a sad story and some mysteries

Alas, the Great Egret that we 'rescued' a couple of days ago did not survive. It was picked up by a Wildlife Rescue volunteer and taken to the Riverhead Center and later to Hampton Bays. In spite of efforts to keep it warm and give in nourishment, it did not make it.

Mystery No. 1: Mike Bottini writes to tell me that the native cottontail rabbit on Eastern Long Island is the New England Cottontail which is a federally endangered species! But Eastern Cottontail has also been introduced here and nobody seems to know the exact status of the two cottontails (Eastern and New England) on Long Island!

This morning's roundup (after the rain): two or three Northern Waterthrushes along the marsh edge, a Ruby-throated Hummingbird (possibly more than one) at the head of the marsh, an active White-breasted Nuthatch (possibly more than one), various terns on the creek. 

Mystery No. 2: Peter Beston sent me the attached recoding of a mysterious call from the pine woods near his house. I could not identify it so I suggested that he go to Xeno-canto, an excellent web site devoted to recordings of bird songs. And, amazingly enough, he was actually able to ID it. Solution tomorrow.

[couldn't transfer audio; write to es@ericsalzman.com if you want a copy of audio]


Eric Salzman