Phew...

Steve and I have been busy with the close of the nesting season, and especially because we just had two visits back to back.  Obviously, a lot has happened during the two week lapse.  I'll highlight the fun stuff.

Just after Hurricane Earl passed, Steve found a crab trap on the beach with live stone crabs.  Since we hadn't caught any yet, we decided they'd be a meal.  They were alright, maybe overcooked, and too much work.  The next day, after we'd decided that we would stick to blue crabs, we found three more traps full of live crabs.  By the end of the day, Steve and I rescued 14 stone crabs and 1 blue crab.

 

Sometimes, at low tide on South Beach, sea critters gather in the small pools of water. 

Two hermit crabs.  The one on the right started checking out the empty whelk, possibly for a new home.

Sea Star, still alive despite the missing limbs.

One morning, South Beach offered me more than just the tide pool.  Surf clams and juvenile invertebrates washed up by the thousands and provided a very pretty high tide line.  

Angel wing, razor clam, horseshoe crab molt, common cockle

Large Atlantic Cockle left behind at low tide.  It was still alive, sort of, so I took it to the water.

Over Labor Day weekend, Charlie and Clare came to visit again, this time to see the turtle hatchlings.  Lucky for us, we saw the last of an emergence on Bradley Beach, nest NB113.  They also got to see a few live hatchlings after a nest inventory.  This was also a great opportunity to see more of Ossabaw, as it's pretty hard to pack it in during a short trip.  We spent some time exploring the Boneyard on South Beach.  I finally got to take some photos down there, too.

Large alligator track leaving the beach.

 

Last Thursday, Steve and I welcomed Steve's parents.  By this time, we learned how to better tour the island.  Fortunately for everyone, there were less bumpy rides in the truck.  Over those four days, his parents were treated with most of what Ossabaw has to offer: beach combing, swimming, turtle hatchlings, Paul Mitchell and the donkeys, up close alligators big and small, fishing, hog hunting, and tours of North and South Beaches, Middle Place, the Main House, South End Hunt Camp, Tabby Houses, the Clubhouse and Boarding House.  They were even treated with an introduction to Ms. West.  It was a fast and tiresome visit, but I know they felt the magic of the island.  

Dad admiring the infinite marsh.

Tighes fishing.

Everyone loves rocking chairs on southern porches.

Donkeys LOVE corn husks.

Thanks for visiting!

Ossabaw is in bloom!  Morning glories, passion flowers, sweet peas, lantana, and more!  Even better is the migration of many species of butterflies.  While working on the dune, dozens of Gulf Fritillarys fly around heading south.  They cover all the flowering bushes.  I've also seen a Grey Hairstreak, Cloudless Sulphur, and a Pearl Crescent.  Lately I've been finding cicada molts.  We've also seen a Luna Moth and a couple Imperial

Moths around the house.

Luna Moth

Two days ago, Codey found three baby squirrels in the road.  He was on the tractor, so he moved them off the road.  Later that day, he showed me where he found them and we located one, as she came bouncing over to us.  We brought her home.  I did some research and learned that we should give the mom more time to find her, so Steve and I took her back.  Just as we were setting the box down with the squirrel, a second squirrel came hopping across the road toward us.  We left the two in the box and drove away, hoping mom would rescue her kids.  After a couple hours, as the sun was close to setting, we went back to the spot, both squirrels still there.  Since Codey said he found three, we attempted one last time to find more.  Soon, we found one, and hopefully the last.  I hate to think we left one behind.  We've since learned that they are two females, one male, about 6-7 weeks old.  I got to town yesterday to buy puppy formula, pedialyte, and other necessary things.  They are much improved since we first brought them home.  They love the formula and eat other soft fruits well.  Lucky for us there was a large bird cage in our shed that we saved during the cleaning.  Also, there is an old chicken coop in our yard that will be perfect for our soft release.  Lucky for the squirrels we're good at raising orphaned animals.  And we love squirrels.   

Flying Turtles goes Viral

Our little video of baby turtles has hit 10,000 views on YouTube. I'm rather surprised. Here's the video:

The past 3 days have been spent preparing for the possibility of Hurricane Earl paying us a visit.  We've had plenty of cleanup to do, both on the beaches and around the house.  At the beach, we've been collecting screens, posts, stakes, treasures and trash.  Our main focus has been on the Middle beaches.  Because both South Middle and North Middle are not usually accessible by vehicle, we just pile up all the leftover stuff as break down nests after completing inventories.  On South Middle, we also collected a bunch of trash and treasures - things that washed ashore that we thought deserved recovering - and put it all in a big pile near where we pull up the kayak.  On North Middle, we had additional stashes of screening material placed here and there so that we wouldn't have to bring it each day on the bike, but still have it on hand if there was a nest.  We've been wanting to clean up most of this stuff for awhile, now that nesting is finished.  The hurricane provided a perfect excuse.

So today we planned for low tide.  Kate took the Mule over to North Middle and recovered any leftover screening materials.  I went to South Middle and packed our big pile of stuff into the bed of the other Mule, and drove it down across the southern creek to South Beach, dumping it off to pickup later in the truck.  Also today, as well as yesterday, we both made sure to check the white numbered posts on each nest, and hammer them in a bit further into the sand.  We don't want any markers being blown away in the storm.  But blowing away isn't the only issue.  High winds cause a sandblasting effect on the post, essentially acting as sandpaper, and erasing the numbers we've written on them.  So, we traveled with our big sharpie markers, and re-wrote numbers on posts that were already faded from previous sandblasting.

Another thing we worry about is the possibility that the weather will keep us from the beach.  In order to combat this risk, we removed the small screening on any nests 40 days or older (normally we wait until 45 days).  This way, if we can't get out to a beach, we at least know the turtles aren't trapped in the nest.  Luckily, things are really wrapping up, and there isn't much to worry about.  For example, there are only a handful of nest on South Middle, and of those, all have emerged but two.  The remaining two aren't due to hatch for 10-15 days.  In essence, this means that we could ignore that beach for a week with no ill effect.

Around the house we've also been preparing.  We had made stacks of screens next to the shed as we've been bringing home the material.  Since it may get blown away, we decided it was time to store it.  We cleaned out a small shed, next to our big "turtle shed".  We put down pallets that Kate had collected from the beach to make for a new floor and keep the screens up.  There we stacked up the old white screens.  Every 25 high, we marked the screen with orange flagging tape and wrote the number on it - 25, 50, 75, 100, etc.  We also made a big stack of small screens with the same numbering scheme.  This way, next year's turtle observers will know how many screens they have, and how many nests they can protect.  It was difficult for us this year, not knowing how much material we had.

Speaking of making it easier for next year's interns, we're also re-painting all the marker posts white.  When we started, they all had numbers on them from last year.  So every few days, we would have to paint a bunch of posts for the new turtle nests.  Next year, they'll have a head start.  We've also organized other equiptment that will make things easier on them.  Best of all for them, they will get one or two brand new Mules, a new ATV and a bunch of new equipment.  Kate and I are really tempted to come back, knowing how much easier it will be next year.

So... back to the past few days...  Besides our regular beach duty, and all the cleanup we've been doing, here are some highlights:

Friday, we spent some time ashore.  About 3 hours of that was in a sushi place called Tangerine.  We spent a bunch of money, ate a ton of amazing food, had plenty of drinks, and enjoyed ourselves immensely.

Saturday night, we went over Andy and Amanda's for dinner.  We had fresh and smoked salmon that Andy caught on his most recent trip to Alaska.

Sunday, was a regular day.  Nothing out of the ordinary.

Monday, Kate had a "feeling" that there might be a stranding, and that I should be sure to take the stranding kit.  She was dead on, I found a little Kemp's ridley on North Beach.

Tuesday evening, while we were having grilled burgers (Kate's veggie, mine beef) for dinner when we received a disturbing call that Eric (the island hunter) had had a serious accident and was in the hospital.  (Details withheld for privacy).

Today, Wednesday, Josh cleaned a couple hogs and brought them home.  I got a couple hams out of them, and some ribs.  Hopefully they'll be good eatin' soon.

Tomorrow, Josh goes home for the long weekend, and Cody comes back from a week off.

Saturday, Charlie and Clare come for their second visit.  Hopefully we'll find them some little baby turtles to play with.

Hurricane Season Is Officially Upon Us

Another week has gone by and Steve and I are finally catching a break.  Early last week, I helped Steve finish the repairs to the truck.  The next morning, however, I broke down on the Mule.  It had been having fuel issues - carburetor, fuel lines, fuel pump and filter.  We're not sure what the real problem was, so when we did repairs, it involved cleaning every part we could.  Since then, the Mule has been performing much better, and I'm finally reassured that I won't putter to a stop 6 miles from home.  By mid week, I had been feeling stressed about home life, so by Friday, Steve and I needed a trip to town.  We raised our spirits by a sushi feast at one of Savannah's best restaurants.  

Our nest inventories have been going well.  Our hatching success is near 70%, a very good number.  Today, Steve had a nest (NB91) where 100% of the eggs hatched, though he found one dead hatchling.  Almost a perfect nest!  Yesterday, Steve found our first wild nest.  There were egg shell fragments scattered around a hog crater.  I've been able to narrow the wild nest to two reported false crawls, though we'll never know.  Unless we find another wild nest, our nest total for this summer is 216.  We're getting more of our DNA data back, and so far have been able to see the nesting activity of 13 different females.  I'm already able to see patterns of behavior.  When we get more data back, I'll update with more information.

Blue crab on the beach this morning, overshadowed by the rough skies and seas.

Even though it's located hundreds of miles offshore, Hurricane Danielle has brought interesting weather.  The beaches are very windy, the waves are big and sloppy, it's pleasantly breezy around home, and thankfully, the humidity has dropped.  On an uncertain note, Earl (Tropical Storm?) is gaining strength.  Its present course will definitely bring strong weather to Ossabaw.  We're hoping it stays far enough east of here that we're not evacuated, and our remaining nests are safe. 

Current track for Earl...

White Turtle

Thursday came and was supposed to be a "day off" as our other boss Adam came to work some of our beaches.  In our heads, Steve and I decided that it'd be best for him to run the north end so we could sleep in.  We hoped to sleep in and catch a 10:45 AM low tide to get the bandaged Mule to South Middle.  We left the Mule at the dock for him, along with a note describing the plan.  None of this mattered, as Adam called us from the boat ramp at 6:30 AM.  Now both of us are awake.  The day off concept was out the window.  Adam came by the house to inspect the Mule before we ditched it on the beach.  He said it was okay, so he soon left for the north end.  Steve and I laid around the house waiting for tide.  

Steve left, taking an entire hour to drive the Mule to Bradley Beach, twice as long as a normal trip.  He was careful not to put any extra stress on the welds or the rusty frame.  Once on South Middle, it'll be flat, straight driving.  He met up with Adam, discussed some nest stuff, and took off south, across the two low creeks.  In the meantime, I drove the truck to the south end.  I patrolled South while Steve patrolled South Middle.  As I was checking the nests for emergence, I found one little hatchling stuck in a small hole.  I thought it was dead but when I picked it up, it was very active.  Excited to save the little thing, I looked up and found that the water was farther than I've ever noticed.  Lucky for the turtle that it didn't have to walk the distance alone.  Typically when I hold a hatchling, my thumb is on the carapace, and a finger is on the plastron, centered so the flippers can move freely.  Since the turtles don't feel the ground below them, they switch to swimming mode, which is more like flying when in our hands.  I was worried the turtle would unnecessarily use up energy during the long walk, so I cupped my hand around its face.  The darkness calmed it down and it sat peacefully in my hand.  After our long journey across the sand flat, I found a spot to set it down.  This release was my most fun so far.  The water was shallow and calm so I as able to walk behind the turtle for some distance with a clear view of its swimming.  Eventually I couldn't see it surface anymore, so I said goodbye and walked back to the truck and soon left the beach.  


Our timing was perfect as I pulled up while Steve was crossing the creek with the bicycle.  This timing also worked out well as we pulled up to the house just after Adam.  We spent some time talking about the island, turtle stuff, and some hunter stuff when the hog boys arrived.  Adam left around 1:30, and we took the rest of the day off.  I used some of the time to rework my resume.  Steve and I have to start looking for work as we're coming to an end here soon.  

Our Friday routine resumed some normalcy.  That afternoon, Steve worked on the truck.  It needed the ball joints replaced.  During the removal of wheels and hubs, Steve learned that one hub needed to be replaced so he was unable to complete the job.  This means that we'll be working together in the Mule until the parts are purchased.  While he was busy getting dirty, I helped Amanda do some work at the horse stables.  Later, she returned with an equine vet.  I stood in on the exam that afternoon, getting to hear first hand about the horses' conditions.  It's a relief for all of the horse caretakers to know how they're really doing.  I returned home around 7 to find Steve working on his resume.  Soon we'll be able to send them out.


Saturday Steve and I worked together.  We had two normal nest inventories on Bradley.  On the south end, Steve went to South Middle and I went to South.  I had one inventory, it was horrible from the first couple scoops of sand.  The nest was full of decomposing hatchlings, with large maggots to boot.  This was the first nest with maggots, and I still wonder what insect fouled my nest.  Slowly, I removed them, and piled them in groups of five.  Eventually I reached the egg shells.  All in all, I ended up with 79 dead hatchlings, 85 hatched egg shells, and 14 undeveloped eggs.  A bad nest.  Steve was lucky I let him ride South Middle. 


At home I resumed work on a necklace.  Steve helped me bring my beads over and I've been very happy to have them.  Steve rested in front of his laptop playing games.  Early afternoon we retired to a movie, that turned into another movie.  


Feeling rested, for a change, Steve and I got ready for a second day working together.  I rode the bicycle on North Middle.  I had one nest inventory on NM7, a 70-day nest.  We hope that we just missed the emergence, but that was not the case for this nest.  Steve had to relocate this nest after it had been severely depredated on night 1.  I counted exactly what he put in: 19 eggs.  Only one had developed, and just barely pipped.  I buried the eggs in the swale and continued riding the bike and checking nests.  Steve and I agreed to meet 1 hour after he dropped me off, so I had time to play.  When I neared the south end, I propped up the bike on a dune and walked the rest, searching for shells, old seeds, anything I can use to make jewelry.  I eventually looked at my watch and realized I had to get back.  Once I dropped the bike off, I organized the old screening material that has been piling up.  After I crossed the creek, Steve pulled up in the Mule.  He held his hand out to show me a sand covered hatchling.  He couldn't tell, but it was a white (amelanistic) sea turtle.  The little thing was very lethargic.  I took it to the water to rinse it off and see what it could do in the water.  I found that there was still a small yolk sac attached and decided that it wasn't ready to be sent off into the wild Atlantic just yet.  I took it back to the dune and dug a hole in the sand.  Rather that let it become fish food, the hatchling gets to decide if it can even crawl out of the hole if it just needed more time.  It's all part of it, though I hate making the decision of how they should die. 

 

We ran the south end together since I hadn't been shown the tricks to get the bandaged Mule to both turn on and off.  I had an inventory on SM20 that had two live hatchlings.  The rest of the nest did pretty well.  Steve started an inventory on a nest he thought hatched, but when he dug, he only found unhatched eggs.  Rather than search for hatched eggs and disturb possibly live eggs, he covered it back up.  We'll wait for more evidence and probably, day 70.  On the way home, I took some pictures.  

Bicycle Madness

"Somebody has a case of the Mondays."  That was two days ago when everything seemed against us.  Kate did the South Beach patrol, without South Middle due to the loss of our ATV.  I went to Bradley, and timed my patrol so that I could rush south, across two tidal creeks at low tide and hit the north end of South Middle.  There I  checked the few nests we thought might emerge, then rushed back across to patrol North Middle, and then finally (and just barely) crossing back over to Bradley.  As I was driving north, Kate called to ask me if the storms she saw to the north were upon me.  I said "not yet", and that I couldn't talk, I had to drive fast.  It was a mad race to beat the tide.

Once I was back on Bradley, I took a five minute breather.  I looked north and saw thunderclouds building.  A few raindrops hit me, but nothing bad...yet.  I drove north, checking nests along the way, and stopping at one nest to do an inventory.  There was one little straggler, and I release it into the ocean.  Then it started to really rain.  Patrolling wet isn't much fin, but it's doable, so I continued north.  Then came thunder and lightning.  I was just south of a secondary road that comes out to the middle of Bradley.  Checking the few nests that remained between me and it, I sped to safety.  Pulling off the beach, I parked under a large live oak to wait out the storm.

Kate called to check on my status.  I told her I was hiding from the rain, but that I couldn't escape the onslaught of mosquitoes that came with the rain.  She offered to meet me, so that I could at least wait in the truck, instead of the open Mule.  Half an hour later, she arrived, just as the skies started to clear.  Together we headed back onto the beach to finish my patrol.

A few minutes into our drive we received a call from Adam.  He was out shopping and wanted to know if we would be okay with the bicycle he had picked out.  Bicycle!  We were dumbstruck.  The original plan was to get us a small motorized scooter to patrol South Middle on.  Now we were getting word that we would have to peddle it instead.  Protest as we might, we couldn't sway Adam and Mark.  The 6 km (3.75 miles) of South Beach would have to be peddled, both ways, everyday.  We were disappointed, to say the least.  We finished our patrol and headed home.  Adam arrived later with the new bike.  By now it was getting late, and by the time we fed the horses and Andy's animals, ate dinner and got ready for bed, we were spent.

I've got a bike, you can ride it if you like.

Yesterday Kate and I developed a plan to try to minimize the effort now required to run the beaches.  The plan was to wait for low tide and drive to North Beach in the Mule together.  We'd cross over to North Middle, pick up our bike, and take both to the the south tidal creek.  I'd cross over to South Middle and then patrol that beach.  In this way, we'd set up the middle beaches so that we'd only have to ride in one direction, leaving each of the bikes at the end and switching between riding south one day, then north the next.  Kate would patrol Bradley and then drive down to the South end to meet me.  If I wasn't there yet, she could patrol South Beach, then come back for me.  If I was already finished, she'd pick me up and we'd work together.  It was a good plan, and we set off to execute it.

After a half and hour driving, just before we made it out onto North Beach, the Mule started acting funny.  It was getting slower and slower.  It didn't take long to realize what was wrong - we had a flat tire.  We took out a can of Fix-a-Flat and tried to inflate the tire.  The hole was just too big, and it couldn't be fixed.  Unable to patrol the beach this way, we were forced to turn around, drive all the way home at half speed, swap the tire out with a replacement, drive another half hour back, and then finally begin our plan.

By this time we missed low tide and couldn't drive the Mule onto North Middle and therefore couldn't get both bikes in the right place.  Instead I carried the new bike across the creek, rode North Middle, then carried across to South Middle and patrolled that beach.  When I was done, hot and tired, I walked to the kayak crossing and went for a swim.  I built a quick shelter from the sun and waited for Kate to show up.  When she arrived, we headed off to run South Beach together.

Beat the Heat

We finally made it home in the late afternoon.  There we ran into Eric and Cody, who told me they were planning on trying to fix the old broken down Mule.  Without the ATV, and with added pressure on them to hunt on South Middle, they wanted a way to drive it just as much as Kate and I did.  I quickly changed and met them at the shop to help.  Once again, Eric proved to be awesome!  After an hour or so, he had the old rusted out frame welded back together.  Together we got it to crank up.  Cody and I put a new tire on it and finally I took it for a test drive.  It was alive!

Two is Better than One

Early this morning we got a text from Wini with a request to go over to the main house and feed the horses and Mrs. West's dog Toby.  Mrs. West was still in the hospital, and Wini, who'd been feeding the horses every morning has returned to her regular life, leaving the Main House empty.  And so, this morning we woke up, went over to feed the horses and Toby, then went to Andy and Amanda's to feed and water their cats and dogs, then back the horses to let them out of their stable (they get locked in while they eat), and then finally off to the beach.  When we were finished and home, I finalized the work on the old broken Mule.  It's alternator is broken and it doesn't charge.  The good Mule has this problem too, so we plug it in every night to charge the battery.  But with no electric out on the beach, the old Mule needed a big battery that would last a long time.  Some time in the afternoon the work was complete.  The old Mule is up and running.  The only problem it has is that it won't shut off by the key - so you have to pull the spark plug wire off to stop it.  Still, it runs, and that's good enough.  Tomorrow we'll take it over to South Middle, and bring that brand new bike back.  We're extremely thankful for Eric, he's saved us from bicycle madness.

South Middle on Hold

Yesterday I awoke refreshed from my day of lazing around.  When the alarm went off, I was out of bed quickly and out the door after a quick snack.  I knew low tide was at 6:05, and I wanted to get to the beach as close to then as possible in order to drive the Mule over to North Middle and avoid biking or walking it.  I succeeded, but I forgot something - the sun doesn't rise now until 6:45, twilight starts around 6:30.  So, I could't really see anything for the first half hour on the beach, besides what was in my headlights.  I drove to the south tip of North Middle, and waited for some sunlight.

The beaches are getting easier and easier to patrol.  We rarely have a nest, or even a false crawl anymore.  We know that the most recent one may have been the last, and if it isn't, the next one might be.  Over 75 nests that used to need checking everyday are gone - they've hatched out, and we've completed the inventories.  A few nests were washed away by the tide.  We currently have around 125 nests still out there.

Since I only had one inventory to do yesterday, and I was on the beach so early, I made use of the time by removing the small screening on a bunch of nests nearing the 45 day mark.  This will save us some work in the coming days when there are more inventories to do.  I had no emergences, and was done checking the entire north end by 8:30 or so.  I was excited to get home early and have the whole day to do whatever.  It didn't quite work out that way.

I soon got a call from Kate.  She was on South Middle, and having trouble with the ATV.  The day before I noticed the steering column had started to fall apart from rust, and the ATV was hard to turn.  I warned Kate about it, thinking it was just a steering issue.  On the phone she told me she couldn't drive it at all, and she couldn't run the beach.  So I headed off to the shop for some tools while Kate drove home.  Then I headed south to see if I could repair the ATV.

There was more rust damage to our four wheeler than I had seen the day before.  In fact, there was so much, that the reason Kate couldn't drive it, was because the entire front end had fallen to pieces.  The frame had split apart in four places.  The tires were straddled across the dune like a rag doll.  It was official, the ATV was dead.  With some rope and some bungee cords, I tied the frame together enough to get the ATV across the slough.  I put the front end of it in the bed of the Mule, and towed it home with its rear tires rolling behind. It was a sad sight.

At home I got on the phone with Mark to explain our situation.  We already knew we wouldn't be getting a replacement Mule, or ATV this season, so we needed some ideas on what to do about the six kilometers of beach that was now inaccessible.  He has a plan to get us a small dirt bike, and we hope that will work out.  In the meantime, we aren't running that beach.  Mark assured us that is is okay to miss a few days, and that it's common and expected - often to to weather or equipment failure.  Still, it seems strange to us, having never not patrolled the whole beach before.

After this whole ordeal was over, Kate and I were right back to where we were two days ago - stressed out and tired.  Luckily, we had a chance to unwind with a trip to shore.  We left a little after noon, taking some unneeded things back to the RV, and loading up Kate's beading supplies to bring to the island.  On the mainland, we went to the mall and walked around for awhile, then tried to go to a restaurant that wasn't open yet.  To kill time, we went to the movies and saw "Inception".  We had no idea what to expect, but it was excellent.  Afterward we went for sushi, a treat we haven't had in months.  By the end of our little date, we had forgotten all about the ordeals of turtle internship.  It was short lived though.  As soon as we set eyes on the dock, all of the island swooped back into our minds.

Today was another typical day - all the regular work with one exception, I only ran one stretch of beach.  With no way to patrol South Middle, all I had to do was South Beach.  Oh, and I had to swim/walk out to where the ATV used to be in order to retrieve the kayak.  I had left it there when I brought the ATV across yesterday.  On my walk/swim through the marsh, I collected fiddler crabs, which became bait to catch a black drum, which later became dinner on the grill at Andy's while we tended to his pets.

Lazy Day

A much needed day of relaxation was had today.  Beach duty was light, just two inventories for me on the south end.  After a quick trip to Andy's to feed his pets, I was home before 10am.  The other day I discovered Andy has a collection of Carl Hiaasen books, including two I haven't read yet.  I've since swiped one, and spent the morning reading in bed.  After a few chapters, reading gave way to napping, until Kate came home from her patrol around noon.

We are both trying hard to clear our minds of all the things the island occupies them with.  It's hard to get a break from it all when we live and work here 24/7.  The list of things to do, problems to deal with, and constant need to force motivation, have worn us out a bit.  So today we opted to do nothing much beyond our basic responsibilities.

Kate went to Andy's house after she cleaned up from patrol to watch movies and play with the animals.  I stayed home and parked myself on the couch in front of a computer game.  Kate came back around 4:30 and we went to feed the horses together.  Afterward, Kate went back to Andy's for more TV time, and I resumed my position on the couch.

It's 8pm now, and I'm in bed writing this.  Kate should be home soon.  I'm hoping to fall asleep early and have more energy tomorrow.  We can't be lazy for long, there's just too much to do.  Still, it was nice to bum around all day today.

High Tides

Plenty has happened in the past week.  It's all a bit mashed up now in my memory.  We really should be writing everyday to avoid this exact problem.  Hopefully we can get back on a regular routine...

Last we wrote, we were still camping out for the Leatherback nest.  We were convinced it would hatch after I saw a single crawl out of the nest.  We had a great time camping, but we never did see any baby Leatherbacks emerge.  On Tuesday, we worked together, so that we could inventory the nest.  Unfortunately, there were no living stragglers that we could release.  The nest overall didn't fare so well, only 7 hatchlings emerged.

It turned out that working together Tuesday may not have been the best plan.  See, since Monday, the tides have been especially high.  With the high water, parts of our beaches were completely inaccessible at certain times.  On Tuesday, high tide was around 8:45am.  Taking this into account, Kate and I decided to sleep in, wait for the high tide to pass, and then head out to work.  It worked out well as far as being able to get where we needed to go, but the late start, combined with working as one team instead of splitting the island, meant that we were in for one long day.

We went to South Middle first, ran the patrol, then inventoried the Leatherback nest.  Afterward, we broke down the tent and packed all our camping gear onto the ATV.  We rode it all back, and managed to fit it all into the kayak.  There was barely room to fit us both in.  Luckily, we didn't have to paddle as the tide was moving fast, quickly returning us to our launch.  Next we worked South beach, and were disappointed to find several of our nests had washed over in the high water.  This we already knew would be the case, as it happened the day before as well.  We also knew it would be much worse on North Beach.

Once we were on Bradley I was shocked to see how high the tides had gone.  Kate had run the north end the day before and had already witnessed it, but it was a surprise to me.  Nests that we have always considered high and dry were licked by the tides.  On the north tip of Bradley, and on North Middle, we lost nests completely - finding screens and white marker posts washed up in the sea wrack.  There were also a couple nests were the tide had eroded beneath the screen, leaving the nest cavity exposed and eggs spilling out onto the beach.  We relocated some eggs, though their fate is not hopeful, and inventoried everything else to get what data we could.  It was frustrating to lose nests like this, with the ideas that maybe we should have relocated more or place those we did higher.

Once we did finish the beach, we still had to clean up ourselves and our equipment, then head out to feed and water Andy's pets, and Mrs. West's horses.  Did I mention we're on pet patrol again this week?

After finally finishing all our work for the day, sometime after 6pm, we should have come home and went right to bed.  Instead, we found Cody at the house, planning to take his first night off.  In his fridge he had, as he would say, "enough beer to kill a kindergarten class".  Against our better judgement, Kate and I joined Cody at the diner table.  Hours later, we finally slept.

We both woke up yesterday a bit hung over, but still early, determined to beat the tides to our beaches.  Kate got lucky with the south end patrol, and the air conditioned truck.  I on the other hand had the north end, and my day began with a sunrise bicycle ride.  It was hot and humid, and the sand was too soft for the bike.  It made for a terrible morning.  Once I was done with North Middle, I took a dip in the tidal creek to cool down, then began my Bradley patrol.

I had taken too long.  When I got to the middle of North beach, the tide had come up high enough to block me from getting to the north end.  This was the first time ever that one of us wasn't able to finish our patrol.  Even though high tide was still hours away, the water was just so high already.  This also meant I couldn't do the three inventories that were scheduled.  It also meant that I'd have to run the North end again today, since I couldn't stick Kate with the work.

As it turned out, I did get to finish my patrol yesterday.  Once we were home again and showered, we went over to Andy's to check on the pets and take a TV break.  While were there, we got a call from Mark, who had just returned back from another week down in the Gulf working with the spill.  We had plenty of things to discuss with him, and did so for about an hour.  The other reason he called, was that someone had reported a dead turtle at the north end of the island.  It wouldn't stay there overnight, so we needed to go back and get it.

After a long ride all the way back to beach, and all the way up to it's end, we found the turtle.  We took some pictures and coordinates, and then bagged it up to finish the pictures, measurements, etcetera, at home.  While we were back on the beach, we got a chance to check over the nests I'd missed in the morning.  There were also more nests destroyed by the tide.  Once we fixed up the nests as best we could, we drove home, finished with the stranded turtle, bagged it, froze it, and took some more showers.  Then it was time to feed the animals yet again.  Thankfully, Winnie took care of feeding the horses for us - one less thing.  Finally, it was bed for us.

This morning the tides were still high, and there were a few nests that washed over again, but none were washed away.  Those that did wash over today will most likely not hatch, since this is the third or fourth washover for them.  At this point, the eggs are drowned.

For the first time in several days, maybe longer, we finished up and got home early.  We're spending the time catching up on laundry, this blog, emails, photos and rest.  We need to get it in while we can, because the list of things to do keeps growing.  We've got parts coming for the truck which I'll need to install, all the screens, posts and stakes that we're taking off the beach need to be cleaned up and stored for next year, and a bunch of little projects need finishing over the next month and a half.  And of course, we need to start planning the next big adventure for Steve and Kate.

Still Camping Out

This past week has flown by.  It has been so hot lately that we've taken to being a bit lazy.  But, we're tired of just sitting around so a few days ago we started back up again with chores and some play.  We have been camping randomly a few times to catch the Leatherback.  Thursday morning Steve found a single crawl from the nest so last night we camped again.  The weather was perfect - windy with super clear skies.  The new moon is approaching so we had total darkness until 3AM.  The star gazing was a highlight of the night.  We could easily see the thick clusters of stars that make up the Milky Way.  I spotted what I thought was a plane way high in the sky, but since there were no blinking lights, and because of its speed and course, Steve says we saw a satellite.  We each saw a couple shooting stars, and of course, wished for the hatchlings to emerge.  We played in the bioluminescence, trying to write things in the wet sand.  By 2 AM, we both were ready to sleep.  I set the alarm for thirty minute intervals and we took turns checking the nest.  Nothing happened, again.  While we know there's a good chance it will go tonight, we're tired and the weather isn't supposed to be good.  Tonight we'll eat and sleep well.

Family Adventure - Day Three (Sunday)

Before we all forget the happenings of the family visit, I'll try to write about the last bit.  We were all very excited to have seen the hatchling emergence.  Even though we didn't get home until 1AM, Steve, Kevin, Jen and I still had to wake up early and hit the beaches, giving our parents the morning off.  Steve and Kevin went to the north end, meeting Jill Stuckey from GADNR.  She was visiting the island and Mrs. West and wanted to get some photos of live hatchlings.  She accompanied the boys over to North Middle where they had two inventories to do.  Unfortunately for Jill, there were no live hatchlings from the nests.  Steve and Kevin helped get her and the camera gear safely across the creek and then patrolled Bradley.  They found a false crawl, giving Kevin an idea of what the adult female does.

Jen and I worked the south end.  We had two inventories, one on South and one on South Middle.  Working South Middle was fun, taking Jen on the kayak and then the ATV.  We excavated SM5 together.  We found one live turtle that still had lots of energy.  Jen named him Louie.  After we saw Louie off in the water, we returned to count the egg remains.  Soon we finished the patrol and headed for home.  I took Jen on the South End Roads, showing her the western side of the island and the older forest.  When we arrived at the guest house, the boys were already there.  Mom cooked breakfast for lunch and then we hung around for a bit, trying to decide how to spend the last afternoon.

Our last tour took the family to the Clubhouse, Boarding House, and Tabby cabins.  After much oohing and ahhing, we returned to the guest house as we awaited permission to enter Mrs. West's property.  Once we got the go ahead, we packed up treats for the horses.  We first stopped at the stables and called the horses over.  After some hesitation from Pheonix, he decided the group was safe and approached Jen for some watermelon and carrots.  Soon the girls, Cela and Poco, and Christmas Goose were around for treats as well.

After we ran out of food, we headed to the Main House.  We were offered a tour by Jill, which was definitely an unexpected gift.  We went room by room, enthralled by the original detail still left in the house.  The artwork, book, and natural relic collections illustrate just some of the greatness that surrounds Mrs. West.  This opportunity really completed my family's visit.

We returned home for dinner and down time.  Sadly, we only caught 7 blue crabs, so the crab feast turned into a BBQ.  Steve and I headed home by 9, having a super crazy Sunday ahead of us.  I woke early, and hit Bradley Beach.  I had inventories to do before I had to return to the guest house and take my family to the dock.  What I thought could be completed before 845 wasn't even close, especially since I also had two new nests, both relocated.  I worked quickly to do as much as possible, but after I took them to the dock, I knew I still had to return to the beach and fight the midday heat.  I saw them off, as well as Codey's dad.  After a brief stop at the guest house to repack my turtle gear, I headed back to the beach.  I finished several hours later, overheated and exhausted.  Steve and I slept most of the afternoon and all through the night.  As tired as we were though, nothing beats a visit from family.  Thanks for coming to see us!

 

Inventories

Since the family left, we've been getting ourselves into routine.  Things have changed, and it's definitely not the same old grind.  Inventories are the new focus of our days.  This is the gross part of our nesting season, where we dig up nests that have hatched or are really old.  We count up the contents, sorting into four categories: egg shells (greater than 50%), unhatched eggs, dead hatchlings & live hatchlings.  This give us a lot of information.

First, the shells + the unhatched eggs = the total clutch size.  For a relocated nest, where we counted the eggs going in, we can compare the calculated clutch size with the actual and determine the percent error caused by the 50% egg shell rule (there are often fragments of shells that may not add up to the whole).  That percent error can be applied across our in situ (non-relocated) nests in future calculations.  The two primary calculation we use are hatch success, and emergence success.

Hatch success is the percentage of eggs that actually hatched, calculated from the shells (50% or greater), over the total eggs (shells + undeveloped eggs).  Emergence success is the just about the same, but we subtract any dead or live hatchlings from the number hatched (shells), before dividing by the total.  These numbers give us an indicator of problems with the nests, whether they be infertility, blocked nests where hatchlings couldn't emerge, root inundation, washover, predation, etc.

The actual inventory process involves removing the screen, post and stakes protecting the nest, digging up the nest, sorting its contents into the four categories, and recording the data in our book.  Any live hatchlings are taken to the sea and encouraged to swim off - though most are unable to do so, due to deformity or injury.  Dead hatchlings and the remaining eggs and shells are taken and buried on the backside of the dune.  This returns vital nutrients to the beach environment, and prevents us from finding the contents later and mistaking them as something new.

The nest contents can be pretty nasty.  Often the undeveloped eggs are open.  Inside them can be a cottage cheese like material of an undeveloped egg, a partially developed hatchling, or a hot pink bacteria you know as Salmonella.    The nest cavities often smell like the rot of dead things or feces, with a vinegar smell as well.  The flies and gnats seem to like all the decompositions and hang out during the excavation, often biting.  If gloves aren't worn, the smell persists on the hands for several washings.  Still, the data is invaluable, and of course, sometimes the nest include stragglers, which to rescue, makes all the trouble forgotten.

Today I did 6 excavations.  I also had 1 nest and 3 false crawls.  Nesting has definitely fallen off, but emergences are on the rise.  Now, on the 5th day after an emergence occurs, we must inventory the nest.  We also inventory any nest that has reached 70 days incubation without an emergence.  Today we had 5 emergences, which means 5 days form now, we'll have to do 5 inventories.  It's a lot of smelly work.  Though it is nice to take data cards out of the book and white nest markers off the beach - less nests to check each day.  Also, getting a feel on just how many little turtles are running out to the sea is a joy.

Camping out for the Leatherback Nest

Our blog is getting confusing as we try to write about this last weekend.  Tonight, 7/27,  begins our first night camping on South Middle Beach to watch for the Leatherback hatchlings.  Today was day 52 of incubation.  Since our loggerhead nests are hatching early, we gotta get out there.  Hopefully they come soon!

Family Adventure - Day Two (Friday)

Friday morning started very early.  Steve took Kevin to the south end in the Mule and I took Mom, Dad, and Jen to patrol the north end.  After the long, bumpy ride, we arrived on the beach, and eagerly anticipated a new loggerhead nest.  We started the beach by doing a nest inventory on NB12.  There were 40 hatched shells, 59 unhatched or pipped, and 3 dead hatchlings.  Jen felt sad for the little dead ones, and even named them.  Next we turned north and unfortunately never found new nests.  Jen and I began the task of checking our nests for hatchling emergence, depredation, and 45 day screen removal.  She was a helpful partner.  We found several nests that had emerged and removed several screens.  Whenever my Dad thought we'd be stopped for a few minutes, he'd jump off the truck and walk around.  When we neared the end, I dropped my parents off to explore while Jen and I finished patrolling the beach.  When we were done, we set up a beach camp at the large, oak tree skeleton.  Just then, Steve and Kevin returned from their south end adventure.

My sister and I agreed to walk North Middle together.  The tidal creek was flowing pretty fast and still a bit deep, but Jen agreed to walk across rather than mess with the kayak.  We walked through a patch of clay and Jen laughed the entire way over, yet still wary of the bottom.  Over the next hour, we walked to the end and back, not having any activity.  It was nice to catch up with my sister after so long.  When we returned, Jen and I needed to go for a swim.  We rallied the troops and headed for the Atlantic and the familiar wave action we all missed from our summer vacations growing up.  Dad carried out the boogie board.  After a few attempts, and some serious heckling, Dad caught a wave and proved that he still has it.  Kevin tried next, and after falling off the board, gave up.  Steve tried next, and also failed to catch a wave.  I was last, and managed to ride a few, although short.  By now it was lunch time.  We said goodbye to the tree that proved to be probably the best beach spot over miles of sand.

On the way home, I decided to stop at the culvert to give fishing a try.  Steve and I have learned that if the fish are going to bite, then they will quickly.  We baited some fishing rods with fiddler crabs and cast our lines.  I never caught anything (I'm okay with that) so I handed it over to Jen.  After brief instruction to a lefty about using a righty, she sent out a crab.  I don't remember if it was her first bait that worked, but right away she caught a fish.  Both Mom and Dad were next, and both caught blue crabs.  Jen was excited to try again, so she and Steve finished off the bucket of fiddler crabs.  All in all, we drove home with 4 large red drum.

After showers and rest, I took Jen and Kevin on a tour of Middle Place.  After, we got together at the guest house for dinner.  Steve cooked the fish.  We hung around for a bit, waiting for dark so we could head to the beach to look for sea turtles.  Steve and I grabbed some essentials for a night trip, loaded up the family, and we headed for Bradley Beach, again.  By this point we were tired of the long truck rides.  We arrived on the beach, and glad to see how bright the moon was.  We had perfect conditions for a nice night searching for turtles.  I drove us up the beach, searching for a crawl.  After we hit the north end, Steve and I started looking for emerging nests.  We checked over and over, never finding any activity.  We were almost ready to call it a night, when I flipped through the book and found a couple nests nearby that were just approaching 50 days.  We neared NB25 when Steve saw there were hatchlings tracks all around and there were still some stragglers coming out of the nest.  I got back to the family to let them know.  We walked toward the nest, careful to watch where we stepped.  By now, most of the nest had already crawled to the water.  Some stayed by the wet sand to escort hatchlings to the water and to protect against ghost crabs.  I stayed by the nest, watching the last few emerge.  Eventually there were no more so I followed a couple through the dunes and to the water.  The hatchlings' energy is amazing.  We all stood by the water watching the last of the bunch swim off.  It was a really great experience to share with my family.

Family Adventure - Day One (Thursday)

Thursday morning my family arrived for their Ossabaw Island adventure.  Don't get this confused with a vacation, as there's not much time for relaxing around here.  Immediately the fun began as the boat left the dock.  As loud as it was the wind, my Dad couldn't help but ask lots of questions.  Once on the island, I drove them around in the pickup, Jen and Kevin getting their first taste of the bumpy ride in the back.  We went to the guest house to drop off the luggage.  Soon Steve arrived home and my Mom was antsy for some action.  Everyone decided that we'd head for Bradley Beach.  We put some benches in the back and hopped in.  I sat in the back with Dad, Jen, and Kevin.  They got their first sights of the uplands and marshes as we traveled the 45 minutes to the beach.  There wasn't a plan once we got there, so Steve drove north, showing them our 100+ nests and a recent turtle crawl.  Immediately after my Mom was out of the truck, her beach combing began.  She was excited about the things she started finding, and that excitement never waned.  Lots of shells, sand dollars, and other neat things were collected during her time here.  By the time we hit the north tip of Bradley it was about 1:00, and very, very hot.  We all agreed to get out of the heat so we headed back to the house.  

Once back, we came up with our next game plan.  Steve and Dad headed to the culvert to bait and set lots of traps, hoping to have a blue crab feast one night.  The rest of us went to the midden to collect mussels for dinner.  Upon arrival at the bridge, only Jen had the guts to follow me into the mud.  After some hesitation, she maneuvered to the spot and reached in.  Jen quickly got over the slimy mud and was pulling out large groups of mussels.  Since I was the only one with proper shoes, I tried to collect mussels away from the common spot.  I ended up in mud past my knees, and later, even though she tried not to, Jen was knee deep in mud too, even losing her flip flop (which we soon recovered).  While we were hunting/gathering (both seem to fit), Mom and Kevin walked to the shell midden to look around.  When they got back, Jen and I cleaned off the mud and we walked back to the truck.  By this point, we all needed to cool off.  We split up and I went home to clean the mussels for dinner.  Soon I was joined by Steve and we finished scrubbing each one.  Steve continued prepping dinner: mussels and spaghetti for us, and grilled burgers for Dad and Codey.  Lots of beer and conversation passed the rest of the night and by 9:00, we called it as everyone was eager to hit the beach early with hopes of finding a loggerhead nest the next morning.  

Pagans Pack in Family Fun

Family have visited for the weekend.  Our days have been packed full of so much activity, there was no time for blogging.  We have stories and photos, and will start sharing them soon, but first we need some serious rest.  Here's a brief summary:

• Wednesday:
• Kate Patrols North Beaches
• Steve Patrols South Beaches
• Prepare Guest House
• Thursday:
• Steve Patrols North, Kate South
• Pagan Family Arrives
• Josh Leaves for Weekend
• Tour North End to Bradley Beach
• Midden Exploration
• Jen & Kate Pick Mussels
• Spaghetti & Mussels @ Our House
• Friday:
• Kate & Jen Patrol North End
• Steve & Kevin Patrol South End
• Beach Morning for All on Bradley
• Codey's Father Arrives
• Fishing off Causeway Yields 4 Fish
• Kate, Jen & Kevin Tour Middle Place
• Fish Dinner & BBQ @ Guest House
• Night Emergence Experience on Bradley
• Saturday:
• Meet Jill on North Middle for Inventory
• Steve & Kevin Patrol North End
• Kate & Jen Patrol South End
• Breakfast for Lunch @ Guest House
• Tour of Clubhouse, Boarding House & Tabbys 
• Take Treats to Horses
• Tour of Mrs. West's Home 
• BBQ & Crabs @ Guest House
• Sunday:
• Kate Runs North Beach
• Steve Runs South & South Middle Beaches
• Pagan Family Departs
• Codey's Dad Departs
• Kate Returns to Finish North & North Middle Beaches
• Josh Returns to Island
• Clean Up from Weekend

Back in the Learning Curve

After a week without our regular routine, we're starting to fall back into it.  Andy and Amanda returned to the island this afternoon, so there is no more feeding of island pets, and no more quiet retreat to escape to in the afternoons.  We are also finished with giving each other days off, which we now agree, is harder than splitting the island between the two of us.

I believe Kate's last blog discussed Saturday morning, my first day off, in which I woke up early anyway to join Kate and our new friend Patricia on our first nest excavation.  We had only saved one small turtle when we excavated our very first nest with Mark.  This time, we were able to save 17.  Even though they were all a little slow and some malformed, and are all probably dead already, it was nice to see them, and to hope for them.  When we were done, and after I returned Patricia back to her group at the clubhouse, I went back to bed.  Once I was fully rested, I went over to Andy & Amanda's for some kitten love and movie time.  Their black cat, Panner (Panther/Panter, however you spell it...) is very shy, but on this day she finally warmed up, jumped right up on my lap, and fell asleep on my chest.  She makes me miss my own cats.  Kate finished the day late.  It takes at least five to six hours to run the beaches alone, more if there are nests or crawls.  When she did, we relaxed together in front of the TV.

Sunday was my turn to work again while Kate took off.  Thankfully, it was much easier than my Friday alone.  I started on the north end at 6:30am.  I found no crawls on North Middle, and was quickly working my way up Bradley beach looking for crawls.  Kate had brought our nest count to 198 the day before, and I was getting excited to hit nest 200.  Soon I found a crawl that led up to a nest - nest #199.  I continued north, but there were no more nests on Bradley...maybe on the south end.

On my return trip south, I began checking all our nests, removing the small screening on those at 50 days of incubation, and looking for emergences.  I didn't find any nests that appeared to have hatched, but I know we're still in the learning curve for this, and after seeing some since, it's possible I've missed one or two.  Tiny turtles don't make nearly as much of an obvious track as a giant mama turtle.

The very last nest, the most southern, on North Beach, is NB12.  It had hit 50 days incubation and was due to have it small screen removed.  I found the nest buried by wind blown sand, so I started digging down to the screen.  Then I pulled up the metal stakes that hold down the screen, pulled the large screen up, cut the two cable ties that hold the two screens together, and pulled the small screen away.  Within seconds of removing it, the sand below began to move.  Then, a little turtle head popped out of the sand, then another, and another...

We've been told that we could accidentally set off a nest by disturbing the sand, or digging into a nest too early.  This was completely unexpected though, because the nest had only been "cooking" for 50 days and should need more time to finish.  Nevertheless, these turtles were coming.  When the top turtle starts to go, it signals the rest below to follow, setting off a "frenzy."  Once the hatchlings begin their frenzy, they won't quit for 48 hours, running down the beach and swimming as far as they can to eventually pick up the North Atlantic gyre.  In this time, they use up all the reserve energy they've collected from the egg yolk, so we really want to avoid them wasting energy.  As much as I didn't want it to happen then, in the daylight, and at low tide, these turtles were going anyway.

37 little hatchlings emerged from their nest in the sand.  Almost all of them began going the wrong way, down the back of the dune.  This could be because this nest was on the backside of the primary dune, with a steep incline in the path to the water.  It could also be that hatching during the day disabled their natural sense to go toward the reflections over the water.  I didn't know what to do.  Part of me wanted to leave them alone, and let nature do its thing.  But the other part of me realized that it was my fault they were confused, since I set off the nest.  And with the low tide, they'd have an awful long walk to the water, and likely be picked off by birds.  So, I gathered each one up, placed them in a bucket, and took them down near the water.  I let them run about 25 feet of beach before they went into the ocean.  It was amazing to watch.  They were so strong, could crawl very fast, and swim even better - just minutes after emerging from the nest.

After my wonderful daylight emergence experience, I went to the south end to find nest 200.  It never happened.  I didn't have any more crawls that day, and was home around 11:00am.  Kate would have the honor of nest 200, and 201 the following day, Monday, which I spent enjoying another day off, lazing around our house and our "vacation house" with kitties.

Today we both worked, and I had the north end.  It was pretty routine, except that now we are looking for emergences.  We thought we knew what we were looking for, but today I found that NB9 did in fact hatch, and looked nothing like I expected.  Kate experienced the same thing on the south end when she found hatched nests that did not have the "tell-tale" signs.  We are going to have to be extra vigilant on our patrols now, until we get a handle on this whole emergence thing.  It's frustrating to be back to a point where we are so unsure of what we are doing, especially after feeling so confident now on the nesting side of things.  All is well though, because we know we'll catch on soon, and the excitement of baby sea turtles makes it all worth it.