River Otter Survey Report

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In April, we wrote about Mike Bottini’s river otter survey on fishers Island. A Conservancy grant funded the survey of river otters on Fishers Island, which included FI School 9th graders and members of the Island community.

Shortly following board approval of their proposal, Mike Bottini and a team of three other wildlife biologists visited Fishers and conducted a successful survey, determining the presence of established river otter territories on Fishers Island. They surveyed 40-50 sites on the island by foot and kayak and found otter sign at 20, including an otter den (pictured below)! The research team presented to the Senior Lunch and gained critical information from island residents Steve Malinowski, Lou Horn and Ken Edwards, Bob Evans and Pierce Rafferty. They were accompanied and assisted by FI school 9th graders in some of their survey work. Mike Bottini will return to the Island in July to provide educational programming to FI residents regarding the research and the broader implications for wildlife on Fishers Island.

The team was fascinated by Fishers’ natural environment, including our coyote population. The researchers were thrilled to make their first osprey sighting in 2013, and to see a great-horned owl feeding its chicks on an osprey nest at the east end. To quote team lead, Mike Bottini: “Fishers Island is an amazing place, both the landscape and the folks living there. Although geologically so similar to eastern Long Island, in some ways it is very different. You have some of the largest swamp azaleas I have ever seen, and stands of yellow birch in some of your forests – a species that we don’t have on eastern Long Island. We have some fairly deep and dramatic kettleholes here, but I have never seen anything as striking as the clay pit kettleholes near Isabella Beach…”

Mike’s report is complete and available at the below link.

Download PDF

Hidden Treasure

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By Island Sentinel Rob Backhaus.

Combing the beaches of Fishers Island, looking for hidden treasures and historical relatives, is a fun and educational experience. Many of the beaches on Fishers Island present opportunities to find hidden treasure. With its famous military dumping background, Race Rock is loaded with hidden treasures waiting to be found.

Rob and Olivia Backhaus

Meet the Island Sentinels!

The Conservancy welcomes our first Island Sentinels, the brother-sister team of Rob and Olivia Backhaus. Rob graduated this year from the Fishers Island School and is headed to college this fall. Olivia will be a senior at the F.I. School this fall.

Rob and Olivia settled right into their jobs monitoring sites around the island. Keep your eyes out for them riding their bikes from site to site and gathering data at various locations – including Silver Eel Cove, South Beach, Dock Beach, Middle Farms Pond, Isabella, Big Club and Chocomount beaches, Hay Harbor, East Harbor, and Race Point. Give them a big welcome and a thank you for their work!

Of Cormorants & Egrets

These sultry afternoons on the Sound are calm and quiet.

It’s perfect weather to drift quietly around by boat and take a peek at colonial waterbird sites.

The northwestern tip if Ram Island houses Great Egrets roosting in thick vegetation – with old branches layered high ,the nests are large but  hidden well.

Farther out, on South Dumpling a large colony of  Double Crested Cormorants proclaim “squatters rights” to just the one dead tree on Isle.

 

Nesting & Resting on Flat Hammock

Last winter Great Black-backed Gull communities around the Island were sometimes few and far between-mostly because the largest gull species in the world prefers the colder months at sea.

This week I discovered a large flock of “GBBGs” raising their young on Flat Hammock.

This small sand spit off the north side of Fishers appears to be an active nursery these weeks.I enjoyed a quiet, up closer view (with binoculars) from a boat and hope for another opportunity to document observations in late summer.

Young gulls will stay put for about 50 days before flying, and then return still relying on their “feeding schedule” for another 50 days. Then it’s off to congregate with other immature gulls in places where the fishing is easy.

PS.

I was happy to see Oyster Catchers on Flat Hammock too, and being respectful of all nesting areas kept my distance, hoping boaters and beachcombers will do the same.

 

 

All You Can Eat Bouquet

Noon Whistle:

It’s lunch time along the bike path with a flit of a Butterfly, a buzz of a Bumble bee and a slight rain shower on a Painted turtle and me.

The Fiddler Crab

Next time you’re launching a boat into Pirates Cove or wading through tidal flats along West Harbor-keep your eyes out for tiny Fiddler Crab communities. A number of finely dug holes found along salt and brackish waters secretly house these crabs of land and sea.

Appearing rather shy-if they appear at all, (observers must be patient) the Fiddler communicates by waving  one larger claw in rhythmic signals-either playing a tune for nearby female Fiddlers or vying for her in combat. The other claw used for feeding, has the tiny creature looking like it’s musically inclined – playing the Fiddle.