Nature at Our Doorstep

While we mortals burrow indoors this time of year, Nature understands that its course is harder and carries on the best it can outdoors.

Out for a Sunday stroll January 11 Anne Hentschel, her children Jane, Claudia and Isabelle, and their friends discovered a dead dolphin on the Manursing Island beach.

“It was so sad, it was such a beautiful animal,” said Anne. “We learned that the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation is in charge of all sea mammals and sea turtles found on the New York coast. They have a phone number for their hotline on their website, www.riverheadfoundation.org, and they're interested in all sea mammals and sea turtles found alive or dead. They have another number where people can report sightings of sea mammals and turtles.”

Riverhead scientists identified the dolphin as an Atlantic white-sided dolphin, said Anne, and told her this area seems to be the southern limit of their territory. “They took the dolphin back to their hospital in Riverhead, N.Y., for an autopsy, to learn more about how it got here and why it died. They mentioned that dolphins aren't uncommon in the Sound.”
u Photo by Anne Hentschel

On January 9, Jane Grant, an avid bird watcher, looked out her window and spotted a Red-shouldered Hawk. “This is a very different species from the much more common Red-tailed Hawk,” she informed the paper. It has a distinctly black-and-white striped tail and reddish shoulders. The Red-shouldered Hawk is not only uncommon, Grant continued, but listed as “of special concern” by New York State. “So, I was surprised and delighted to have this one so close.”

The Red-shouldered Hawk sighting in Rye is the first of the year listed on Cornell’s e-bird site for New York State.

Another resident sent us photographs of three Quaker parrots that have been at his backyard birdfeeder every day since the January 10 snowstorm.
What a powerfully beautiful and sad start to the New Year.