New Moon Week Part II

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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". 

Here we are in the highest point of turtle nesting and hatching season and this mess is left on the beach overnight as a trap in which incoming sea turtles can get entangled.  SEA TURTLES CANNOT BACK UP!!!!  THEY CAN ONLY GO FORWARD!!!  If it looks like I am yelling then its because I am. When they encounter something like this mess of beach chairs piled up they can only try to keep going forward, they can try to turn around but if they are too far into it when they realize its there then they will be in a mess.  Please do not leave this stuff on the beach at night.  There are so far 176 nests and we still have August to go.  Hopefully we will reach 200 nests island wide.  Even one mother turtle hurt or unable to lay her eggs because of this human ignorance is one too many.

Unfortunately county or city governments are the one to make and enforce the rules on this sort of thing.  It is recommended by the Sea Turtle agencies but the county or city have to be responsible enough to enact and enforce the laws.  The city is doing a good job but Nassau County is not.  At least there were beautiful clouds behind me along with the full moon in front to calm me down after I saw all this.  A great big thanks to the City of Fernandina Beach for their relentless effort this year to get properly installed "Turtle Lights" in all the places which were causing me much distress for the past 7 years.  This year with all my nests clustered in the badly lighted area of the beach I was very apprehensive.  Thankfully, thus far I have not had any problems with light disorientation.  Thank you, thank you Fernandina Beach City Government for your efforts.

Horseback riding added to the pleasant thoughts also as they too took time to slow their gallop to gaze at the moon.

One of my excavated nests just so you can see what an almost perfectly round nest chamber momma turtle digs using only feel and her hind flippers.  I would challenge any of you to do as well using both hands and wearing a blindfold.

The pile of eggs from the nest.  One nest has had a crab in it from the beginning messing with the eggs. That was probably the reason for the more than usual number of unhatched eggs.  The crab had even dragged one empty egg shell out a couple of days after it was laid.  I saw the crab in its hole but it would only run back down the hole when I got close.  After excavating the nest we found the broken eggs had probably contaminated several of the other eggs resulting in their not developing and also it had bitten into several of them.

We had nest #16 laid right in front of another nest this week, which were both probably laid by this same turtle.  They will lay usually around 3 to 6 nests a year and lay close to their other nests.

The face of another mother to be, not Shelly, which hangs out on my back patio.  Out of guilt I try to feed her a little extra.  The guilt goes back to 3 weeks before Shelly came into our lives.  I was cleaning up the back patio when I noticed lots of dead leaves and dead pieces of vine in my previously healthy Sky Vine which covers up the less than attractive laundry room wall.  I proceeded to clean it all out and burn it in my outdoor fireplace.  I realized later that I had torn out this squirrels carefully built nest.  This year she has once again been building a nest in the same vine with my promise that I will not disturb it this year.  Should be interesting having baby squirrels right next to my back door.  I just wish it was my own Shelly but life is not always what you want.

Days are getting shorter and sunrises nearer to the time I enter the beach for patrol.  Since I patrol about 4 miles I have a beach buggy I ride.

It is Lisa's, who stays helps in the park a month, last week with me.  It has, unlike last year, been a non eventful week.  Due to scheduling beyond our control we have not been able to do turtle patrol that much together.  She did show me this new very large Gopher Tortoise burrow near the fort area on Wednesday.

We went fishing together on Wednesday night and although I caught the biggest with this large Stingray, she caught the most and the eatable.  With 24 keepers including a nice trout we had enough to go home and fry up for a very late great dinner.  Nothing like the taste of fresh caught fish to make the taste buds tingle.  I do make a mean hushpuppy too.  Fried fish, hushpuppies, along with the Crème Brule Ben and Jerry's ice cream have ruined my weight loss goals for the week.

As always the teacher Lisa was showing me the part of Mr. Stingray which told her he was a "he".  She had carefully cut the hook barb off so we could slip the hook out of his mouth without injuring him and scooted him back to the water.  He was very beautiful and quick as he tried to defend himself from the giants he perceived were out to do him harm by quickly slinging that barbed tail back and forth.  He safely swam off to live another day.  I thought I had really caught a biiiigggg fish by the way he fought on his way in.  They feel very soft to the touch.

Our last Wilson's Plover babies are almost grown up.  They are out with mom each morning on the West River Beach as they are learning under her watchful eye how to survive.

A week of beautiful moons, lots of new life and a finished painting.  Pretty productive.  I even paid a visit to Miss Shelly's home yard last night to see if she was still OK and the hawk had not carried her away.  She was very shy and it took her a while to trust coming down to have a treat.  She was in her I've got babies protective mode and it looks like she is indeed a new mom.  She seemed fine but just as last time has different priorities.  Last time she never let me see the exact spot where the nest and babies were nor did she ever let me see the kids after they were out and about.  Life does indeed go on.

Another look at the finished painting.  If you want to run in the race and get a race T-Shirt then go to http:www.ameliaislandrunners.com to sign up for the race.  If not we will be having a "Save the Turtle" version, but not the official Turtle Trot race shirt at Amelia SanJon Gallery.  http://www.ameliasanjongallery.com