Jaysun Vodopija of Lake Grove captured these icy images on Jan. 26 at Lake Ronkonkoma, a source of inspiration for many of his photos. He writes, ‘[Saturday] morning the wind was as calm as can be and the air was crisp. Before heading to the lake, I looked out of my bedroom window about one hour before sunrise and noticed clouds overhead but none on the horizon and that was my sign to get moving. In these photos you will see a piece of ice in what appears to be the shape of a dragon. ‘
An adult male yellow-rumped warbler in spring or breeding plumage.
By John Turner
On an Indian summer kind of morning in mid-October, I decided to explore the Preserve owned by the Village of Nissequogue at the end of Long Beach Road, on the north side of Stony Brook Harbor. I was hoping to see a lingering diamondback terrapin in the marshes fringing this side of the harbor.
As soon as I exited the car in the small parking lot, flanked by coastal plants, there was flittering movement all around — movement that I half expected given the time of year. The ceaseless motion was in the form of a dozen or so small birds, and I knew I was witnessing the seasonal invasion of the “butter-butts,” or as a friend calls them “budda-butts” — a species that, whatever you call it, is formally known as a yellow-rumped warbler due to the conspicuous and distinctive bright yellow rump patch on the top side of the tail base.
At any one time there were half-a-dozen birds flitting in the red cedar trees and groundsel bushes, and one hovered over the top of a seaside goldenrod plant for several seconds, presumably attracted to small, late-season, nectar-seeking insects in the bright yellow flowers.
An adult male yellow-rumped warbler in spring or breeding plumage.
The butter-butts were joined by half a dozen even smaller birds that flashed yellow too; not from the tail but from the top of the head. These were golden-crowned kinglets, a species that competes for the title of North America’s smallest songbird (hummingbirds are smaller but are not songbirds). It is closely related to the ruby-crowned kinglet, another bird that breeds north of Long Island but passes through these parts during spring and fall migration. This invasion will last through the winter until next spring, when the warblers and kinglets depart northward to their breeding grounds.
Yellow-rumped warblers are one of 54 colorful species of warblers found in North America, of which approximately three dozen occur in the eastern half of the country. This group of birds has often been referred to as the “butterflies of the bird world,” given their resplendent plumage patterns of orange, red, yellow, blue and green colors in between. Their passing through Long Island during spring migration, when males are in their gaudy breeding plumages, is one of the highlights to a birder’s year.
Warblers, as a general rule, flood out of the middle and northern portions of North America, overwintering in South America, Central America, the Caribbean and the southern United States. They do so because their food source — almost entirely insects — disappears with the cold weather since to stay in cold climates would be to risk starvation. The yellow-rumped is an exception and regularly overwinters throughout the United States. Why is this so you might reasonably ask? It’s due to the species unique ability to sustain itself by eating a type of food that other warblers and most other songbirds apparently do not or cannot — wax.
The wax is in the form of a waxy outer coating on berries, and there are two plant species on Long Island that best fit the bill, producing large quantities of waxy fruits — bayberry and poison ivy. Wax is difficult for birds to digest, and only a couple of dozen species worldwide have become adept at capitalizing on this novel food source, including our butter-butts.
An immature yellow-rumped warbler, also referred to as YOY – a young-of-year bird.
Scientists studying the phenomenon of wax digestion in yellow-rumped warblers have found several traits that allow wax assimilation — very slow digestive times with the wax broken down in the gizzard, high bile salt levels in their gall bladders to more effectively break down the wax into its fatty acid components and, remarkably, the ability to move partially digested foods back into the gizzard from the intestines to further break down the wax (which partially explains the slow digestive times). It can take a small warbler upward of four hours from when the wax berries are eaten until the digested remains are excreted. In contrast, songbirds eating sweet fruits in the summer and early fall can pass the material in as little as 20 minutes.
Further south in their winter range, from New Jersey southward, yellow-rumped depend more upon wax myrtle, a close relative of bayberry, that also has wax-covered fruits. The bird’s association with this plant is so strong that for many decades the yellow-rumped warbler was known as the myrtle warbler.
In the western United States, the yellow-rumped warbler is joined by its close associate: the Audubon’s warbler, which looks very similar to the yellow-rumped, except that it has a yellow throat patch while the yellow-rumped has a white patch.
Golden-crowned kinglets apparently do not eat waxy fruits and survive the winter eating dormant insects, their eggs, spiders and oozing sap. If you pay close attention, the males can be separated from the females — males have orange-tinged head crowns while females have yellow. This bright orange coloration is the reason why this species in Europe is not called a kinglet, although it’s the same species, but instead the rather descriptive “firecrest.”
You can see kinglets and butter-butts until early spring — then they both wing back north, throughout New England and across much of Canada, for the breeding season. Here they’ll raise their next generation of birds that will brighten our winter days with a little dash of yellowy sunshine a year from now.
A resident of Setauket, John Turner is conservation chair of the Four Harbors Audubon Society, author of “Exploring the Other Island: A Seasonal Nature Guide to Long Island” and president of Alula Birding & Natural History Tours.
Mount Sinai junior Adham Shata in the final match of the championship. Photo from video by Mount Sinai School District
Several days after Mount Sinai’s wrestling team won the state championship, coach Matt Armstrong was still basking in the glow of the victory.
“It was really something coming back to school,” Armstrong said. “It was one of those things being a state champ really means
something.”
More than 800 spectators came out to watch their schools compete at the New York State Wrestling Dual Meet Championship at the SRC Arena and Events Center at Onondaga Community College Jan. 26 where 12 of the best Division 2 teams squared off.
Mount Sinai’s wrestling team crowds onto the mat. Photo from video by Mount Sinai School District
Mount Sinai, victors in the 2018 state championship, was No. 5 seed and received a bye for the first match. Mount Sinai started off seemingly unstoppable, first competing against Cold Spring Harbor, beating them, 47-27, then against Pleasantville which the Mustangs took to the mat, 57-27, to advance to the semi-finals.
“I knew we could beat the first two, but the semi-finals were pretty interesting,” the wrestling coach said. “We had seen them last year and we knew how competitive they were.
That’s where they met the No. 1 seed Tioga. Mount Sinai had a balanced line-up and were able to deliver a 34-27 win, advancing then to the finals against Central Valley Academy from Ilion, the No. 2 seed.
Out the gate things took a turn for the worse for Mount Sinai and after falling behind ,31-12, it appeared they were headed for defeat. Suddenly it all came around, and Mount Sinai went on a scoring run. Junior Brendan “Goody” Goodrich started it off with a win and was then followed by wins by brothers Mike and Joe O’Brien. Then it was victory after victory with fellow teammates Ryan Shanian and Matt Campo.
Campo, wrestling at 152 pounds, won acrucial match with Hunter Shaut, the former New York State Champion from Central Valley Academy in overtime 4-2. This was followed by a win by Joe Goodrich, at 160 pounds, who brought Mount Sinai even with Central Valley, 31-31. Central Valley won the next match taking the score to 34-31 with one match remaining.
The final match fell on the shoulders of junior Adham Shata at 182 pounds. With the whole team cheering him on, Shata pinned his opponent and the entire arena erupted in wails and shouts of victory, as Shata brought his team up to 37-34 and won a 2nd consecutive championship. The entire team rushed onto the mat and piled onto Shata, cheering their victory.
You could say something great about every single kid.”
— Matt Armstrong
Armstrong couldn’t pick one person out amongst the team. He was adamant that every student played their part in the win.
“I think I could go up and down the entire lineup,” the coach said. “You could say something great about every single kid. Some were just outmatched, and even though they were they wouldn’t get pinned.”
Several students gained standout wins during the tournament, with the O’Brien brothers, Shanian, Campo and Goodrich each going up to 30 season wins. Senior Mike Sabella at 195 pounds, won all his matches by pinning his opponents.
“There might have been some people who though the first time was a fluke,” Armstrong said. “To do it back to back is pretty incredible.”
The season is not yet over for the Mount Sinai wrestling team with the team gearing up to compete in the individual county and state tournaments. The individual county tournament takes place Feb. 2, and those who win in that or get a wild card will have the opportunity to head back upstate and compete in the State Wrestling Championship at Times Union Center in Albany Feb. 22 and 23.
Ward Melville senior Ray Grabowski drives the baseline against Central Islip Jan. 29. Photo by Bill Landon
Ward Melville senior Ray Grabowski with a no look pass against Central Islip Jan. 29. Photo by Bill Landon
Ward Melville junior Myles Brown lets one fly against Central Islip. Photo by Bill Landon
Ward Melville junior Myles Brown from the free throw line against Central Islip Jan. 29. Photo by Bill Landon
Ward Melville’s Jack Holland with a long distance strike good for three against Central Islip. Photo by Bill Landon
Ward Melville junior Giancarlo Serratore with the jumper against Central Islip. Photo by Bill Landon
Ward Melville senior Chris Foglia hits from the 3-point range against Central Islip. Photo by Bill Landon
Ward Melville fell to Central Islip 70-53 in a League I matchup Jan 29 at home.
It was a two-point game at the half when Ward Melville tied in the opening minute of the third quarter, but the Patriots couldn’t contain Central Islip’s Ty-Shon Pannell who exploded hitting eight 3-pointers, seven field goals along with four at the line, topping the scoring chart for the Musketeers with 42 points.
Ward Melville senior Ray Grabowski and junior Jack Holland led the way with 10 points each with Giancarlo Serratore netting seven.
The loss dropped Ward Melville to 6-7 in their division with three games left, forcing the Patriots to win two out of three to make the postseason.
Picture of man who allegedly stole from a Speedway in December 2018. Photo from SCPD
Suffolk County Crime Stoppers and Suffolk County Police 6th Precinct Crime Section officers are seeking the public’s help to identify and locate a man who allegedly stole merchandise from a Miller Place gas station in December, 2018.
A man allegedly stole approximately $600 worth of cigarettes from Speedway, located at 370 Route 25A, on three occasions between Dec. 5 and Dec. 7, 2018.
Suffolk County Crime Stoppers offers a cash reward of up to $5,000 for information that leads to an arrest. Anyone with information about these incidents can contact Suffolk County Crime Stoppers to submit an anonymous tip by calling 1-800-220-TIPS, texting “SCPD” and your message to “CRIMES” (274637) or by email at www.tipsubmit.com.
All calls, text messages and emails will be kept confidential.
Northport-East Northport Superintendent Robert Banzer. Photo by Victoria Espinoza
By David Luces
Northport school administrators gave taxpayers their first glimpse at what potential issues the district will face as it starts to draft its 2019-20 budget.
Superintendent Robert Banzer gave his first overview of the Northport-East Northport school district’s preliminary budget for 2019-20 at the Jan. 24 board of education meeting. The highlights includes two large expenses to the district are expected to decrease based on his initial calculations, but the schools have a different challenge to contend with.
“I’m glad to see that the TRS went down and health insurance is less. Those two things escalated on us last year — and that was a challenge,”
— Robert Banzer
The superintendent said the district’s state-mandated employer contribution to the Teacher Retirement System is anticipated to drop from 10.62 down to somewhere between 9.5 and 8.5 percent, and health care insurance premiums are projected to decrease.
“I’m glad to see that the TRS went down and health insurance is less,” he said. “Those two things escalated on us last year — and that was a challenge.”
For 2019-20, Banzer explained the district will be permitted to raise taxes by up to 3.22 percent and remain with the state-mandated tax cap. The number can raise above the often cited 2 percent for numerous reasons including tax-base growth and rollover from prior years.
The superintendent said the district’s officials will be mindful of trying to draft a budget that comes in at or below the cap.
“Potentially it will be 3.22 percent, but I hope that it is less and we save taxpayers some money,” trustee David Badanes said.
The district’s budget for the current year is $166,810,381. According to the superintendent, the budget amount has increased by around 1.5 percent each year since the 2013-14 school year. Over half the budget is attributed to personnel’s salaries, about a quarter of it is attributed to employee benefits, according to Banzer.
Each year, the district’s budget is financed 80 percent through the district’s tax levy, which for the 2018-19 school year totaled approximately $146,0000. About 10 percent of the district’s revenue comes in the form of state aid, the district is currently projected to receive more than $16 million based on Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (D) 2019 Executive Budget. Banzer noted that it is only a projected number, and one he hopes could be higher once the actual budget is passed.
“There’s work to be done in between. There’s going to be opportunities for input.”
— Robert Banzer
One challenge the school district must face is how to deal with the continued declining enrollment. The superintendent projected the schools have lost nearly 1,165 students since the 2011-12 school year.
“That’s pretty significant, a lot of it has been in the elementary level,” Banzer said. “Things are starting to level off there but now it seems like it is coming to the secondary level.”
Each year, the district’s budget is financed 80 percent through the district’s tax levy, which for the 2018-19 school year totaled approximately $146,0000.
The next Northport school board meeting dedicated to the 2019-20 budget overview will be March 7 at 7 p.m. in the William J. Brosnan School Building, located at 158 Laurel Ave. The district has approximately four months to refine the budget before the vote slated for May 21.
“There’s work to be done in between,” the superintendent said. “There’s going to be opportunities for input.”
From left, John Clark, Scott Schneider, and Huntington Councilman Ed Smyth kick off Pick Six Jan. 24. Photo by Karina Gerry
By Karina Gerry
A Town of Huntington official is asking Huntington’s residents to try to see the small actions can add up.
Councilman Ed Smyth (R) unveiled Jan. 24 a new non-litter initiative he calls Pick Six that asksresidents to pick up six pieces of trash every day and throw it in the trash at Huntington Town Hall.
“Together, we can make our town cleaner,” Smyth said.“And a more environmentally friendly place to live work and do business.”
The program was inspired by Huntington resident Scott Schneider, an artist who for years has been collecting trash on his daily walks and turning them into art.
“‘Well what difference can I make,’ but now that it’s being rolled out to the whole town, you really see that small acts can turn into bigger ones.”
— Scott Schneider
“I always picked up trash,” he said. “I started taking pictures of trash and then when Instagram and Facebook came on, I started posting it and people seemed to really enjoy my trash pictures or my trashy pictures.”
The councilman saw Schneider’s art as the two have known each other prior to Smyth being elected to officethrough their children. It sparked a conversationabout Schneider’s daily habit.A few weeks later, the Smyth contacted the artist to let him know that he would be rolling out a new initiative for the whole town inspired by Schneider’s work.
“As somebody who was kind of always working on my own, it was extremely exciting,” the artist said. “Because you always think, ‘Well what difference can I make,’ but now that it’s being rolled out to the whole town, you really see that small acts can turn into bigger ones.”
Smyth and his colleagues hope the initiative of Pick Six will become habitual for residents.
“What I see with my own eyes, and I think everybody does, is that there’s a lot of litter around,” he said. “I think we’ve gotten to the point now that we’re so accustomed to seeing it that we stop seeing it, stop noticing it, so it’s easy to ignore it and walk past it.”
While downtown Huntington area sees the most pedestrian foot traffic, the councilman wants to encourage people to not only pick up trash when they are in the village but at the town’s beaches and parks as well. Greg Wagner, Huntington’s director of Parks and Recreation,believes the program could make a huge difference.
“Typically, every morning at all of our beaches there are single-use plastics constantly, consistently washing up on our shores,” Wagner said.
“There seems to be unnecessary finger pointing going on where people say, ‘Oh well they should go clean it up.”
— Councilman Ed Smyth
Jack Palladino, president of the Huntington Village Business Improvement District and owner of Christopher’s Pub & Eatery, said the issue of trash has been something him and the BID have been dealing with for a while.
“The problem you have with some businesses is that you have absentee business owners, a lot of corporate places that you go in to speak to the management as soon as they clock out they are done for the day,” Palladino said. “But you have businesses that people have owned they live in town, they are the ones that are concerned.”
While restaurants, bars and places offering takeout food tend to produce more trash, the councilman refused to point fingers.
“There seems to be unnecessary finger pointing going on where people say, ‘Oh well they should go clean it up,’” Smyth said. “There’s always a pronoun in there that’s not I, always they or he or she.”
The councilman hopes that people will stop blaming the businesses for the trash.
“For the downtown areas, it has to be a collective effort,” he said. “Or it’s just not going to work, because very frankly the town, the BID and the businesses don’t have the resources individually to have someone on litter control.”
Public hearing on proposed mixed-use 84 apartment building adjourned; date and venue not set
Save Huntington Village organizers Bob Suter and Dale Gifford wave signs protesting the Downtown Huntington project at the Jan. 24 hearing . Photo by Sara-Megan Walsh
Hundreds of residents flooded the board room, hallways and standing space in Huntington Town Hall last Thursday in a tidal wave of opposition for the proposed Downtown Huntington project.
The Town of Huntington’s Zoning Board of Appeals voted unanimously to adjourn the Jan. 24 public hearing on the proposal by developer John Kean to construct a mixed-use building that would bring 84 apartments to Huntington village to seek a larger venue.
“We understand people made the trip down here and would like to listen to this,” John Posillico, chairman of the town’s ZBA, said. “However, we want to be fair to everyone collectively. We can’t do that under the current circumstance.”
A supporter of Save Huntington Village holds a sign in protest of the Downtown Huntington proposal Jan. 24. Photo by Sara-Megan Walsh
Roughly 300 residents waiting in hallways, unable to enter the town meeting room, could not hear the developer’s presentation after an “audio failure,” according to Posillico, but it was actually the crowd’s noise and conversation overpowering the building’s speaker system.
It is the first time in memory, according to town officials, a massive turnout forced a ZBA meeting to be adjourned.
“In a sense this hearing is a victim of our own success in getting people together around this issue — the overdevelopment of Huntington — of which this application is perhaps the most egregious example,” Bob Suter said.
Suter, a Huntington resident who helps organize Save Huntington Village, said while his group had called for a rally against the proposal, he hadn’t expected quite the turnout.
The parking lot of Town Hall was filled to capacity as drivers sought slots in the neighboring YMCA’s parking lot. Residents then stood on line for more than a half hour to pass through security and enter the hearing. Town employees pulled out folding chairs, as the meeting room was packed so dense the fire marshal took a head count, while late arrivals stood in the hallway. Before the meeting was adjourned, more than 85 individuals had signed up to speak on the project.
James Margolin, a Huntington-based attorney for Kean and property owner Alan Fromkin, recognizing the overwhelming turnout took the opportunity to explain the proposed development to the community publicly.
“The biggest issue is the misconceptions of what we are doing,” he said. “Most people thought the entire block was being knocked down. They thought we are putting a greater burden on parking when the whole idea here is that we are lessening the burden by hundreds of spaces.”
Huntington attorney John Margolin presents the Downtown Huntington proposal Jan. 24. Photo by Sara-Megan Walsh
The proposed Downtown Huntington project seeks to construct a roughly 180,000-square-foot structure on a 1.36-acre site made up of five different properties located along Main Street, Stewart Avenue and Gerard Street. It would be a four-story building combining restaurant and retail with 84 apartment units and a 59,000-square-foot underground parking garage. Its application must go before the Zoning Board for several variances before construction proceeds including: a C-6 General Business District zoning only permits three stories, not four; apartments are slated for street level; and a parking variance.
Margolin said in his introduction the underground parking garage would provide 127 slots, more than the 40 spaces currently offered in total on the five properties as they stand. Given this, he said the development needs a variance as it comes up approximately 130 spaces short of the number required, which he argued is less than the shortage of 218 slots based on the building’s current use. However, the traffic expert and others with Margolin who expected to present on Downtown Huntington’s proposal in greater detail did not have the opportunity to speak before the adjournment.
“We really needed to come tell the community exactly what this project was and wasn’t,” Margolin said. “We understand we have a negative recommendation from the Planning Board, but we are making our case to you this evening.”
The town’s Planning Board voted 5-1 at its Jan. 23 hearing to recommend the ZBA “strongly” deny all variances sought by the developer. Posillico said the adjournment to seek a larger venue will also allow the Zoning Board more time to read and digest the Planning Board’s suggestions.
At right, Huntington ZBA Chairman John Posillico. Photo by Sara-Megan Walsh
Those in attendance shouted questions asking why town officials had not scheduled the hearing on Downtown Huntington for a larger venue to begin with, especially after Posillico admitted to receiving more than 300 emails on the application in advance of the hearing. The chairman explained the town could face a legal challenge if not all were fully able to participate, which would force the hearing to be held a second time.
“I respect the board’s recognition that hundreds and hundreds, 300 or 400 people in the hallway, deserve the right to hear what is being stated, the description of the project, and what people have to say,” Dale Gifford, a member of Save Huntington Village, said. “There’s 600 or 700 people who came out on this terrible night. I think it’s pretty incredible and shows how passionately people are opposed to this.”
At the heart of the issue lies the controversial amendment to C-6 General Business District zoning code that allows apartments to be built above restaurant and retail space, up to a height of three stories.
Gifford, Huntington resident Barbara Suter and other members of Save Huntington petitioned Huntington Supervisor Chad Lupinacci (R) to put a moratorium on development until proposed changes to the C-6 zoning are made public, debated at public hearing and set in place.
As of this publication’s press time, a new date and venue for the Downtown Huntington public hearing has not been set, according to ZBA special counsel John Bennett, but should be confirmed within two weeks. This may be further delayed if the developer chooses to scale back the size of the project. The ZBA has assured all those who signed up to speak Jan. 24 will be held in the same order originally.
Those residents interested in reviewing the developer’s proposed site plans can visit the Department of Planning and Environment, room 212 in Huntington Town Hall, located at 100 Main St. to review the file. A PDF of these documents will be posted on the town’s website once it is provided, according to town spokeswoman Lauren Lembo.
Huberto Pimental of East Setauket captured this unique image at the end of Rocky Point Landing Road in Rocky Point on Dec. 10. He writes, “The tracks on the sand looked fresh, so I decided to take a photo in order to preserve someone’s quiet time at the beach.”
This week’s shelter pet is a lovely cat named Peconic. This beautiful girl is a 5-year-old calico who was found as a stray and is now patiently waiting at Kent Animal Shelter for her furever home.
Peconic has a very sweet disposition and would love nothing more than to curl up on your lap. She’s good with other cats and would probably be fine with a dog too. Come on down and meet her! Peconic comes spayed, microchipped and up to date on vaccines.
Kent Animal Shelter is located at 2259 River Road in Calverton. The adoption center is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day. For more information on Peconic and other adoptable pets at Kent, call 631-727-5731 or visit www.kentanimalshelter.com.
Jaysun Vodopija of Lake Grove captured these icy images on Jan. 26 at Lake Ronkonkoma, a source of inspiration for many of his photos. He writes, ‘[Saturday] morning the wind was as calm as can be and the air was crisp. Before heading to the lake, I looked out of my bedroom window about one hour before sunrise and noticed clouds overhead but none on the horizon and that was my sign to get moving. In these photos you will see a piece of ice in what appears to be the shape of a dragon. ‘
This week’s shelter pet is a lovely cat named Peconic. This beautiful girl is a 5-year-old calico who was found as a stray and is now patiently waiting at Kent Animal Shelter for her furever home.
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