Salamander Search

The South Fork Natural History Society is going in search of the rare blue-spotted salamander in Montauk on Saturday beginning at 7:30 p.m. Anyone curious to see one of these endangered amphibians has been asked to call the society's Natureline in Amagansett.

Ospreys will be the focus of a two-day mission launched by the Group for the South Fork on Friday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., to repair existing rookeries and build new ones. About 250 ospreys are expected to return to Long Island this year - fewer than the number of ospreys inhabiting this area before the pesticide DDT was used. Osprey eggs were rendered so thin that they broke because of DDT ingested by the birds. The chemical has been banned for over a decade, but the osprey population has not fully recovered. For more information, those interested are asked to call the Group's headquarters in Bridgehampton.

The East Hampton Trails Preservation Society is heading east on Sunday for a "guest speaker" hike along the shore at the Montauk Lighthouse. The hike will follow a tour of the lighthouse and its museum guided by Marge Winski, the lighthouse keeper. Hikers are asked to meet at 10 a.m. at the entrance to the Camp Hero community located about a mile east of Deep Hollow Ranch.