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| Miss Shelly the squirrel came into my life a tiny baby a year ago. She is expecting her second litter even though she is only a year old. Usually they wait until they are a year old before launching into motherhood. Must have been all that rich "puppy" formula I fed her but she matured early. |
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| As you can see she is quite rotund and should be due very soon. She has been very busy storing up nuts which she comes to collect from us most days. She loves her pecans and likes some whole ones to store up for later. |
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We had lots of Turtle nest excavations over the weekend both in the park (Fort Clinch State Park) and on the Amelia Island Sea Turtle Watch's areas. They have all been very successful in that most babies are getting out without stragglers left in the nest. As a result I spent 4 mornings in a row getting up at "the crack of dawn" heading into the Park. You just never know what you will encounter out there. Sometimes it is man and his flying machines. |
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| We have a bird feeding station in the park where in the past I have be able to see the Painted Buntings. The feeders were empty but the mister water bath pool was active. Even had a snake taking advantage of the fresh water. After he slithered away this pretty Ground Dove, much smaller than the regular Mourning Doves, came for an early morning dip. Painting Buntings which nest here are having a hard time because Cow Birds are invading their nests laying their big eggs and leaving the poor Bunting parents to raise this huge demanding baby instead of their own chicks. Now that is a dirty trick to pull on an unsuspecting parent. |
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| The beach was full of baby turtle tracks as we excavated 4 of our nests over the weekend and into Monday morning. I also attended several by the Town Beach folks. Nests are excavated 3 days after hatching to evaluate how well they did and also to make sure all the hatchlings have gotten out of the nest. |
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| This is one of the Amelia Island Sea Turtle nests. It is a very good example of what we look for to determine if a nest has hatched: many tiny flipper prints and the telltale nest "depression" left by all that sand being displaced as the hatchlings marched upward and out. The Turtle Watch people dig down and "verify" that there are indeed eggs there before they mark the nest. That way they are able to mark a much smaller and more exact spot than we do with our "educated" guessing as to where the eggs are. Our reason for not doing this is that we do not like to disturb what the mother has left. It is just a difference in philosophies of different groups all working toward the same end. |
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| Below these Georgia fans were in the process of taking down their tents for the night. Unfortunately they only took off the canopies leaving the frames and all their stuff for me to fuss and fume over. So hang on, "I'm gittin' ready to mount my soapbox". |
