Poxabogue

Poxabogue Pond -- actually two ponds (Poxabogue and Little Poxabogue) that are connected when the ground water level is high) -- is part of the chain of ponds that extends from Sag Harbor to Sagaponack and forms the heart of the Greenbelt. Most of the north shore of these ponds is protected as part of a Suffolk County Park which includes grassland, shrub and woodland habitat. The trails here and on the other side of the LIRR tracks are part of the Bay to Ocean Trail currently under construction by the Friends of the Long Island Greenbelt, the same folks who invited me to do a walk there yesterday. I was happy to oblige as I hadn't been to Poxabogue Pond in many years and I remembered it as one of the most beautiful spots on the South Fork.

It didn't disappoint but what we didn't count on was the weather; I had to drive out east from East Quogue at Friday morning rush hour in the middle of some of the worst torrential downpours I can recall. When I finally reached the entrance to the park (at least a quarter of an hour late) only three people had been willing to brave the weather and one of them was Dai Dayton who had organized the expedition. Nevertheless, it was a pleasant company, the rains let up shortly after we hit the trail and we were able to compile a fairly good list of birds, other animals, flowering plants and even mushrooms. Most notably, the Red Cedars (in the dry areas) were covered with wax berries and the Tupelos (around the pond) were developing their berries as well.

The outstanding discovery of the morning took place, not in the County Park but on the stretch of trail north of the tracks and leading north to Vineyard Field (and eventually through the Greenbelt). This particular spot was open and sandy and a female Box Turtle had dug in and was laying her eggs, not a sight you get to see every day! We didn't linger long for fear of disturbing her or giving away the location to predators (there are many that regard turtle eggs as top of the menu).

Not surprisingly, there were deer all over the place and enough bird activity to get a picture of avian life around the pond. The dominant species was American Robin but there were Catbirds, House Wrens, Common Yellowthroat, Chipping Sparrow, swallows and martins etc. The outstanding sightings were Eastern Bluebird flying over the grassland opening and Eastern Kingbirds hovering -- helicoptering -- over the lily pads on Big Poxagogue. From time to time, the Kingbirds would actually land on the lilypad pads. Presumably they were gathering up insects from the pads to bring back to their nest which was probably in the close vicinity; Kingbirds love to build their nests next to or even over water.

A little earlier in the season and with a break from the weather and I'm sure we would have been able to find more than a handful of other species. There's always next year!

Eric Salzman