The land and its uses - Part I

facing east, the remnants of the bulkheaded area, Michael walking
 along where the beach would have stood  

facing east from the beach you can see the other side of section 1
across the water

When I was a child growing up on McKinley Drive in the '70's it was a very common occurrence for my family and I to walk or bike down to various portions of the water front.  One spot that we frequented because of its proximity to our home was the end of Jefferson Drive.  When I was a child there was at least 20 - 30 more feet of land there sticking out into the Narrows Bay than there is now. The very end had a three sided bulk headed section on the east and on the west was a sandy beach with a swing set and the remains of a gazebo.  When the fleas got too bad my father would walk down with us and our dog and toss the Lab/Irish Setter mix into the bay at the deep end of the bulk head.  We would then run around to the sandy beach calling for our dog to swim to us.  After a walk home and a bath in the yard our dog was feeling a lot less itchy.

facing north east toward the old Keenans property
at the end of Beaver Drive

map of the area in at the end of Jefferson Drive, Mastic Beach

The other feature found at the end of Jefferson Drive were the mud flats.  When I was a a child I had no idea why this land was barren and so much different that all the rest that I knew.  It was a place for dirt bikes and BB Guns and never going alone.

what the mud flats look like now

What I didn't know was that that land had been used as a dredging spoils deposit area.  Dredge spoils are the mud and silt that fill up the waterways. This makes it difficult for boats to navigate in the channel through the Narrows Bay and the entrances into the creeks and marinas nearby. The mud and silt need to be dug out and put somewhere else.  In large harbors and bays an out of the way place in the water is usually chosen to deposit the dug up material so that navigation is improved where necessary and the materials moved do not get in the way.  In the Narrows Bay, at the south end of Mastic Beach, there is not enough room in the bay to just shift the spoils off to the side when dredging.  The spoils need to be moved to an on land/ upland site so that they can be dewatered (dried out some) and then brought to their final resting place.  Sometimes, the dredge spoils are not moved to a second site and can be left in the first place they were deposited.

to be continued next time....

Clearly Seeing Late Autumn

Looking east across Patersquash Creek from the path to the dock

I took these pictures yesterday because I knew it would be raining today and I wanted to show the effects of the late autumn climate on the clarity of the air and the clarity of the water down by the dock.

Facing North East toward W. Riviera

The decrease in humidity / water vapor in the air decreases the amount of diffraction of the light and gives a clearer view toward the horizon. It also allows the sky to be more blue rather than grey. 

You can see how well the water reflects the blue sky in the pictures. The reflection is affected by a combination of the stillness of the water because of

The clear water next to the dock

lack of wind and the clarity of the water. The water has become clearer as the water temperature has dropped. Colder water slows the growth of algae, phytoplankton and the zooplankton. The planktons normally grow densely in the estuary environment which is Patersquash Creek, Narrows Bay

The transition point between land and water.

and the Great South Bay.

The pictures show how most of the shore plants have finished for the season and are now reduced to dispersing their seeds and going dormant for the winter.

Standing on the dock and looking around it feels as if the

Looking North up Patersquash Creek

world is standing on a precipice, waiting to fall into the frozen chasm which is winter.

Sonnet 73, William Shakespeare

That time of year thou mayst in me behold

Phragmities Seed head with marsh and dock in background

When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang

Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,

Bare ruin’d choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.

In me thou see’st the twilight of such day

As after sunset fadeth in the west,

Which by and by black night doth take away,

Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.

In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire

That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,

As the death-bed whereon it must expire,

Consum’d with that which it was nourish’d by.

This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong,

To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

Additional Reading:

Water Quality Indicators: Temperature and Dissolved Oxygen

Book Excepts

Influence of the winter phytoplankton bloom on the settled material in a temperate shallow estuary

The Brant Goose - Branta bernicla

Wednesday afternoon while I was driving past Washington Beach on Riviera Drive at the end of Washington Drive I saw some winter waterfowl.  I stopped to take a few quick shots when I recognized that they were a group of Brant ( Anseriformes, anatidae, Branta, bernicla), a type of ocean goose which over winters along the shores of Mastic Beach.  The Brant will end up spending the winter in mixed flocks of waterfowl  along the Narrows Bay, the creeks and Forge River until they migrate back to the Arctic Tundra where they breed in the summer.  It eats eel grass (Zostera marina) and the sea weed, sea lettuce (Ulva).

Branta bernicla

For more information go to:

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Brant/id

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brant_(goose)

Tuesday on Patersquash Creek

Tuesday seems to be the easiest day to have a few moments open to do something.  It isn't Monday with the rush to start the week and it isn't Thursday or Friday with the rush to catch-up on tasks which have fell behind all week.  We won't even discuss Wednesday. So I've decided to institute a regular post for Tuesdays  with pictures from my dock on Patersquash Creek.  These pictures were taken on 11/1/16 at around 1 pm.

Just like Monet used to paint the same scene at different times of day and in different seasons I think taking pictures of and off my dock through out the year will be educational and inspirational.

Facing South East Toward Patersquash Island

Looking to the Point at the end of Locust Dr. and W. Riviera Dr.

Facing W. Riviera Drive at the end of Magnolia Dr.

Looking  North up Patersquash Creek

For more Information:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rouen_Cathedral_(Monet_series)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud

Inaugural Post

I hope to post about the natural world found in Mastic Beach New York from a residential scientists point of view.  Wish me luck.