bird - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-29T10:54:19Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/birdManalapan: Town plans to add marine police unit to monitor sandbar partyinghttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/manalapan-town-plans-to-add-marine-police-unit-to-monitor-sandbar2017-08-02T13:30:00.000Z2017-08-02T13:30:00.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960739687,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960739687,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" width="600" alt="7960739687?profile=original" /></a></p>
<p><em><strong>ABOVE:</strong> Police hope a new marine patrol will control rowdy behavior and trespassing onto residents’ docks. <strong>BELOW:</strong> Summer weekends often see dozens of boats moored in the shallow waters to the north of Bird Island at the Boynton Inlet. <strong>Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star</strong></em></p>
<p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960740271,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960740271,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" width="600" alt="7960740271?profile=original" /></a><strong>By Dan Moffett</strong><br /> <br /> Complaints from residents along the Intracoastal Waterway in south Manalapan have increased in recent months as growing numbers of weekend boaters congregate on the sandbars around Bird Island.<br /> Town police have a hard time reining in the loud music, underage drinking and raucous behavior the offshore partying too often brings.<br /> That could change soon. At the town’s July 17 budget workshop, commissioners approved adding a marine unit to the Police Department that will patrol the sandbars on weekends and holidays.<br /> Town Manager Linda Stumpf said the town intends to hire two part-time officers certified for marine duties and equip them with a 21-foot flat boat.<br /> “They will only patrol the Intracoastal and won’t go into the ocean,” Stumpf said. “It should cost about $60,000 for the two part-time officers and another $20,000 for maintenance and operating costs for the boat.”<br /> That boat is the best part of the plan for taxpayers. A resident with an interest in peace and quiet has offered to cover the $20,000 to $30,000 cost of purchasing one for the town.<br /> Stumpf said the marine unit will follow a model successful in controlling sandbar partying at Peanut Island in northern Palm Beach County. Officers don’t have the authority to disperse the gatherings but can check IDs, watch for safety violations and keep the noise down.<br /> “They will have sound meters and will be monitoring the decibel levels to enforce our noise ordinance,” she said. “Having a police presence out there should make a difference.”<br /> Stumpf said the town is negotiating with county officials to dock the boat at Ocean Inlet Park.<br /> <strong>In other business:</strong><br /> • Commissioners are waiting on a consultant’s report to begin working on a water contract buyout agreement with the town of Hypoluxo.<br /> In June, Hypoluxo decided to end a decades-old relationship with Manalapan and begin buying water from Boynton Beach. The roughly 550 customers affected still have three years remaining on a 10-year contract with Manalapan, however. A consultant is working to put a price tag on that obligation.<br /> Stumpf said Manalapan wants to treat its neighbor fairly but has to make a deal that protects its water plant’s bottom line.<br /> “I don’t know what that cost will be,” she said. “I’ve told [Hypoluxo officials] that this is a business issue and it’s not the town’s intent to lose any money in business.”<br /> Boynton Beach officials have told Hypoluxo they will cover at least some of the buyout expenses to help make the transition as painless as possible. <br /> Manalapan Mayor Keith Waters thinks Hypoluxo will regret leaving. “I think they will find over time that this was not the decision they meant it to be,” he said.<br /> • The commission approved maintaining the current tax rate of $2.79 per $1,000 of taxable property value for the 2017-18 fiscal year, roughly 5 percent above the projected rollback rate that would keep total tax revenues flat. Commissioners scheduled public budget hear-ings beginning at 5:01 p.m. for both Sept. 13 and Sept. 26.</p></div>Delray Beach Couple Takes Birding to New Heightshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/delray-beach-couple-takes-birding-to-new-heights2015-08-05T14:01:44.000Z2015-08-05T14:01:44.000ZChelsea Marchhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/ChelseaMarch<div><p><font size="3"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960590256,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="750" height="562" class="align-left" style="width:724px;height:468px;" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960590256,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="7960590256?profile=original" /></a>Birdwatching is taking off in the U.S., climbing on the list of most popular outdoor activities, according to the USDA’s Forest Service. It ranks just below beach bumming and bicycling. The pastime’s rising popularity is thanks in part to the Internet, mobile devices and prominence of digital cameras. </font></p><p><font size="3">People of all ages are birding, but maybe no one more uniquely than Dave and Sue Hagan, residents at</font> <a href="http://www.lifespacecommunities.com/senior-living-delray-beach/he/"><font color="#0000FF" size="3">Harbour’s Edge</font></a><font size="3">, a senior living community in Delray Beach. They’ve become expert birders over the last 15 years. And while a recent eye ailment is limiting Dave’s eye to the sky, he’s taken his hobby to new heights – birding with his ears. He’s turned to his trusty iPad and apps loaded with information about more than 900 birds, including their calls and songs.</font></p><p><font size="3">Much of Dave’s avian knowledge is from the couple’s travels to see some of the most exotic and rarest birds. Trips through Africa, Asia, Central America, Europe, down the Danube River, and recently through Greece and Turkey have kept this couple quite busy.</font></p><p><font size="3">One of the most unusual birds they’ve seen is the Hoopoe, which they spotted on a tour through Israel. Dave and Sue keep a list of all the birds they’ve seen and where they spotted them. With Harbour’s Edge overlooking the Intracoastal Waterway, they’ve added quite a few to the list, just from birdwatching on their own patio.</font></p><p><font size="3">Dave has made several presentations to share his knowledge and experience with various groups. He notes, “Birding is a fun hobby that provides good exercise. All you really need is a good pair of shoes and binoculars.”</font></p><p></p></div>Coasting Along: Parrot, paintings and pizza make a comfy trifectahttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/coasting-along-parrot2010-11-03T17:30:00.000Z2010-11-03T17:30:00.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p style="text-align:center;"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960311476,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" /></p>
<br />
<p class="MsoNormal"></p>
<span style="font-size:11pt;">By Tim Norris</span> <br />
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">Frankie isn’t talking. He’s engaged, at the moment, with a jalapeño pepper, which he is bolting down in large bits.</span></p>
<br />
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">Anthony isn’t talking, either. He’s knuckle-deep in a pizza dough, rolling and tossing it, layering it with tomato and mozzarella and toppings that can include the usual but also asparagus, scallops and arugula, sliding it on a wooden paddle into the oven behind him.</span></p>
<br />
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">Pretty soon, customers expect, they’ll be talking plenty.</span></p>
<br />
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">It’s a recent Friday night, and this is Café Frankie’s, on Ocean Drive just west of A1A in Boynton Beach, where many customers come often enough that the staff (Frankie excepted) call out their names as they enter. “Rob, hey, how are ya?” “How ya doin’, Lee?” “Linda, you made it in!”</span></p>
<br />
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">Frankie sticks to more generic greetings such as “Hey, girlfriend!” and “Whaddaya doin’?“ and an Italian curse word that nobody else will repeat for publication.<br />
They hope Frankie won’t, either.</span></p>
<br />
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">Anthony Calicchio, variety Italian, sex male, is the hands-on owner and overseer, originally down from Brooklyn and a youth marinated in kitchen work and cooking<br />
alongside chefs in places such as the Plaza Hotel and Le Cirque and Voulez-Vous.</span></p>
<br />
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">“Originally” also describes the two elements of his work on display, the eclectic menu and his paintings on the west wall. Like the rest of his staff, Anthony sometimes wears T-shirts that declare “I’m not Frankie.”</span></p>
<br />
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">Frankie, variety Amazon, sex uncertain, is a parrot, a green bird with a yellow cap. He is the product of an orange-winged mother and a double-yellow-headed father and ward of their owner, Donna Sayrs, who nurtured Frankie from the egg. A year ago, knowing Anthony’s interest in birds, she agreed to swap baby Frankie for one of his entrees.</span></p>
<br />
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">So far, neither knows the bird’s sex; Anthony won’t pay $75 to find out. Only another bird needs to know.</span></p>
<br />
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">Sayrs visits often, sometimes to groom Frankie, sometimes because she finds the place friendly and consoling. “I lost my husband last April, to cancer,” she says. “This is a comfortable place. If I haven’t been by, Anthony will call and say, ‘I haven’t seen you in awhile. Where are ya?’ ”</span></p>
<br />
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">She is working, these days, to regain Frankie’s affection, after clipping his claws too close. On her arm, he issues small squawks of protest.</span></p>
<br />
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">Inside, voices perk and blend. From the front station, Nicoletta Calicchio guides patrons to tables and conveys samples, such as the varying, rolled-up appetizer called “amazings.” She is also Anthony’s sister.</span></p>
<br />
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">This night, she and Dena Balka, working from the bar and front counter, showcase the day’s specials (“homemade ravioli,” they intone that day, “stuffed with lobster, leeks and shallots, and the sauce is a potato custard cream sauce”), replenishing drinks, serving, clearing, resetting.</span></p>
<br />
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">Along the counter, among the tables, other voices sound a range of worries: being out of work, fighting through traffic on the turnpike or I-95, the latest political gusts or flex of a tropical storm (“I don’t have friends,” one customer says. “I come here.”) and a range of happier, spicier fare.</span></p>
<br />
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">“You know what I come for!” a newcomer calls, and Anthony smiles and calls back, “If it’s ribs, we got ’em. Otherwise, you’re on your own.”</span></p>
<br />
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">Anthony chose preparing food because, as he says, “it’s creative and from the heart.”</span></p>
<br />
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">Anthony and his chef, Winston Telesford, and his prep man, Oxygen Jolly, and pizza man, Julio Muñoz, and their wait staff also endure the trade’s punishments. The floor can pound their feet and joints; the oven, at 600 degrees F., can scald and slow-roast them.</span></p>
<br />
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">For customers and staff alike, Frankie provides a lift … and vice versa. Young children usually approach shyly with wide eyes, and the bolder ones discover that Frankie steps lightly on fingers and shoulders.</span></p>
<br />
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">Both bird and owner have survived recent calamity. A month ago, Frankie was attacked out front by a small dog and rescued by waitress Heather Lateano, who helped Sayrs in the parrot’s recovery. Back in May, Anthony fell off the roof while wrangling an air conditioner, rescued by Balka, who helped shoulder a bigger workload while the owner’s broken pelvis mended.</span></p>
<br />
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">Both man and bird seem back in fine fettle and feather.</span></p>
<br />
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">As darkness falls, Frankie stands on his cage in the glow of the front window’s neon, still and slightly hunched, possibly peopled-out.</span></p>
<br />
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">When the last customer leaves and the staff finishes cleanup, Frankie will go home with Anthony, who might work into the early morning at his easel, painting. “I stay up, he goes right to sleep,” Anthony says.</span></p>
<br />
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;">In this economy, neither of them gets a day off. <br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<div style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-style:italic;">Coasting Along: Where our writers occasionally stop and reflect on life along the shore.</span><br /></div>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p></div>