THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 23, 1996 TAG: 9606210273
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: COASTAL JOURNAL
SOURCE: MARY REID BARROW
LENGTH: 84 lines
The osprey, tending to her young, did nothing but screech at the boaters who came close to her nesting platform on Back Bay.
She was not about to let Richard Dyer, president of Back Bay Restoration Foundation which erected the nesting platform there, feel the least bit comfortable about intruding in her space.
Welcomed or not by the big fish hawk, Dyer welcomes her and the chicks because they are among many indications that Back Bay is getting healthier and healthier. For osprey to nest there means there are plenty of fish for both parents and young.
Over the years, Back Bay Restoration Foundation has installed osprey nesting platforms all around the big bay at the southern end of Virginia Beach. The nesting platforms are but one of the foundation's many efforts to bring the shallow body of fresh water back to its glory days when eagles and osprey flew overhead, the grasses grew thick on the bottom, fish were abundant in summer and ducks and geese flocked to the area in winter.
Finally the group is beginning to see progress.
Last winter there were more ducks and geese on the bay than folks can remember in a long time. And this summer the grass is growing so thick in parts of the bay that it clogged in Dyer's propeller several times as he cruised the shallow waters.
This grass was milfoil, a feathery, exotic species that purists don't consider the best of grasses to have in the bay but far better than nothing. The foundation has tried to re-establish native species such as sago pondweed and wild celery in four protected areas of the bay, Dyer said, and those grasses are growing again, too.
Back in the 1970s, hunters and fishermen alike began to recognize the decline of waterfowl and fish on the bay. The water, where you could once see clear to the bottom, had turned muddy. All the grasses which provided shelter for fish and food for waterfowl, had disappeared.
The sportsmen, who saw the decline firsthand, formed the nucleus of the Back Bay Restoration Foundation 11 years ago. From then on, foundation volunteers have worked at everything from erecting osprey nesting platforms to testing the bay's water quality monthly, from educating us about what we can to to help the bay, to helping farmers build water control structures to reduce run-off.
Dyer doesn't know which efforts, if any, have paid off in the bay's rejuvenation. ``It could be a natural thing,'' he said.
Whatever the reasons for the bay's coming back, it's reason enough for Back Bay Restoration Foundation to really celebrate at its anuual Flyway Feast from noon to 5 p.m Saturday at The Flyway, a historic hunt club on Knotts Island.
``It's nice to have something to celebrate, whether we're responsible or Mother Nature is responsible,'' said Steve Vinson, executive director of the foundation.
The food alone has been cause enough for celebration in the past. Foundation members are old hands at cooking up a delicious feast of barbecued pork, chicken, corn on the cob, potatoes, onions, coleslaw and baked beans. And the food, accompanied by a wide variety of beverages, tastes even better outdoors at the beautiful old hunt club on the North Landing River.
Music, door prizes, a raffle and children's entertainment are all part of the afternoon too. Among the items in the raffle are a dory built by students at the former Norfolk School of Boat Building and a Labrador retriever sculpture by Turner Sculpture on the Eastern Shore.
Tickets, $25 a person and $40 a couple, are available at Beach Gallery and Binswanger Glass. Call 412-4240.
As you feast, you'll probably see ospreys soaring overhead and hear their high pitched calls. Think of their calls as celebratory, too.
P.S. YOU CAN LEARN MORE ABOUT BACK BAY at two programs coming up. Take a moonlight canoe trip on the bay from 7:45 to 10:45 p.m. Friday at False Cape State Park. Call 426-7128.
And before you head down to the Flyway Feast, you can learn all about the ecology of Back Bay spiders from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The program includes a walk to search for spiders. Call 721-2412.
CELEBRATE THE LIFE-SAVING MUSEUM of Virginia's 15th birthday and its name change to The Old Coast Guard Station at 1 p.m. July 1 at the museum at 24th Street and Atlantic Avenue. Former United States Congressman G. William Whitehurst will speak and a reception will follow. Call 422-1587. MEMO: What unusual nature have you seen this week? And what do you know
about Tidewater traditions and lore? Call me on INFOLINE, 640-5555.
Enter category 2290. Or, send a computer message to my Internet address:
mbarrow(AT)infi.net ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MARY REID BARROW
For osprey to nest on the platform in Back Bay means there are
plenty of fish for both parents and young. by CNB