Nest Galore

Our nesting boom started really booming two Fridays ago.  I found a nest on Friday's Turtle Patrol on the ocean side.  

Since that was my last day for the week I left without much thought of the weekend.  In the gallery that Saturday one of my patrons told me that she had seen a new nest that day in the park.  I thought, "since our less experienced, and youngest ranger was on Patrol, I would check it out the next day to make sure he found it".


We were doing a family cookout at my sister's place just down from the park boundary, so we thought checking the nest was a good excuse to slip out and take Sis's granddaughter, Reagan, out for a walk on the beach.  She just loves picking up shells.  Once we got to the tracks, we found that they had been rained on since the nest was laid, and I thought them odd but...


...the minute I saw the nest itself, I knew.  We have a Green Sea Turtle nest.  They are rare for our beach and from what I know the only Green Turtle nest on the island so far.  We have had a Green Turtle the past 3 years but the year before last, it was laid so late, (they tend to be late nesters), it was frozen our during winter before it could hatch.  You may remember what I kept calling our eternal nest.  Last year we had another late one, which was totally washed out by an October Nor'easter.  This year, our Green has laid early and high, so maybe we will get to see some Green hatchlings.


Looking at the whole picture, you can see that the nest is pretty high up, and in a great location on the ocean front.


I found another nest on Monday; by Tuesday morning Rhonda, a former ranger now working as our girl Tuesday Turtle Patrol, was waiting on me when I got to the gallery.  She did not know how to get me on the phone that morning, when she found a Leatherback Turtle nest.  WOW!!! It can't get any better!   Unless we have a Hawksbill and a Ridley, (that last, we thought we had, but it got washed away by Beryl).

Back to the Leatherback nest, I put my sandals down to show the width of the tracks, which by noon, with wind and the high overhead light, were not as visible.  Rhonda had marked it with a very large area just to be sure, but we believe the nest is near the center, from all the signs she left with spray.  Leatherback Turtle tracks are over 7 feet wide.


Now, this season is really getting exciting.


In the hard sand below the tide line, you can see the massive track she left a bit better.  This is one track not two, as it might appear to you.  We think this one may have an injured or even missing right front flipper.


Each day that whole week we found more nests.  Most were Loggerheads, and on the oceanside.  The beach was still very shelly from the Beryl mess.  Though this nest looked more like a Loggerhead, it could be a Green Turtle.  It is a fairly large nest, but I still did not think it as massive as a Green 's usually is, so officially I labeled it a Loggerhead.


However, in the shelly beach, the tracks looked a lot like the tracks of a Green turtle.  We will have to wait and see on this one.


With all the beach upheaval there have been lots of beach treasures, and I often find beauty in some of the less perfect of the shells.  With all the nests to log, and having to get to work, I had very little time to explore.


More Horseshoe crabs but not the large numbers we had seen earlier in the season.  This one had an unusually long tail.  So often they get broken.  The tail is their rudder in life and without this important piece of equipment they don't have a very good chance of survival for very long.


This Dead Man's Finger's seaweed was a precurser for what was to come all this past week.


More nests.  I put an X where I think the eggs are in this nest.  The reason I think so, is the two crab holes dug right into the nest.  Often a clear indication of the egg's location, since the Ghost Crabs do like fresh turtle eggs.



This turtle had a bit of a different pattern to her tracks, although clearly a Loggerhead she seemed to have a longer reach on one side with her front flippers but not on the other side.  Usually you don't even see the front flipper marks..


My sister, Susan, has been a big help, as she walks up most mornings and meets me part-way through my run, helping me by driving in the stakes while I write up the reports.  I give her a wake up call when I hit the park, and then let her know if there are nests as I make my way down.  Nice to have a sister around.  We have not lived in the same town since she was 12 years old.


Our nest on the river had been washed out by the storm, but it looks like the mother is back to lay again.  She went as high as possible without climbing this escarpment.  Usually we have about as many on the river as on the ocean, but not this year. Marie found this one.


Pretty patterns were in the washes near this nest, and I paused a minute to take some photos while the low light was making them much more dramatic than they would be if I waited until I returned.  


Sometimes I wonder if this always new, but repeating subject will bore you, but I fear much more that I will get so used to them that I won't see them anymore myself.  This Sargassum Sea Weed, which is washed in from many miles offshore, was only the beginning of much to show up.  


As to the hints earlier about the Sargassum Sea Weeds' invasion, here is proof, as I surveyed the beach after taking Wednesday off to visit the knee doc for some more cortisone shots.  In my absence Marie had continued our winning streak by finding three nests that day.  (She is such a show-off.)  The beach looked like it had been carpeted by the same carpet I once used in my rental properties, because it didn't show dirt.  The higher layer which was left from the day before was starting to dry a bit so already darker in hue.  That was all I had to go by when guaging where the last high tide was.  We look for the tracks of the turtles starting at the last high tide line.


The turtles were not happy with it either.  I had 3 false crawls on Thursday.  The Sea Turtles would start in then when they got into all that mess of Sea Weed they would turn around and leave without nesting.  I found this on the river and the ocean front.  This one looked like she had it made, but still changed her mind.  There is a definite strong smell to the piles of seaweed, so possibly that could have been the reason.  I'm sure she just came back another day.


Another similar one, but this time she turned around once she hit the deepest of the Sargassum.


Another of Maries nests she had found on Wednesday.


I found this bird which I thought dead but then realized it was still alive.  There were several others which were dead. I took it, placing it in an old clothes basket I had found on the beach, but alas it died before I could get it help.  I was going to take it to B. E. A. K. S. the local rescue for birds.  I didn't realize at the time that we had a major event happening to birds up and down the coastal area.

I found out that they are Shearwaters and are rare to be found in our waters.  They are usually only out at sea and one of the few birds which go from the Southern to the Northern Hemisphere, nesting in Canada.  What is believed to be happening with these birds is that they have just been blown about by the strong winds we have had, rendering them weak and unable to feed since they are diving birds.  Running out of energy they are unable to survive.  A sad situation. The weaker ones both old, and the youngest, are not making it. The bad side, besides the seaweed, of the nice cool ocean breezes we have enjoyed the past few of weeks.  The knowledgeable ones tell us that relatively few of these birds have survived.  Whatever that means, I hope it is still a large number.


On the hopeful side, our Ospreys are busy building a new nest in the spot where their original nest of several years ago was located, right next to their storm damaged one.  Each day they are out there expanding it.  Hopefully the power company will leave the nest alone, since they have had such a sad year losing all their little ones.  We don't know if they will re-nest or not since it is pretty late in the season for that to happen.  We will wait and see.  Maybe we will get to watch Osprey chicks after all.


Friday revealed two more false crawls on the river.



With rain-laden clouds threatening in the background, the sun was peeking through to give a bright glow to the Spring green Seaoats.


After the two false crawls, we believe this lady finally decided she just could not hold those eggs back any longer and finally found a spot in which to nest.  We could tell by the tracks that she had not been gone very long.  She must have spent hours on the beach that night deciding to where to lay.


She has a funny track pattern which I have seen before.  I think she has one back flipper which has been bitten off, not sure, but something weird is going on with her.


Once around on the oceanside, I find more false crawls, but also the same situation, the turtle decided to go ahead had find a spot to lay.  She laid her nest nice and high, which is a very good thing with all the high tides we expect this week.

It was a wonderful turtle week for the whole island, with almost as many nests as last year, with still a month and a half to go.  I got a call at 7:00 this morning (Sunday) telling me that we had yet another new nest.  I checked with the rangers since it was my day off and they assured me it had been marked.  Hatching is about ready to start also in another week.  Then things will really be rocking and rolling.
Edited to add' We are fortunate that Debby did not damage any of our nests.  I realize that is why a turtle lays several nests a year, she is hedging her bets, but it still is hard to give up even one.

After the Storm

After the storm had gone, the beach returned to normal, though not so wide, and with lasting effects to be felt long after the storm, with all our turtle nests having been impacted; to what degree time would tell.

First morning back on the beach with calm once again restored the air, is filled with large Dragonflies as I reach the entrance to the beach.  It looks like a snowstorm of the winged creatures out of a clear sky silhouetted by the sunrise.

The beach was surprisingly un-littered but still some very interesting treasures to find.  There was a wrack line as expected of the dead marsh grasses that was filled with tiny Box Crabs or Marsh Crabs.  The birds lined the whole beach searching for that seldom enjoyed delicacy.  Many pretty shells were scattered around with several early morning beachcombers hunting for treasures, some going away disappointed.  Lots of the shells still had live residents.

Not so many gooey gummy things as usual after a storm.  One very large Moon Jelly the largest I have seen,  Something I had not seen is "Sea Pork" which is very gristly and firm; I wasn't quite sure if it was animal or vegetable.  It is actually a colony of tiny turicate animals known as zooids.  I added it to my collection of living things to take to Kayak Amelia.  I took the Yellow Sea Whip also, which, when I checked in this week, did not survive very long.  Jody at Kayak Amelia feels that if something doesn't survive it becomes food for the others.  It looked like it had collected a bunch of trash from the bottom of the Yellow Sea Whip sea, but it was organic, tube worm-like casings, although it did have some monofilament line tangled in its branches.  The Brown Sea Cucumbers can be pretty slimy so I threw it back in the water.  An interesting critter that is used as make shift sandals in some island societies which must brave the sharp corals to catch fish.  By squeezing the Sea Cukes they get the sickly slimy stuff and apply it to the bottom of their feet.  Doesn't hurt the Sea Cukes at all.

Between the molting birds and the Warble infested squirrels, my backyard critters are not very pretty right now.  My squirrel feeder is empty today, so the squirrels have tried all day to get to the bird's feeder outside my window, climbing up the screens and the nearby vines.  This little Wren sitting atop its house is singing the blues I think over his unattractive state.

But back at the beach some of the larger Whelk shells have been pretty.  I like to line flower beds with them.  I stick the pointed end down into the ground that leaves the flower like spiral sticking up. Thankfully I live on an older street with not a single one of the Community Nazi Organizations that seem to love to tell you what you can and can't do at your own house.  One in Chattanooga refused to allow the building of a ramp to enable the wife of one of my old friends, and War Hero and for several years a POW in Vietnam, Roger Ingvalson, to get him from the car to the house after undergoing his dialysis treatments.

A friend around town called me just as I was getting in the car the other morning at 7AM.  She said she had found a "Wash Back" on the beach.  I knew she had read my note on not putting Wash Backs back in the water because they might need some rehabbing if they truly were washbacks.  I was on my way to do Turtle Patrol, I met her since she did not see any local IslandTurtle Patrol folks out.  I told her I would get it where it needed to go.  Once I got it I realized it was probably just a new hatchling that had gotten left behind.  It still had its egg tooth.  I ran into Pat Foster Turley on the beach who writes our local nature column.  I told her to come with me.  She had her own treasures, two Horse Conch's which were alive.  The Conch's went to Kayak Amelia's saltwater aquarium.  As soon as we got our treasures into my holding tank and headed toward the water's edge a beautiful blue Dragonfly flew into the box also.  What a beachcomber's treasure chest of living creatures.

I had never seen one of these beautiful little orange Horse Conchs before.  The Horse Conch is the State Shell for the State of Florida.  They grow to be very large, over 24 inches, but this pretty orange one was very small only about 2 inches.  It will loose its beautiful color as it matures.  It will however retain the bright orange on its body inside the shell. They will only be at the Kayak Amelia Aquarium for a short time.  As they grow up they get too big an appetite to be handled in the aquarium and will be released.

The little one was not super energetic but did make it's way into the water with a little help.

It got tumbled back a few times.

But it kept trying.

Finally it made it into the water and was gone.

This is the highest nest and we are hoping its eggs survived the wash over.  Nest number 18, the one I walked to check during the storm which did not get washed away, obviously had hatched at that time, but since they got washed over two nights in a row all the babies drowned.

I found some Dead Man's Fingers that were actually alive and well.  They were pink in color and were lacy looking.  They found a new home in the Salt Water tank also.

This little unusual colored Dragonfly posed prettily on top of my dead tomato stalk.  This was a dismal summer for my tomatoes.  My crop consisted of one small tomato and about 3 cherry tomatoes.  I guess I must face the facts, I can't grow tomatoes here.  I have tried for years and this was the worst, and the one I had the most hope for, because I was using heirloom seeds from the area.  I don't have enough sun in my mostly shady yard.

Guess I'll just stick to making a Butterfly kingdom instead.  When I went to the Farmer's Market that Saturday.  I was asking about native Butterfly Weed from Reflection of Nature Nursery.  He said he didn't have any but had some fennel which had some Black Swallowtail Cats on them.  So off I go trying to be careful not to dislodge them on the way home.  They were so tiny I would have never spotted them on my own.  I found them to be much more temperamental then the Monarch Cats.  It seems they go through about 4 metamorphosis and shed their outer skin each time.  That must be a very risky time as not all survived, biting the dust at different stages, one when it was almost grown.  It shed its skin and then was just was laying dead the next morning at the bottom of the cage.  But I do have two which have made it to the Chrysalis stage and one more picked up at this Saturday's market almost grown who seems to be healthy.  Pictures will follow as they progress.

The rides get more lonely and not as interesting with very few nests to check.  One morning last week I got to be the only witness as the sub came by just after daybreak.  Some of the men were out on deck.  I waved but they were busy and paid no attention.  You can be sure though, that there is someone watching me, and probably knows my name and social security number.  They are saying, "Oh never mind it's just that ol' turtle lady again.

This is an empty Horse Conch Shell which I found on the beach.  Very thick hard shell on it.  The color still resembles the smaller versions. This one was about 5 inches long.

The Caterpillars have grown and soon would become a Chrysalis.  These have the very unique defense mechanism I found out (Lisa had already warned me).  I moved it from one twig to another because the one it was on had broken in two.  When I touched it these two feathery looking antenna came out of one end and I got sprayed with a fairly stinky substance.  Kind of like having your own tiny pet skunk.

I had not seen the Osprey on the pier before as it flew in without a fish, to sit a while.  The Bald Eagles are also back to harass the Ospreys and try to steal their fish catch.  As Ben Franklin said they are just "Fish Thieves" when he was trying to keep the Eagle from being adopted as our National Symbol and I am beginning to think him right on that point.

I thought this shot really highlighted why this bird is such a good fisherman.  Look at those talons, almost like large fish hooks.  They have a rotating like thumb so they can really hang on and also twist the fish into the most aerodynamically position while in flight.  Large, high resolution eyes also, for spotting the prey from above, even underneath the water.  If you have ever seen how a Flounder blends into his environment from above you will think their vision must really be supernatural.

At low tide, the patterns were quite beautiful and I never tire of them.

Life on the island has certainly settled back into acceptance of what the weather has done as just part of life and life gets back to normal (whatever that is) once again.  The Shrimp Boats are back at work, the turtles are still hatching although not nearly with as much ease with hard packed sand on top of them, and the tourists who were scared when they heard the word "hurricane" have started to trickle back.  The Turtle Trot painting has sold and I received the canvas and stretchers to start another commission piece.  I am finally going to get those Koi's painted.  Life resumes come good or bad, fair weather or foul, we just learn to roll with the tide.