, House Wren, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow Warbler, Chipping Sparrow (including streaky young birds), Baltimore Oriole (female and an immature male), lots of Catbirds, Mockingbirds, Cardinals. Among the area's specialties that were missed: Orchard Oriole, Blue-winged Warbler, Red-winged Blackbird (huh?), Tree Swallow, and Eastern Bluebird, all of which were here earlier in the season. Next time!

P.S.: Summer is an optimum time for butterflies and dragonflies in a meadow like this one with several wet spots. The butterfly list included Monarchs, Tiger Swallowtail, American Copper and others. Among the dragonflies I could identify Halloween Pennant, Banded Pennant and a whitetail (Common Whitetail according to Frank Quevedo). A great place to study the insects of summer.

Eric Salzman