Outdoors

Nature Notes On Friday, while working on Hicks Island between Napeague Bay and Napeague Harbor, Kristin Knobloch and Lisa D'Andrea came upon two baby oystercatchers scurrying through the beach grass with a parent in pursuit. The American oystercatcher is one of those species that has snuck in the back door, so to speak, and established itself as a breeder here on eastern Long Island without a lot of fanfare. Bushels Of Big Blues Ken Rafferty, a light-tackle and fly fishing guide who works out of Three Mile Harbor, described how monster bluefish were finning "just like tarpon" outside Accabonac Harbor during the past week, creating a saltwater fly aficionado's paradise. Notes From Madoo Call it mowtan, call it moutan, the bloom of the so-called (it is really a bush) tree peony appears to be not constructed of vegetal matter, but of shining, varnished silk, wet chiffon, or gold-flecked brocade. It is home to velvet as well as toile, ambiguously iridescent, thin as flaking mica and incredibly saturated in dense pigments as if opals, garnets, rubies, pearls, tourmalines, yellow diamonds had been pulverized and then dipped, distilled, and poured with the generosity of a possessed lunatic. They are salacious in their centers, aloof and cold in their petaled display, something to touch, not touch, hold in awe or crush. Big Boys, Early Girls It is a long time before the fat red tomatoes of August arrive, but those planning to grow their own should be getting them into the ground now. Normally, mid-May is tomato launch time, when the ground is warm enough for nursery-bought plants or plants grown from seed inside, but this year there were some late biting frosts that kept the ground cold.