One superb shorebird spot that disappeared in one day was Oak Beach
Marsh. This was technically-speaking a "seche," a very shallow pan of
rainwater of maybe an acre in extent that gradually dried and was
replenished only when it rained again (or perhaps in a very high
tide). The bottom was a thin film of mud that was evidently full of
good things to eat, and is was insulated from all but the very highest
storm tides. At high tide in the right season it was covered with
shorebirds. I had over 30 species of shorebirds there over several
years In the 1970s, including Ruff, Curlew Sandpiper, Marbled Godwit
etc.
This shallow pool was located on the salt marsh on the bay side
of the Ocean Parkway opposite what is now called Overlook Beach (on
the Jones Beach-to-Captree strip on Long Island).
It all came to an end one afternoon in the 1980s when the
mosquito control people, in their wisdom, ditched it and opened it to
the tides. Now it is just an ordinary stretch of salt march with a
Least Sandpiper and a Pectoral or two.
Bob Paxton
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