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b) Jack ChlelliMIDDLB TWP. - To most visitors vrfcMiohing on the resort island, salt marshes look like a soft green carpet swaying with .the s(ight.esfjbreeze, inhabited by a Jew graceful white; birds that swing into the grasses to feed and nest And. if they think' about it anymore than that* as they whiz by oh the' causeways crossing the niarsh, the continuing Controversy between developers and environmentalists might come to mind t. But to those who know the marsh as a finite naturSl resource endangered by pollution and development — it is a place of reverence and beauty, to be protected and understood And that, is why a group of 28 people on a recent Saturday were wading through the marshes out behind the Wetlands Ipstitute just off Stone Harbor Blvd In a program designed to promote public understanding and concern for coastal wetlands as an egological system, the .Wetlands Institute sponsors a Salt Marsh Field Trip twtbe a year: "We want to take scientific information and give it back to the public in a way that they can better understand why the marshes are an asset to'man," Anne Galli,

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USlhlti MINNOW TKAP as a sieve, Anne Galli combs the richly laden water in a salt Water tributary for specimens of the plant and animal life which abound there.

left the marsh.

Some birds living in the marsh

accommodating

■ The expedition had

building to take a 500 yard hike through a. path, of the marsh created by salt deposits. This is where the tide floods ah area and' the water cannot recede; it

where were

enough to be pointed out for idem tification included the marsn hawk, common* egret, seaside sparrow and laughing gull. Galli pointed out a common laughing which was chuckling above the group. She stopped to show an area where broken shells were strewn. “Can anyone guess how these shells got here?” she asked\ &ie youngster answered, “the gulls dropped them.” “YES," REPLIED GALLI “the gulls look for a hard surface so they can break open their

earwig breathes its oxygen mixes with the iron content in the soil, that is why you can see the rusty color next to the burrow," she ex-

, plained.

The variety of plant life in the Wetlands isn't that diverse.” There are only about 6 to 8 different types of plants.’,' Galli noted. Halting the group further down the path, she showed them glassworts and suggested the explorers taste it, explaining the plant used to be pickled by earlier settlers. Its taste was similar to a

salty cucumber.

She also pointed out salt crystals which form at the bottom

'a place of reverence & beauty to be protected & understood

NEW FEATHERS arc just starting to develop on this four-month-old willct, an avian creature of the marsh.

assistant-director at the Institute explained. The field trip was a nature walk through the marsh, with Galli pointing out different species of birds, plant life and insects. The greenhead fly is the most ferocious of the marsh's inhabitants, .Galli explained, pointing out it is only the female that's .a blood sucker needing a blood meal fbr her eggs. The male greenhead feeds off on plant juices. The female, looking for a • protein source, lies in waiting for a warm blooded creature to ambush. The insects come from the marsh's upland areas and lay their eggs at the base of the salt marsh hay and cord grass — the dominate plants in all marshes. The greenhead is an important source of food for the birds and other organisms. S on the cover Anne (.alii ankt. director of Ihe Wetland, Inatltute. point* out to the importance ot the manthett; in hand la a minnow trap. Photon by Rob Shilfs. mnuum

evaporates and leaves what looks like a trail. Armed with a shovel and a net, the group spent 45 minutes walking through the

dinner.” she noted the gulls sometimes use such inconvenient places as roof tops, or roads. “It can be a problem if you are the victim," she added, Next to the gull’s dining area were little pita of sand made from earwigs -golden brown insects with pinchers on the tail — which burrow in the ground. “These earwigs help oxidize the soil,” Galli said, digging up a small portion of sand where the burrows were located and showing the group the difference in color surrounding the holes. “As the

WHILE FIDDLER CRABS

usually

most noticeable

crustaceans there, marsh waters are also home for his bigger, edible

cousin.

of the salt marsh hay. The plant extracts the salt from the water and “sweats’ it out onto its stem. AS THE GROUP NEARED the edge of the marsh, Galli and the youngsters began searching for fiddler crabs, which burrow in the sand at low tide and come out at night to feed on algae and insects. “We can't leave until we find one,

she said.

Holding one male and one female fiddler crab in her hand, Galli displayed the difference; “The male fiddler has one large claw and one small one, the female crab has two small size, claws.” The fiddler crab gets its name from the male species which carries its big claw like an instrument. “He waves it in the air to attract the female; she thinks that is great. Then she comes to check out his burrow. If she likes it she stays.” The critical moment for the expedition occurred when two youngsters took a net, called a seine, and walked into a gully looking for fish. With the help of Galli; the two dragged the net through the water trapping a variety of small fish as they went along. With the net safely on the ground and a few little, shinning fish flipping about, Galli reported they had caught minnows, which spend their entire life in the* I Page 5 Please) Jack J. Chlelli'is a Cape tylay County Herald correspondent.