The beginning of the second quarter of my Blue Goose Adventure!
It's already becoming difficult to remember all I've seen and done in the last three months. My enthusiasm has definitely waned as I settle into a routine that seems boring at times: wake up, find coffee, write, drive, find a refuge, walk, talk, drive, eat, read, sleep. Yet, each day brings something new... the graces of the natural world, including the many bird sightings, or just the freedom of the open road with only a loose agenda. I am gathering memories: the subtle change in the quality of light as summer turns to fall, the different demographics in the different regions of the country, the accents, the Walmart experience, an appreciation for the homeless, the old forests, wildflowers, grasses, beaches, the dedication of volunteers who enhance the NWRs, the homogeneity of the current American popular culture AND the cell phone phenomenon. I don't think it is an exaggeration to note that 10% to 20% of people I see are looking at a cell...in stores, walking down the streets, in their cars....
I got to Oyster Bay and first drove to Sagamore Hill where TR Roosevelt lived for over 30 years and which is now a National Historic Site. The Oyster Bay NWR was described as being contiguous to this site, which it may have been but which wasn't apparent in any way. I stopped and walked in the first National Audubon Songbird Sanctuary, situated on 12 acres donated in Roosevelt's memory by his cousins W. Emien and Christine Roosevelt.
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| Oyster Bay Cove - NY |
Gardening centers and lawn services are big businesses here.
I had trouble figuring out where exactly the Oyster Bay refuge was. Google maps and the state maps of NY showed it in slightly different places and the directions were vague. I followed the bay around to where the road curved back onto itself and where Google showed the refuge to be, but the road to the point was blocked by a gate and a police car. With more research, it seemed this is accessible only by boat.
So I went into a public beach parking lot in Oyster Bay and saw four gull species.
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| Laughing Gull - Oyster Bay, NY |
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| Herring Gull - Oyster Bay, NY |
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| Ring-billed Gull - Oyster Bay, NY |
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| Great Black-backed Gull - Oyster Bay, NY |
It was sunny and heating up and humid as I drove east to Target Rock NWR, which I found by driving another several miles off the main road. There were trails here but I didn't have energy to walk any of them due to already being dripping with sweat so walked about 50 feet and that was it. Still though, a visit, however pathetic.
And repeated the same scenario at Elizabeth B. Morton, one more refuge on the north side of Long Island, east of Target Rock. It was Labor Day and families were at this refuge to access what beaches they could. All refuges had closed much of their property to "protect nesting" beach birds through August. Everywhere I went, all over the eastern coast, the refuge beaches were closed, mainly to protect the Piping Plover which much be the most protected little bird in the US. Interestingly, someone told me that the Great Lakes' Piping Plovers were "really endangered," acknowledging that, though they are the same species, the Great Lakes' birds are more critically threatened.
It was a perfect beach day for those who like hot sandy beaches. I mostly drove into the parking lots, found a shady place, looked at the kiosk information, figured out my next move and watched others unpack strollers and sand toys and beach bags and coolers. I knew these beach refuge trails by now and just was too lackadaisical to move.
So, where was I going to sleep? Certainly not in the playgrounds and towns of the wealthy. I was pondering this as I headed to Amagansett NWR on the south shore in East Hampton, but I never saw any signs for it and soon was nearly to Montauk at the end of the road. I pulled into Hither Hills State Park and paid $58 to camp for the night. (The price was double the usual $29 for a NY resident.)
I chose a spot right behind small dunes and could hear the waves crashing. It seemed I was one of the few English-speaking persons in the campground. Two families with adorable young blond kids were right across from me, a naked little boy briefly wandering about looking 100% Dutch. Later, four of these kids went whizzing up and down the paved road on scooters with large helmets on their small heads. The men were very handsome; the women attractive but not striking. In the showers, the moms and kids were all speaking in the same language. I don't know why I thought it was Russian, but it wasn't German, Italian, French, Spanish, Indian or an Asian or African language....
The general store made sandwiches and I had a good ham wrap, sat in my chair, read and watched and listened. There was a cooling breeze and no insects and the heat-induced stress of the day disappeared.
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| Hither Hills State Park - Montauk, NY |
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| Hither Hills State Park - Montauk, NY |
A slightly less than half moon was in the sky, and as night fell, it was idyllically peaceful with the only the sounds of gulls and waves and muted muted conversations. There were soft lights around and in the RVs. The whole group across from me packed up and left. A man on a motorcycle came in and set up a simple tent.
Much better scenario!
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