BASICS


BASICS: "Hummingbirds.....where is the person, I ask, who, on observing this glittering fragment of the rainbow, would not pause, admire, and turn his mind with reverence..." (J. J. Audubon).
This is a blog about my summer life at the Baiting Hollow Hummingbird Sanctuary, at my winter garden, Calypso, in the Bahamas, and aspects of life in general.
This private sanctuary is now permanently closed to the general public, as a result of a lawsuit brought by a neighbor. Only my friends and personal guests may visit (paul.adams%stonybrook.edu).

Thursday, July 30, 2015

Visiting in August - new slots posted; The Long Island Landcape

The Baiting Hollow Hummingbird Sanctuary is a private sanctuary that only opens in the month of august and then only by personal invitation and only at announced specific "slot" times and dates posted at this blog (in the righthand column). These available dates change as the month advances, so please CHECK THAT THE TIME YOU WANT TO VISIT IS CURRENTLY AVAILABLE before emailing me with your requested time AND YOUR NAME. While many of you are complying, some of you are asking for times that are not yet posted as available. This just creates more work for you and me. I'm sorry the rules are a bit complicated, but I must please my neighbors and the Town of Riverhead, not just hummingbird enthusiasts. Thanks for your understanding.

Recently Claire and I took a trip up north, visiting Maine, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. We were away for 10 days and my wonderful group of volunteers looked after the sanctuary while I was gone, watering plants and refilling feeders. They did a fantastic job. We stayed with the notorious Rafael Adams for a couple of days in very pretty Cape Elizabeth, then took the "Nova Star" overnight ferry to Yarmouth, NS. It's actually more of a cruise ship than a ferry, though one can bring one's car aboard, as we did. We had a comfortable cabin at the bow of the ship with a huge porthole to view the ocean - but of course it was dark for most of the voyage. The only unpleasant part was waiting in the car for an hour and a half at the Portland dock for immigration/customs to re-enter the US (it took 10 minutes to enter Canada).

Perhaps I'll write something about this fascinating trip in a later post, but here I'm going to write about "Landscape". These thoughts were triggered  by our return to Long Island, via the Orient Point Ferry. We travelled as often before along the Route 25, then Hwy Hwy and Sound Ave - as we did long ago (1981) when we first visited Long Island, to look at Stony Brook University after a research stint at the Marine Biology Lab in Woods Hole (MA).

I was struck then, and am still struck, by how attractive the landscape of the North Fork is. One of the things I like is that's it's calm, modest and authentic, with roots and traditions going back hundreds of years (settled around 1660). Of course the interlocking of countryside and sea views also helps! (I realize as I write that the use of those 2 terms is rather quaint and english - but then I am a (mildly) eccentric englishman.

So what is "landscape"? One thing it certainly is not is what "landscapers" (the "blow and mow" guys do) - quite the reverse. What they do is make everything look tidy and monotonous, at the expense of the neighbors' peace and quiet, essentially destroying the landscape. Here's the Wikipedia definition, and here's Webster's : an area of land that has a particular quality or appearance. That's not very helpful - of course all land has a particular quality or appearances. 
We get a bit closer with a wonderful book by Ronald Pisano, with same title as my blog post today. This book collects images of paintings that show Long Island the way it was from 1820 to 1920 - and in a few places more or less still is. That's the key: appealing landscapes are enduring, and combine elements, natural and human-made, that have a long history. It's this quality that so many painters have sought and found on Long Island.
Here's another link (and another) that literally attempts to gets to the heart of what landscape is. To quote:

"Our landscape – the visible, audible, sensory features of the North York Moors – is what differentiates us from other regions. It’s a living record of the underlying geography and geology, and a reflection of our natural world, human history and heritage. It shapes our self-image and forms the backdrop to daily life."  

I think this is why as we traveled down the North Fork, we felt that we were coming home. Although part of my heart is still in the Yorkshire Moors, where I wandered as a youth.

Here's another recent rosebud salvia clip - sorry that last one was blurry.




Tuesday, July 28, 2015

new vid; visiting slots posted; hummer cocaine; what's happening in court


Fred, who's still very active at the sanctuary. feeds at rosebud sage (Salvia involucrata) - one of the best hummingbird plants around. The variety at the sanctuary is "Bethelii", which grows taller than "Mulberry Jam', though it takes longer to start blooming. I get it from Beds and Borders, in Laurel, though I believe Long Island Hummingbird Plants, in Medford, also has it (along with the fabulous Pink Porterweed - hummer cocaine!).

I've at last been able to ok with my lawyer that we can go ahead and open to the public this august, on the same very limited basis as last year: you need to request an appointment for a specific time, chosen between the available "slots" posted on this blog (in the right hand column, next to this post). If your chosen slot is still available (and you should check this on the blog just before you send your request) you will be sent permission to visit AT THAT SPECIFIC date/time slot only, together with a Liability Waiver form that you must bring with you, and instructions for visiting (directions etc).
However it's still possible that Justice Tarantino (the judge in my case) might grant an injunction to prevent public visitation, in which case I will have to rescind your permission to visit.
Please note that we can only accommodate a maximum of 6 cars in our parking lot. Therefore all your group must arrive in the same vehicle. When you ask for permission, please state the number of people who will be in your group, and bring a signed paper copy of the waiver for each person in the group. We cannot supply blank waiver forms at the sanctuary. If you arrive at the sanctuary with no permission and no signed waiver, you are trespassing and must leave initially.
Because of the 6 car limit for each morning or afternoon slot, it's vital that if you have a confirmed appointment but unexpectedly cannot come, you MUST notify me ASAP, so that another can occupy your slot. No-shows without prior notification will render you forever unwelcome at the sanctuary, and cancellations must be sent at least 4 hours ahead of your slot time.
The judge will be looking to see how orderly, well-regulated and well-behaved my visitors are this year, so please follow all the instructions that are sent with your confirmation!
Of course personal friends (and we both know who they are) are exempt from these rules, but even these must request and receive an appointment.

SUMMARY: request ONE specific available (i.e. POSTED) slot time, receive permission, waiver and instructions, and be sure to cancel if you cannot make your appointment. Requests for unavailable slots or more than 1 slot will be ignored.

I'll write about what happened in court in my next post.

Monday, July 27, 2015

Some Visiting Slots Posted! More to follow...

I've at last been able to ok with my lawyer that we can go ahead and open to the public this august, on the same very limited basis as last year: you need to request an appointment for a specific time, chosen between the available "slots" posted on this blog (in the right hand column, next to this post). If your chosen slot is still available (and you should check this on the blog just before you send your request) you will be sent permission to visit AT THAT SPECIFIC date/time slot only, together with a Liability Waiver form that you must bring with you, and instructions for visiting (directions etc).
However it's still possible that Justice Tarantino (the judge in my case) might grant an injunction to prevent public visitation, in which case I will have to rescind your permission to visit.
Please note that we can only accommodate a maximum of 6 cars in our parking lot. Therefore all your group must arrive in the same vehicle. When you ask for permission, please state the number of people who will be in your group, and bring a signed paper copy of the waiver for each person in the group. We cannot supply blank waiver forms at the sanctuary. If you arrive at the sanctuary with no permission and no signed waiver, you are trespassing and must leave initially.
Because of the 6 car limit for each morning or afternoon slot, it's vital that if you have a confirmed appointment but unexpectedly cannot come, you MUST notify me ASAP, so that another can occupy your slot. No-shows without prior notification will render you forever unwelcome at the sanctuary, and cancellations must be sent at least 4 hours ahead of your slot time. Of course this means that some slot opportunities may be posted at the last minute, so if you must come on a specific date but slots have already filled keep checking the blog for late cancelations.
The judge will be looking to see how orderly, well-regulated and well-behaved my visitors are this year, so please follow all the instructions that are sent with your confirmation!
Of course personal friends (and we both know who they are) are exempt from these rules, but even these must request and receive an appointment.

SUMMARY: request ONE specific available (i.e. POSTED) slot time, receive permission, waiver and instructions, and be sure to cancel if you cannot make your appointment. Requests for unavailable slots or more than 1 slot will be ignored.

Thursday, July 23, 2015

Please be patient!

I know many of you are watching the blog for the promised "slot" time postings, which give the date and time you would be eligible to request permission to visit the sanctuary in the coming month. I still hope to open as usual, starting aug 1, with many additional days available throughout the month. However, for various legal reasons, I cannot quite do so yet. Please be patient - I'm fairly confident that I will be able to post available visiting times very soon (probably by monday evening), but not yet sure.
In addition, though I'm seeing increased numbers of hummer, activity is still fairly low.

Over the long weekend the sanctuary hosted, for 4 days, the very talented artist Daniel Hauben. He painted entrancing pastel scenes of the garden and I hope I will be able to show you some of the beautiful results fairly soon. It was a great pleasure to see his complex conceptions develop rapidly from blank paper, and the intensity he worked (in throbbing heat). At the end we all went for a refreshing swim in Long Island Sound - after climbing over the huge ruts left by all the car traffic.

 Daniel is the artist-in residence this week at the East End Arts Council, and gave a fascinating talk on tuesday evening at their campus in downtown Riverhead (located on the south side of Main Street just east of the Suffolk Theater).  Before the talk Claire and I took a walk along the Peconic River there, and once again I thought how much potential there is in downtown Riverhead, with a setting that is far superior to many highly successful town centers like Port Jeff, Huntington or Westhampton Beach. On the other side of the Peconic River there's just a beautiful natural park, and I think the plan to build a pedestrian walkway across to it is absolutely brilliant. however this plan now hangs in the balance, for rather silly reasons. In addition, Riverhead should finally bite the bullet and build a multistory car park, allowing the magnificent Peconic Riverfront to be used for cafes, restaurants, galleries etc, not just blacktop for parking. I've lived in Riverhead (part-time) for 24 years and it's so sad to see all the potential frizzled away.

Saturday, July 11, 2015

Pete feeds on Cuphea

 
Pete, the subordinate male at the Baiting Hollow Hummingbird Sanctuary, feeds at Cuphea "David Verity".