sunset on Weesuck Creek

Watched the sunset last night. Actually, that's not strictly true as our front deck (the observation platform) faces east and is great for watching sunrises, not sunsets. The back of the house (the kitchen entrance and the car park) faces west but the view is obscured by a screen of woodland trees. But from the front deck, it was possible to see the pink reflection of the setting sun over Pine Neck and then watch it gradually creep across Weesuck Creek until the whole place was bathed in pinkish glow, accentuated and made vivid by the humid atmosphere -- the pink seemed to penetrate the moisture in the atmosphere lending a surreal air to the scene. As the shadows finally enveloped everything, the fireflies began to glow, the evening cicadas gradualy reported the day-time cicadas, and a juvenile night heron came into the pond and perched on the dead Red Cedar (judging by the silhouette, I think it was a Black-crowned).  As real darkness closed in, the sky was stilll  light enough to see a bat making several fast fluttering passes overhead (Lorna is convinced that it is a Little Brown Bat, a likely ID).

An interesting side observation: the local Osprey kept whistling and flying until almost complete darkness. The Osprey's late habits may be an adaptation to their fishing style as many fish spend the daytime hours deep in the water but will come to the surface at night. Which is why many fishermen go out at night; there were perhaps as many as half a dozen fishing boats with lights parked just outside the creek in Shinnecock Bay.

But has anyone seen an Osprey catch fish at night?

The bird of the morning (this morning) was an accipiter that came streaking out of the woods across the marsh, putting up the entire colony of Purple Martins -- or at least every one that could fly. The hawk was horizontally streaked red underneath so it was an adult. It was intermediate in size so it was either a male Cooper's (most likely) or a female Sharp-shinned.
 
Eric Salzman