Hi Birders,

I just had an unpleasant encounter with the people from the house across 
the road from Great Oak Pond. I was alone and I made certain to park 
well short of the front of the house and tried to minimize how far I got 
off onto the grass. Nonetheless two young men appeared in a pickup and 
accosted me telling me in no uncertain terms to "get off their lawn". I 
tried to determine if there was a right-of-way and its breadth, but they 
were firm in claiming all of the grass to the edge of the road. After 
some fruitless argument they drove off turned around at the Debnam's 
farm drive and came back. Their father arrived and proceeded to promote 
the same argument adding that the road was "private" and not county 
maintained (I do not know if this is actually the case). I was unable in 
the heat of the moment to get the gentleman's name and a tax record 
search did not help in attaching a name to the house; the property 
appears to be listed as belonging to a New York City absentee who bought 
the fields and built the structure in 2008.

The man's primary issue is damage to the turf along the road by cars 
parking on it. His conditions for viewing the pond in front of his house 
is to limit car/truck wheels to the patchily vegetated 5 inches or so of 
gravel along the road. My suggestions for birding here in the future are 
to turn around at the farm beyond the pond and view from the south side 
of the road next to the cornfield, or park near the Great Oak Landing 
sign at the intersection with Handy Pt. Rd. and walk up the hill to look 
at the pond. It seems a recent multiple-car birding group "cut up" the 
turf and he's now determined to put a stop to that. Be aware of this 
when and if you view the pond and be on very good behavior.

Good birding,

Walter Ellison

Observing Nature is like unwrapping a big pile of presents every time 
you take a walk.


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