Finally, An Easy Day

(Just in case you missed it, there's two posts for today.  Don't miss our post about last night!)

Today was an easy day.  I had a textbook relocation on South Beach.  On my way to South Middle, I stopped to chat with the UTenn people.  They were trying to catch fish to look at in the slough with a large net.  It's fun to have visitors on the island, at least most of the time.  South Middle had nothing so on my return I picked up some balloons and a wood bucket that I'll add to the recycle bin collection.  I was on land by 11 and home before noon.  On my way I stopped to pick flowers to replenish the collection in the house.  It's amazing what jars of flowers can do.

Steve had more activity than I did.  He also had some puzzling crawls that still leave questions in his head.  I like to use that 7% statistic (that experts miss 7% of nests).  Sometimes the beach is a mystery.

After lunch, Steve crashed for couple hours.  Naps are a way of life around here.  I cleaned the house and arranged the flowers.  I also went outside to cut lots of gardenias that are in bloom.  It smells lovely outside.  They're only in bloom for a couple more weeks, so we'll need to take advantage before it's too late.

I haven't written a lot about the other wildlife that we encounter, and since the day's activity was low, I'll share a bit now.  I recently bought bird seed and a hung a hummingbird feeder.  A family of cardinals stop by regularly to snack on seeds I throw out the computer window.  It's a treat to watch the dynamics of a mother, father, and fledgling.  The hummingbird feeder is a magnet for the little birds.  Before Ossabaw, I had only seen one, and that was the week before we came here on Jekyll Island.  Now it's a regular event to look out the window as I type and see one.

The white tail deer are giving birth and that means that we see fawns all over.  When we drive and an adult runs by, we're quick to hit the brakes because the babies are often in quick pursuit.  One morning, before the sun came up, while I was driving to the beach, I spotted a deer ahead.  Then I saw a baby.  They scattered, but the baby ran in the opposite direction.  I turned off the lights to give them a minute to find each other when I saw a second baby.  Their gangly legs and funny walk lead me to believe that they were both very young.  It was so fun to watch them run around across the road to find each other again.  Eventually the three walked off into the woods as if nothing had ever happened.

Last week as I was driving through the marsh I thought I saw a snake in the road.  It was having difficulty getting out of the tire track so I grabbed the camera.  It looked strange to me, and later I learned it was a legless lizard, called an eastern glass lizard.  They have eyelids and ear holes like lizards.  And appendages that have shrunk over time.

Also in the marsh is a swamp rabbit.  We're starting to see them regularly on the road early in the mornings.  We're working on pictures of the animals we see and will share as we successfully capture them.

Andy and Amanda, the island manager and his wife, invited us over for dinner.  Jim Bitler was there too.  Lots of stories were shared.  Steve and I had a nice time socializing with our only neighbors.

The News You've Been Waiting For....

Last night was indeed the night.  Just after Steve was finished writing yesterday's entry, we hopped in the Mule and headed to the beach.  Until last night, neither Steve nor I had spent any real time outside in the dark.  Dad, you asked me before, and yes, it's dark.  Eerily dark.  The moon hadn't risen and there was some cloud cover.  Steve was at the wheel, and sitting as close to him as possible, I squeezed his arm for security.  At one point he turned off the headlights to see how dark it really was and it was like the world disappeared, except for the loud engine under us.  I panicked and told Steve that he wasn't allowed to purposefully scare me.  I couldn't handle the idea of being stuck in the woods, miles away from the house in the pitch black.  .

After half and hour we made it to the beach.  Lights off for the turtles.  Our night vision quickly set in and we could see dark objects on the beach, and a couple shrimp boats 3 miles out.  We walked away from the Mule, still running because the battery hadn't been charged since Steve's patrol earlier that day.  A few minutes go by and we thought we saw a turtle dead ahead.  As we get closer, we saw that it was just a crab trap.  But wait, what's that?  A fresh turtle crawl.  We turn on our red headlamps and scan for another track.  Only one, which meant one thing, she's up toward the dune.  Steve walked first, following the track over a fallen palm tree and there she was: a huge loggerhead sea turtle.    

We slowly walked up behind her to see which stage of nesting she was in.  From both sides we could see that the nest cavity had been dug but we couldn't see any eggs.  We watched closely for eggs to fall.  Figuring that we had some time, Steve ran back for the Mule so we could do basic measurements, scan for a pit tag, and record our data.  I switched my viewing spot and could see that she was definitely laying eggs.  Her rear flippers would lift up as an egg would fall.  Steve arrived with our gear so we quietly got to work.  Sea turtles are in a trance-like state during the egg laying stage so we're able to get close without disturbing her.  I couldn't find any exterior tags and Steve didn't locate any pit tags.  We took straight and curved measurements.  Straight length (notch to notch) = 89.1cm; straight width = 70.2cm; curved length (notch to notch) = 94.5cm; curved width = 87.4cm.  

The eggs started overflowing the nest cavity.  I guess she had more than she thought.  She started using her rear flippers to grab sand from her sides to cover the nest.  It was a sloppy process, and I speculate that if the all the eggs fit in the cavity that covering the hole would be normally be much simpler.  We saw a few eggs get pushed out of the bunch and away from the hole.  She eventually broke one so I grabbed the others so we could put them safely back into the nest.  Every egg counts.  This alternating rear flipper action lasted for at least 10 minutes.  She started using her front flippers to move sand for the rear flippers to use and in the process inching forward.  I grabbed a piece of wrack and put it where I thought the nest was so we could easily put the eggs back.  She moved around a lot during the final stages of covering the nest, changing directions.  Soon, she was finished and began the task of getting her 300 pound body back to the water.  I've been pretty excited to see this part.  She'd move a few feet and stop, over and over again.  I think I heard her exhale deeply at one point.  We watched her try to get around the palm tree and eventually go over a low spot.  Closer and closer to the ocean.  We crept slowly from behind.  At this point an orange moon had risen over the east and it created a perfect vantage point for us to see her off.  She hit the wet sand and we could her her flippers sloshing as the water got deeper, inch by inch.  Soon, small waves moved in and helped mover her off.  Then, the dark hump of a her shell disappeared and she was home.  I hope she returns to Ossabaw.  

After standing at the water's edge, Steve and I reveled in our amazing experience; we had finally witnessed one of the ocean's oldest events.  Next we headed back to the nest to return the two stragglers.  The spot I marked proved to be wrong, and Steve started searching for the nest.  Go figure that after watching the nest get covered we'd know exactly where it was.  As he was digging around, Steve found two egg shells - the one I watched the mom break, and another we hadn't seen.  We used them for our research egg.  I gathered our gear and we got in the Mule.  Not wanting to hate ourselves for losing more eggs to depredation, we headed to a stash of screens to the north, in the dark.  Using only Steve's red light as a guide, we drove slowly searching for the road marker.  We weren't sure we'd find it, but then fortunately, our light was reflected back.  Steve grabbed the screens and metal stakes and we carefully headed back.  We covered the nest and said goodbye to NB18.  While all nests are important to us, this one just jumped to the top of the list.  I'll be paying close attention in 50 some days so we can catch the hatchlings emerge.  After an uneventful dark drive home, we rinsed the sand off and jumped in bed.  In just a few hours we'd have to get up and look for the nests we didn't get to see this night.

Fresh Fish!

I know you're waiting to hear about and see pictures from our first live nesting experience.  I'm sorry though, it didn't happen.

Tried as we did to sleep early and wake in the dead of night to make it to the beach, our bodies just wouldn't agree.  Kate managed to get a couple hours, I just tossed and turned.  When the alarm tried to roust us at 1am, we both looked at each other, said "forget it", and went back to bed.  We woke again at the normal 4:45am, and went on patrol.

Since Kate had already packed gear into the truck we decided to use it.  She went to the north beaches, as I took the Mule south.  We had to stop at the shop to inflate her tires, and for me to get a couple gallons of gas for the ATV.  Kate followed me down the main road, until we hit Hell Hole and went our separate ways.

I buzzed passed the University of Tennessee campers around 6am.  I only saw two of them awake.  Then I saw a blooming century plant off the road, so I stopped to take some pictures.  I kept the camera out in hopes to see the bald eagle that hangs out at the inlet there, but he never showed.  In fact today, nothing much at all showed.  Including the turtles.

Storms threatened all evening but never came.  This morning was overcast until after noon.  Maybe that is the reason for the inactivity from the local wildlife.  Maybe they're just taking a rest.  I rode South Beach hoping for something, but only turned up one false crawl.  I radioed Kate from the southernmost tip, she reported the same - no nests.  We were now relieved that we slept through the night, it would have been a waste.

When I was finished with South, I drove up to the kayak, said "Hi" to a couple of the UT people and paddled out to the ATV.  I filled it with gas when I got there, and that seemed to alleviate the problems I encountered yesterday.  I guess it was just low fuel after all, though I saw fuel in the tank when I checked.  We'll have to fill it more regularly than we have been.

My entire South Middle drive produced nothing, not even a false crawl.  Since I had the camera with me though, I was able to snag some shots of baby Wilson's Plovers with their parents.  They're awful cute.  I have to be extremely careful driving on the beach now, as they are hard to spot, and the ATV has no brakes.

When I was done checking all my nests, I kayaked back to the Mule, and drove north to meet Kate on Bradley beach.  I'd brought my fishing gear today, and it was early, so I thought we'd hang out there awhile.  On the way there, I stopped off at the casting dock on High Causeway.  It's the same small wood dock on the main road where we keep our crab trap.  I had hung the minnow trap we purchased, baited with old potatoes, there yesterday.  It seems to have worked, bringing me a few minnows, and a bunch of little shrimp.

With bait in bucket, I arrived at the beach looking for Kate.  She was still across on North Middle, but soon arrived at the inlet.  She yelled across to me, asking if I'd come help her.  She'd found a nest and was having trouble locating the eggs.  The two of us got in the single person kayak together, almost sinking, then almost capsizing, but just making it across.  We walked down to her nest, luckily not too far, and went to work.  It was indeed a tricky one, but eventually we turned up an egg.  Then I walked up to a false crawl that Kate had yesterday but wasn't 100 percent on.  I worked it over for a little while, then assured her, there's no nest there.

This time I swam the inlet, Kate still behind screening off the nest.  Then it was time to break out the fishing poles.  I baited one with a minnow and one with a shrimp.  I tried for 15 minutes without a bite.  Kate was getting bored with fishing.  She spotted a raccoon in the marsh, and took a few pictures.  I switched things up, setting one rod with a sinking rig, the other floating...still nothing.  Kate took the truck and left.  I decided to give it a whole hour.  My efforts were fruitless.  I packed up and headed home.

Along the way I stopped back at the minnow trap to check on it.  Nothing new in there.  I think it needs to sit out a day before it really fills up at all.  I saw a few fish jumping in the marsh there and decided I'd give this spot a try - I did still have a bunch of bait.  After only a few minutes, I was getting bites.  Time and again they were stealing my bait.  It took me awhile to figure out why they kept getting away - my hooks were too small.  I put on something bigger and then Bang!, I hooked one.  I reeled him in slow, having lost plenty of fish during my days in Mississippi.  I got the net, reached down, and pulled him up.  He was the biggest fish I've caught since being a child.  I think he was a Croaker, because he made croaking sounds.  I put him in a bucket, and kept on fishing.

I stayed baking in the sun there for another hour.  I had a few more bites, and caught 2 more fish, only small ones though.  I also lost one bobber and sinker to what I now know was a blue crab.  Luckily, I was able to retrieve it.  I caught a (I think that very same) blue crab.  He latched on to my lure, but was smart enough to let go before I could bring him all the way up.  Finally out of bait, I headed home with my catch.  Of course I filleted them right away, and ate them for lunch.  It was 2pm now, and I hadn't eaten since 5am breakfast.

Then we took a nap.  Again trying to get extra sleep for a night patrol, which Kate is presently preparing for, and rushing me to finish writing so we can go.  Once again, wish us luck, maybe tonight's the night!

More mice, more turtles, more mechanical problems, more fun.

I woke up the the familiar sound of a mouse, trying to scratch and chew it's way out of our little mousetrap.  Normally, I leave them in the trap until we are far from home, but this mouse was a bit too big for the trap, and was twisted and upside-down inside.  I felt bad, so I transferred him into a jar.  I put the trap on top as a lid.  He was happier now, and began to groom himself.  Then we sat down for breakfast.

All of a sudden there was a loud noise in the kitchen.  We turned to look, and the mouse had leaped up, knocked the trap off the jar, and was standing on the rim.  Kate yelled. "oh no!" as I ran to try to contain him.  He jumped to the counter, and I grabbed the jar to try to put over him. The jar was too small, and we had no other choice but to let him escape behind the stove.  We named him Dufresne, in honor of the famed escapee from the Shawshank Redemption.  It was an exciting start to the morning.

Afterward, I went outside and crossed my fingers as I fired up the Mule.  Yesterday's backfiring issue had given us a real scare that we might be relegated to the truck for weeks of turtle work, but the Mule started right up.  Mark told us yesterday that we should treat it as if there is a lot of karma involved, that we should baby it and talk nice to it, never slam things down on her, etc.  He said it worked for his VWs, and will hopefully apply here as well.  So far, so good.

I packed the regular gear into the bed of the Mule, deciding to take 6 sets of screening materials with us today.  Kate got the snack bag, water jug, rain gear, cameras, radio, phones, extra clothes and towels together and filled up the trunk (storage in the front).  We take so much stuff with us everyday, it's almost ridiculous, but it all has a use, and whenever we decide to leave something home, that's when it turns out we really want it.  My camera being the best example, as it takes up the most space, and whenever left behind, great photo ops are missed.  I'm glad I brought it today though.

It was still twilight as we approached the causeway through the marsh, on our way to north beach.  There we were greeted by more birds than we've seen yet.  We stopped for a few minutes to admire them and take a few pictures.  We saw Snowy Egrets, Great Egrets, Cattle Egrets, Great Blue Herons, Night Herons, Wood Storks and Red-winged Blackbirds.  I'm sure there were other birds there too, but we're still learning.

We couldn't stay too long with the birds, as we knew turtle tracks were waiting.  We encountered 2 feral hogs, and 2 deer before arriving on North Beach.  I turned right toward the kayak and bumped into a crawl.  It looked like a nest, and high and dry.  Since it was so close to the kayak, we agreed Kate would start working it after she finished North Middle and I would continue north on my survey.  I dropped her off, spun around and started driving.  It didn't take long to spot another crawl, and then another.  I was trying to make my way to the north end, so as to avoid getting cut off by the little creek that now forms with each incoming tide.  By the time I reached Bradley Point, I'd crossed 6 crawls, all of which looked like nests.  I knew I'd need Kate's help to get the work done before the tide, so I headed back south, stopping only to check on all our incubating nests.  Every one looked good - no more wash overs!

Kate wasn't there when I got back to the kayak.  I knew this meant she had a nest too, so I started up the first crawl we'd seen to get working while I waited for her to return.  When I got to the top of the dune and looked into the body pit I saw the nest, it was dug up, and there egg shells scattered about.  This looked completely different from yesterdays scare, and I knew we'd officially had our first depredation.  I wanted to preserve the scene for Kate to see, so I did the paperwork, got out all the screening materials together and labeled a post and an egg vial.  She still wasn't back, so I drove to the next crawl, which wasn't too far away. I worked it up fast, having an egg in hand within a minute or two.  I saw Kate approaching, and went to pick her up.  She'd had one nest and one false crawl on North Middle.

She didn't like seeing the broken eggs at the first crawl, but Kate quickly went to work counting them.  18 eggs had been eaten.  It was a raccoon who'd done it.  One of the 18 only had a small hole it it, so we took that one for research, fixed the open nest cavity, and screened it off.  Then we headed north as the tide was still rolling in.  We skipped the stuff on the south end of the little creek, and went to work on the first one north of it.  It gave us only a small amount of trouble locating the eggs, and soon all 94 were placed safely in a higher dune.  The nest crawl was just a minute away, but digging up 131 eggs, placing them in a bucket, digging a new hole, and putting them all back eats up some time.  We were working fast and could see the gap between the sea and the trees closing.

We had one more to do, and luckily, it was able to be left in place.  We finished up, rushed back to the creek, and with some fancy maneuvering on Kate's part, were able to cross at a spot with a bit less than a foot of water.  We don't like getting the Mule wet with sea water, we know it will be the inevitable cause of her death, but sometimes it's unavoidable.  We just hope the fresh water bath we give her at the end of each day is enough to preserve her for the season.

Safely on the south side of the creek, we could slow down just a bit.  We worked up each of the two remaining nests, and were done North Beach around 10am.   We had used all 6 of the screening sets I'd packed this morning.  The turtles are coming now, and we know it'll only be getting better.  We'll be packing more screens now, and plan to drop a bunch off on the middle of North as a backup.  Luckily we'd already done this on South Middle, and we were able to head down there without going back home for screens.

When we arrived at the double kayak, we learned that our island had been invaded by students from the University of Tennessee.  They had tents all over the campsite there, and we got chatting to two of their professors.  I finally got on the kayak and Kate took one of them on a ride to South beach.  There she found a mass of people enjoying the Memorial Day weekend, and one turtle crawl.  She worked it up as her guest, who teaches invertebrate zoology, got to watch.  It had to be relocated, so he got a real treat, getting to see the entire process.  It turned out to be his birthday; Kate had really made his day.

Along my ATV ride, I found a different kind of turtle on the beach.  It was a Diamondback Terrapin which had made it's was out of the marsh and down to the beach.  I didn't have my good camera, but I managed to get a picture with the camera we carry in our kit for strandings.  He didn't like me being there too much, and waited as a did, he wouldn't come out of his shell for me.

Also during my ATV ride, the machine quit on me.  This is not good.  The ATV is our only way of patrolling South Middle.  There are no roads to it, and it's too big to walk.  The ATV itself could only be moved out there at a low-low tide.  It sits out there in the elements, never getting the fresh water bath the Mule receives, but still, has until now, has been more reliable.  I tried several things to get it going, and eventually did, but it continued to stall out three more times.  It seems like a fuel related issue, though I'm still not certain.  I switched the fuel over to it's reserve tank, and that allowed me to finish my patrol, which included just one false crawl.  Kate has assigned me to this patrol, until the ATV runs properly again.

Before I left South Middle, I called Kate and learned she had a nest.  I grabbed her a spare screen and some stakes, and paddle back to the landing.  I ran into one of the UT people again, and was invited to lunch.  Kate hadn't come back yet, so I took up the offer - free food shouldn't be passed up on an island.  They were all quite nice, and I'll enjoy seeing them again over the next several days before they leave.  Kate finally arrived at the camp, and we headed off together to screen off her relocated nest.  Finished by around 1pm, we headed for home, chasing down a small alligator on the way.

After unpacking all the same things that we packed up this morning, and will repack tomorrow, and unpack again, until October... we got on the computer, logged our day's data, and got in bed.  The idea being to sleep until late evening, wake up and go on our first night patrol.  The turtles are here every night now, and tonight the tides are right, and the moon is still bright, giving us a pretty good shot at seeing one.

After about 3 hours of sleep, we are awake anyway.  Kate is using the time to get everything ready in the Mule and truck, while I do the blog.  It's 9:40pm now, and now that I'm finished writing, I'll try to get a few more hours of rest before we head out.  Wish us luck, if we find a turtle, it will be quite a moment for us.  We've really only worked with deceased turtles, and we're really excited to meet a big live mama laying her eggs in the sand.

Another Day Down

After 11 hours of sleep, you'd think I'd be ready to get out of bed this morning.  Not so much.  I definitely take after my mom and her ability to sleep long hours.  We rolled out of bed and performed the normal routine.  Scratch normal, because big or small, something is always thrown at us.  Today it was the Mule.  The battery and starter worked, but the engine just wouldn't agree.  Steve kept trying, pumping the gas, trying the choke.  Then, BAM!  We backfired.  This happened three times.  I have never seen it happen so when I saw an explosion out the exhaust I was pretty scared.  We gave up and moved the gear to the truck.  This was our first turtle patrol with it, so we didn't know what to expect.

The tide has changed our routine.  I got stuck on the north end of North Beach yesterday because a small tidal creek reformed and I timed the patrol all wrong.  Lesson learned, so we headed south.  South Beach was first, but the truck couldn't make it past the boneyard so I walked and Steve drove the windy, hilly, neglected road.  He eventually made it, and walking proved to be that faster mode of transportation.  South Beach had a false crawl, which was nice after days of nothing.  One of the nests washed over again.  There are about four nests over the entire island that have washed over 3 times with these full moon tides.  We're told not to lose hope.  Nature knows more about sea turtle nesting than we do.

South Middle Beach had a nest (SM7) and a false crawl.  The nest was placed safely up in the dune, thankfully.  Lately I've been dealt relocations, so just having to find the nest and lay some screens was a treat.  One part of the patrol that we haven't really written about is the opportunity to scan the beach for washed up treasure.  Not really treasure, but objects worth recovering.  Today we picked up a small boat fender and a blue crab trap buoy that I've had my eye on.  I've been collecting the buoys to hang around the turtle shed.  Only nice, brightly colored ones accepted.  There's a green door mat out there, so Steve, if you read this, bring it home.  You'll see it seaward of the high tide line ;)

Since we reached the north end before I thought it was safe to drive North Beach, we decided to kill time by walking North Middle together.  We both hopped on the single person kayak and carefully paddled to the other side.  Steve grabbed the bicycle and rode alongside me.  We thought it safe to bring it along in case there was a nest and one of us needed to go get screens.  Only a few minutes into the walk and we spotted a false crawl.  Soon after, Steve decided to go ahead of me.  I walked along the shell line deposited by this morning's tide while he surveyed the rest of the beach.  I found some crabs and some small purple invertebrates I've never seen before.  They we're shaped like flat mushrooms, though one side had tentacles.  Steve returned with a report of another false crawl.  After saving the purple things, and a sea star from the falling tide, we kayaked back to North Beach to finish the day.

North Beach had two false crawls and two nests.  One of the false crawls was in the dead myrtles.  So far all of the turtles hit the trees and turn around.  This turtle was determined to crawl inshore.  Turn after turn, she kept going deeper into the shrubby area.  We had to crawl on our hands and knees to follow the track.  Eventually she gave up and maneuvered back to the ocean.  I feel bad for her and hope she didn't get lost.  These nests (NB10 & NB11) were placed in the dunes and should be safe from high tides in the future.  We tried to finish the beach by truck but were stopped by soft sand.  After 4 wheel drive, low gear, and the help of a shovel, we were forced to drive back to hard sand and walk the remainder of beach.  We ran into some nice people getting a head start to the Memorial Day weekend.

On our return patrol we stopped at the nests to check for depredation.  So far we counted ourselves as lucky.  Just as we passed an eroded area, I thought I saw something that needed further inspection.  The hogs have started rooting again and sometimes the holes can look like turtle activity.  Just to be sure, I walked to the scarped area thinking it was just hog activity.  It turned out to be a depredated nest.  My heart sank as I turned back to Steve to get out of the truck.  We began collecting all the eggs in a bucket so we could count them later.  The eggs were everywhere.  We even dug up the hole to hopefully find intact eggs.  After we thought we recovered everything, we set off for home.  When we got back, I called Mark to figure out the next step.  After giving him the details, he told me that he thought we found eggs from one of last year's nests.  The calcified condition of the eggs could not have happened overnight, nor even several days.  I was so relieved to hear that and to tell Steve.  Although we know it'll happen eventually, we're just glad it hasn't happened yet.


The rest of the afternoon was spent cleaning out the dusty, mouse poop ridden laundry room.  We're told the machines don't work, but Steve wants a crack at them.  Right now we have to drive to the other house to use the machines, but every now and then, random people stay there.  I hate to walk in on strangers, such as this weekend, so I'll wait patiently as Steve hones in on his Macgyver skills.

Updates:
We removed our 200th balloon today from the beach.
Gertrude (a mouse) was set free today.

House Mouse

Kate is in bed, and it's only 6:30pm.  She gave me a day off today, had 8 false crawls and 2 nests to relocate, and now she's pooped.  I was told before she crashed out, that it was my turn to blog.  However, with me taking the day off, there isn't much to report.  I tried to sleep in, but couldn't, my body being used to rising early now.  I spent 2 hours making a lasagna that we had for dinner and will feed us a few more times.  I painted some posts white (the ones we use to mark the turtle nests).  I tooled around the house and the shed for awhile.  That's about it.

I did however manage to upload some videos today, including this one showing me finding eggs for the first time!



You can see more in the side bar to the right, or on my YouTube channel.  Our somewhat spotty internet service makes uploading longer videos difficult.  Hopefully I'll have better success with it soon.

Since there isn't anything else to write about, I'll use the opportunity to tell you about the mouse situation, something we haven't mentioned in the blog yet:

We have mice in the house.  We hear them scurry around at night, see their little mouse droppings in the areas they frequent, and to date, have caught and removed five of the furry little creatures.  Kate bought a small humane mouse trap after finding two mouse beds during our initial house cleaning.  We bait it with peanut butter, and set it out at night.  So far, the best place to catch them is under the bathroom sink.  There was a mouse bed there, and we thought there was a hole in the wall.  Now we know there is no way in or out of that cabinet save through the front door.  I remember one night, both of us were lying in bed, and I heard cabinet doors opening and closing.  I wondered what it could be, and went to investigate.  I found nothing in the kitchen, then went to check the bathroom.  When I opened the door, there he was, the common house mouse, staring back at me.  I tried to catch him with a cup, but he escaped.  On a different morning, I saw one run across the living room floor, across the dining room, and into the closet that holds our broken laundry machines.  I put the trap there that night, and caught one.

When we catch the mice, we take the trap with us on our morning drive and release them near the salt marsh along the way.  Although the first mouse we released near the auto shop, and the latest mouse, which we caught last night, I released in the backyard.  Kate says he'll just be back, and next time to take him further.  We'll never know if we recapture him.

We've given them all names so far.  In order they were: Pauline, Frederick, Simon, Dominick and Spencer.  Pauline was by far the largest, barely able to enter the trap.  Frederick had peed all over himself while he was trapped, he's the one in the picture above.

I don't know if we'll be able to catch enough of them to rid the house completely.  We only have the one trap and they have a rather high rate of reproduction.  We don't really mind them too much, as long as they aren't in the kitchen, though they can be rather destructive, and carry disease, so we may need to get more traps before they get out of hand.  We also have some other infestation going on in the attic.  Every once and awhile, there will be loud scurrying sounds in the ceiling.  They sound too large to be mice.  We're hoping it's only squirrels and not big rats, or monsters.

Like A New Beach

Last night I got a message from Mark, our boss, that he was coming to visit.  Steve and I were excited to hear the details when he finally called back.  Mark had to drop ice off to the island to the north, Wassaw National Wildlife Refuge, which does not have electricity.  He'd arrive early in the morning and meet us on North Beach.  Steve woke up extra early this morning because we went to bed early last night.  He had the Mule mostly packed by the time I was out of bed.  I made breakfast and together we got us out of the house.  Steve drove the truck to the dock for Mark and then we headed to the beach.

As soon as we pulled the Mule on the beach, we both were shocked at what last night's tide had done to our beach.  If it looked this bad here, what would the rest look like?  We had already expected a high tide with the approach of the full moon, but the strong northeasterly winds pushed the water much farther than anticipated.  Steve turned south to drop me off at the kayak.  Until today we joked at the short distance across the creek.  Some days you could push yourself from one bank to the other (which also means you could walk), but today, the distance was as least tripled, with wind, waves, and current added.  I grabbed the kayak, and box of supplies, kicked off my flip flops and headed across.  Not hard work, but the waves were an added treat.  I arrived on the other side, pulled the kayak to a safe level and headed for the bike.  From the other side, Steve and I could already tell that the nest on the north tip (NM1) had been washed over.  The screens were obviously pushed up.  I went for closer inspection and it wasn't looking good.  The new wrack line was a couple feet higher than the nest.  I restaked the screen and went for the bike.  I was very sad for the eggs, but the beach had to be surveyed.  I continued on the bike for a bit.  Most of the beach that I knew was gone.  The water had pushed so high that I realized there is not much safe nesting area.  I tried to push on with the bike, but the soft sand forced me off.  Every hundred meters or so I'd pedal, get off, walk, and so on.  Soon I rode up to a crawl - false crawl.  No body pit.  She hit the beach and turned right around. I did the work and rode on, sort of.  I still can't believe how little beach was left.  Nearly an hour later I was back at the Mule.  The bike is supposed to take twenty minutes; the walk, an hour.  Ugh.  

Steve drove me north.  He had already spotted one false crawl, but couldn't continue the survey because of the high tide, which peaked at 7:20AM.  He stopped at our nests.  The first few were high and dry, but the next few were too low.  We cleared it of the sand and wrack.  It only looked like a slight washover.  The next one was not so lucky.  It was clearly inundated with water.  We cleared that one too.  Steve drove us to the point which is difficult to pass at high water.  We easily made it for some distance, until we hit the "new" creek.  It existed our first few days, but receded back to the marsh.  Today it was flowing.  As we waited to pass, we took the opportunity to take pictures and explore.  Eventually the tide dropped and we could get by.  We soon found out next false crawl.  It was pretty close to one of our relocated nests, which was fine.  By this point Mark had called to let us know he had reached the beach.  We drove around the north end, only experiencing difficulty with soft sand.  Our first nest, NB1, was slightly washed over.  It was 11 days old today.  Mark tells us that it's natural, not to worry.  We're new at this, so how can we not?  We headed back to meet him, and continue the survey.

Mark showed us his treasure.  I call it treasure - anything found on the beach.  With careful eyes, and good intentions, anything picked up is often worthy.  He found a large whole cockleshell for his daughter.  With some glue and a latch, it'll make her smile.  Steve and Mark got in the truck for the drive south, me in the Mule.  Once in the south, we all jumped in the Mule and surveyed South Beach.  One of three nests washed over.  Then all three of us headed to the ATV.  A couple of nests washed over here.  Soon we found two more false crawls, one of which we all thought was a nest and dug around for quite a while.  It was a great learning experience to have Mark along for.  Steve and I joked later that we'd have been there for hours.  Back on land, the plan was to get home and then take us to Savannah so we could go shop for better rain gear.  We raced home and soon headed off the island.

Steve drove us to Bass Pro Shops.  We had fun with the clerk and walked out with some jackets that better work.  We stopped at Radio Shack to return the walkie talkies that can't handle Ossabaw.  We apparently live in a bubble.  After a quick stop at the grocery store, we were back at the dock.  Time on "the hill" is always too short.  

Rain Delay

We awoke and began our day like most.  We were a bit behind schedule, so we had cereal for breakfast.  Kate tried out a small French press we purchased from the thrift shop quite awhile back.  It was supposed to be for the RV, but we never got to use it, and now it's here.  It worked pretty well, and I was glad for the caffeine.

I went outside to start loading the Mule and realized everything outside was wet.  It wasn't raining then, but it had been.  I checked the hourly forecast and saw it was supposed to rain most of the morning, and build to thunderstorms in the afternoon.  Kate and I broke out the rain jackets we picked up last time we were in town, along with some rain pants we bought before leaving Florida.  We thought that would be enough.  We were sorely mistaken.

Along with loading the Mule, we attached a vinyl roof for it that we luckily found while cleaning the turtle shed.  When we discovered it, we thought it would make a great sun shade, but it proved today to be far more valuable for rain protection.  All loaded up and ready for the rain, we headed south.  It didn't take long for the rain to start, and by the time we were halfway to the beach, it was really coming down.  The roads were full of puddles, some a foot deep or more.  We couldn't drive fast, because of the raindrops pelting our faces and blinding us from seeing the road.  Things were beginning to seem worse than we had prepared for.  When we finally left the protection of the forest, and drove out into the clearing before the access to North Beach, we realized it wasn't just a little rain, it was a full blown storm.

We had been told during training that the rain shouldn't keep us from our work, and that it is even more important to get out there early, because the rain washes away many signs we need to find the nests.  And though we originally thought we could brave the weather, we couldn't.  We didn't make it to North Beach then.  Just as we had navigated the last large puddle and were about to cross over the dune and onto the beach, the wind and rain became too fierce.  We decided to turn around and head to a small pavilion type shelter, named the "Shorter Pavilion", which was not to far away.  By the time we reached it, we were wet, cold, and disheartened.  Our "100% waterproof" rain jackets from Coleman had shown themselves to be about 80% waterproof.  Our pants, which we thought had leaked, turned out to work well, it wet feeling being only the cold.  We parked the Mule under the shelter and began to wait out the rain.

We watched the beach, the waves, and the clouds from the pavilion.  Several egrets seemed to be enjoying the weather, along with the frogs, which were making their calls.  It began to thunder and lightning over the water, and now we were happy with our decision.  While we'd been told to work through the rain, we were also told not to mess around with lightning.  There's little protection on the beach, a human being taller than most other things there.  We continued to wait, until around 8:00.

The lightning had let up and we were determined to get out there and start working.  We bundled back up and started backing out the Mule.  Just then the wind and rain picked up significantly.  So back in we went, and waited some more.  After a little while, we told ourselves, "F it, we've got to get it done," and backed out again.  Nature was telling us something, because just as we did the wind and rain picked up again.  This time we didn't quit and drove on to the beach.  When we got there, things got really bad.  We made a right and surveyed the few hundred meters of the southern end of North.  The rain was sheeting over the sand, and we could barely see anything.  When we turned around at the tip and headed north, into the wind, we were completely blind.  Just then the lightning returned, and by the timing of the thunder, we knew it was close.  Kate drove fast back to the road, me yelling to warn her to stay away from the giant metal red #4 buoy that sits stranded on the beach there.  I figured it might be a good lightning target.  We sat parked on the road, our backs to the wind for a minute of two when more lightning came.  Then we boogied out of there.

We decided not to go back to the shelter, but to push on through the rain and head for home.  We were both wet and cold.  By the time we got half way home, we saw the skies over the beach begin to clear.  We could hardly believe it.  Still we weren't about to turn around, we need to warm up.  We got to the house, jumped in a warm shower, made hot miso soup, and got under the covers.  Half an hour later, the sky was clear, the sun was out, and we knew we had to get back to work.  We had been hoping it would be bad all day, and we'd catch a break, but the storms here have a reputation of blowing through quickly, and this one was true to form.

For the first time, we both donned shoes and socks for our patrol - our feet being the only thing that didn't warm back up.  We didn't need to wear all the rain gear this time, but we brought it along just in case.  We headed back to the beach, navigated all the now giant puddles, and pulled out onto the sand.  The beach had changed from all the rain.  There were little streams flowing toward the ocean.  Most of our Mule tracks along with all of our footprints and previous turtle crawls had been erased.  It was like a new beach altogether.

We drove along at a very slow pace, unsure if we'd be able to spot a crawl.  The tide was high last night, which alone makes things difficult, and with the rain, it was doubly hard.  We didn't think we'd see the tracks in the wet sand as we normally do, so we were looking high in the dune.  Then we came across a track in the sand we couldn't identify.  It looked somewhat like a terrapin track (a true turtle), but it may have been an alligator track that was washed down to appear different.  While we were out looking at it, Kate saw, just a few meters north, a turtle crawl!  It was true, there were no tracks in the wet sand below the wrack.  But it was there, clear as it could be, so we went to work.

This turtle went far up the beach, much further back than we have seen.  I suppose she knew to get high and dry, as the high tide and strong northeastern winds had washed over much of the beach.  We couldn't find the nest at first.  Probing was proving difficult as the rain had made much of the sand harder than usual.  We had to go through the skimming down routine again, but eventually we found the eggs, right where we thought they should be.  No relocation required, so we screened it off, and moved on.  We didn't find anything else on North Beach, and the weather was looking good.

It was my turn to do North Middle, so I went across and got on the bike.  I made it to the south end quickly and with minimal effort.  I thought it was because the sand was hard and I could go faster.  I realized once I turned around and headed north that it was because I'd had the wind at my back.  Going north wasn't so easy, and I still think I could have walked the bike back faster.  Along the way I found an old vodka bottle to add to our growing collection of antique bottles.  This island has tons of interesting old things.

Kate and I then headed off to do the south beaches.  We tried to avoid the washed out parts of the road, but it's difficult, as there aren't many alternatives.  On South Beach, we encountered two people walking the beach, but no turtle crawls.  We inspected our incubating nests, all of which looked good, then headed for South Middle.  We kayaked across to the ATV together, me enjoying the front seat for a change.  We brought some extra gear (a bucket, shovel and hammer) that we brought specifically to leave there, lessening the load of future trips.  Kate drove the ATV, me behind, and we headed out to the beach.

Again scanning slowly, we drove along.  Toward the north end, we saw something about a dune that seemed different.  There were no turtle tracks, but the sand was a different color in the shape of a body pit.  It had some escarpment on one side, and we started thinking it could be a nest, or maybe a false crawl, or possibly nothing to do with sea turtles at all.  We treated it like a nest, and started working it up.  Our efforts paid off, and we soon had eggs in hand.  This one needed to be relocated, as it was right in the wrack line.  Kate took the ATV and finished the beach while I moved the eggs to a better spot.  When we were done, Kate showed me her troublesome crawl from yesterday.

It was a really weird spot for certain, and I could see how it would be troublesome.  I probed around and didn't get anything.  We decided to spend half an hour on it anyway.  I went to work with the shovel, pealing back all the loose sand to get down to an area that could be probed.  As I was digging, I unearthed an egg, miraculously without breaking any.  Kate was truly upset.  She'd spent 2 hours working this crawl, even digging and probing all around where I'd managed to find the eggs in about 5 minutes.  There's a lot of luck in all this Kate, so don't beat yourself up.

Finally we were done the day.  We got off the beach at 5pm.  The only good part about being done so late was the fact that there were lots of animals out along our way home.  We crossed paths with 3 armadillos, 1 dear, many birds, frogs and crabs, and one HUGE alligator.  We had a gigantic pasta dinner when we got to the house, as we hadn't eaten anything but some trail mix for over 12 hours.  It was a long and hard day, but finding three nests, and knowing we've done our part to protect them, makes it all worth it.

My First Day Alone = Not So Good

Today's plan was supposed to be a practice run for me to do the beaches alone.  I don't feel confident enough yet to be alone, however it happened anyway.  Steve woke up with me, and helped pack up the Mule.  He took the truck with extra screens and fishing gear.  The idea was that he'd fish while I surveyed the beaches and help if I needed it.  I drove North Beach and found nothing.  As I was preparing to start North Middle, grey clouds starting moving in.  I got all the gear in the kayak, grabbed the bike and pedaled hard.  I returned with no crawls, but relieved it hadn't started pouring yet.  As I was riding, I thought of the convenience of the truck to provide shelter with A/C and radio to ease the time. Steve had no luck with the cast net.  I offered to try to get bait for the next stop but we noticed a poorly inflated tire on the truck.  He didn't think it would be a good idea to drive south, so I was on my own.  I'll admit I had been cranky this morning and when Steve offered to finish the beaches for me, I got angrier.  I refused, because I needed to try.  Looking back, I wished he had come along.

I arrived in the south and decided that since I hadn't been rained on yet, I should survey with the ATV before it started.  I had a lot of gear to take, reorganize, and get out there.  It took me much longer to push off with the kayak than any other morning.  I landed, and loaded all the stuff on the ATV.  The winds picked up and the skies darkened.  I knew I couldn't avoid it now.  The ride north put me straight into the wind, making my survey effort much harder.  I was almost to the north end when I spotted a crawl.  I quickly looked at it, and hopped back on the ATV to finish the beach.  Nothing else to worry about, so I went back to work it up.  By this point, the rain had started, worrying me about the phone, GPS, and field book.  I needed to call Steve, look up old nests/crawls, and check my location.  This nest had misguiding clues, as well as missing clues from last night's storm.  The GPS showed that I was close to a nest that was relocated two days ago, but I was pretty sure I was there for it, and did not recognize this location.  I called Steve hoping he could remember anything.  He couldn't help.  By this point I was beyond frustrated with my situation, but knew I had to keep trying.

The crawl itself threw me off.  The tide line I had been following made me believe that it was a crawl from yesterday, and therefore Steve missed it.  I knew, however, that he would not have missed this.  The turtle crawled over an old thick wrack line, through some fleshy grass, and into a small washover fan surrounded by shrubs.  As I looked around, there were no other spots like this.  She had found the one and only entrance to sand for meters in both directions.  I hated the idea that she'd nest here, but I had to try.  There were some clues to a nest, but the rain had really erased most of the evidence.  The fact that there was a track differential forced me to believe it wasn't a false crawl.  So, I got to work.  Probe, dig, nothing.  Probe, dig, crab hole.  Probe, dig, roots.  I took off 6 inches of sand and started over.  Again, nothing.  More sand removed, still nothing.  After working on this spot for 2 hours, I gave up.  I called it a false crawl, but I'll have my eye on it throughout the season.

By this point, the storm had ceased and sun came out.  I packed up the ATV, and drove the entire beach again, worried I'd missed something earlier.  Nothing new, so I got on the kayak and headed for the Mule.  South Beach also had no crawls.  It was 12:45, I had been out for over 6 hours, and all I had was a false crawl.  I counted on today to build my confidence, but instead, I keep going over the details of the only false crawl.  Did I miss it?  Only time will tell.

Celebrate World Turtle Day!

Celebrate the turtles today, and not just sea turtles.  From little and big, slow and fast, water and land.  Many are breeding right now and need everyone's help.  Check out the Humane Society's website to learn how all are impacted and what you can do to help.

Photo courtesy of Seaturtle.org, taken by Alan Rees of ARCHELON 

All By Myself

We've been discussing the "day off" situation for several days now.  This morning, Kate seemed like she really didn't want to get out of bed, so I told her to stay there, turned out her light, shut the bedroom door, and began the day, all by myself.

She'd already snoozed the alarm clock 3 times, so I didn't have time for a hot breakfast, but a big bowl of cereal and banana soon filled me up.  I dressed for a chilly morning, packed up the mule with enough gear for 6 nests and hit the road.  For the first time since we've arrived, I was able to drive the roads without Kate, an infamous side-seat driver.  With the pedal to the floor for almost the entire ride, I was going a lightning fast 15 miles per hour!  Overall I was only able to shave 5 minutes off the normal travel time, having to stop twice to pick up things that had bounced out of the Mule, and still having to slow down at the worst sections of road.  I guess it didn't really pay off to go fast, but it was fun, woke me up, and set the pace I'd need for a busy morning.

I was on North Beach at 6:10, earlier than ever before and before the sun.  Twilight today began at 5:55, and it was surprisingly light out even without the sun above the horizon.  I headed north found a crawl, probed around, and had an egg in hand in just 5 minutes.  The nest was low, so I relocated it, higher on the beach, and was back to driving by 6:50, just 45 minutes to relocate a nest.  I found another crawl and had my next egg at 7:00.  I got this one on the 3rd probe, using a 4th probe just to be sure.  This one was in a good spot so it was left in situ, screened and finished in 15 minutes (7:15).  I reached the north tip of Bradley (North Beach) at 7:30.  I turned south, checking all our incubating nests along the way for signs of wash-over or predation, and to check the screens haven't been buried by blown sand.  I was parked at the blue kayak at 7:55.  I was feeling confident in my new turtle nest hunting abilities and quite happy with the speed I was getting things done.

As soon as  I arrived on North Middle I encountered 2 bald eagles perched only about 150m from each other.  When I approached on the bike, one flew off, followed a minute later by the other.  They seemed to go in the same direction, and I'm wondering if they could be a pair.  I'll have to check with our bird guy Tim.  The beach was empty of any turtle signs - typical for this beach, which we expect to only have about 10 nests all season.  With the bike I was able to finish North Middle by 8:30.

Half and hour's worth of bumpy Mule riding brought me to South Beach at 9:00.  I hit a nest in about 2 minutes.  This one looked pretty typical, and I was sure I'd be able to perform another "4 prober".  I hit a sweet spot in about the area I expected the nest cavity.  I dug down - nothing.  I probed around some more and hit another soft area, dug again, but it was a ghost crab tunnel.  I probed and probed the entire body pit, about a 7' x 5' oval, probing every 4 inches.  I couldn't find anything.  Sure that this was a nest, I got the shovel, removed all the humps, and skimmed down 6 inches from the base level of sand.  The sun was out now, along with the horse flies.  Sweaty and bitten, I now had a new flat area to work with.  I probed around again and hit the spot - or so I thought.  A ghost crab hole had tricked me again.  I probed the entire oval again and still found nothing.  I was starting to tell myself this was a false crawl, but all the signs of a nest where there, and I was determined to be patient and find the eggs.  Again I skimmed down 6 inches of sand.  I was now at wet hard sand.  I began probing again, and while doing so, my bare foot stepped into a soft spot.  I probed around that area and was confident this was it.  I dug down a few more inches and found an egg - finally!  It had taken me 40 minutes to locate this nest cavity.  I suppose the turtle gods had decided to check my ego and remind me that mama turtle is better at her job than I am at mine.

The nest was in a low, scarped area, and needed to be relocated.  I carefully dug up all 135 eggs, placed each one into a bucket, carried the bucket down the beach, dug a new nest cavity of similar size and shape into a higher dune and placed 134 eggs gently into their new home (saving one for research).  I filled in the hole, covered it with 2 different screens, secured those together with 2 cable ties, snipped the ends off the ties, hammered 4 metal stakes into the corners of the larger screen to keep it all down, wrote "SB2 - R - 5-23-10" (South Beach nest #2, relocated 5/23/10) on a both sides of a white painted post and hammered that into place.  I took the GPS coordinates of the new nest cavity, along with those for the original, and recorded other necessary information in the book.  Finally, I carried the one egg down to the water, broke it open, dumped the contents into the water, placed the shell into a vial filled with ethanol, and marked the vial "10-OSS-SB2" (2010, Ossabaw, nest SB2).  It was now 10:20, an hour and twenty minutes from when I first saw the crawl.

I continued my drive south and ran into another crawl 5 minutes down the beach.  Feeling tired now and a little defeated, I approached the body pit slowly.  I looked at the pit, then out to the ocean, gave a nod to the turtle gods, and looked back at the pit.  I picked my spot and pushed in the probe stick.  I found the nest cavity on the second probe!  I had an egg in hand a few seconds later.  I then spent about 5 minutes trying to decide whether or not to relocate this nest.  It was in a scarped area, but higher than most of the wrack.  It was also only a 100 meters or so from a nest I had relocated a few days ago.  I decided that since I was in doubt, I would leave the decision up to mama turtle.  She picked this spot, and cut me a break on finding it, so I figured it deserved to stay put.  Hopefully it won't be our first washed out nest.

I finished up South Beach around 11:00 and headed up to the double kayak.  There I found a cooler in my launch.  I crossed my fingers, prayed for beer, and peeked inside.  It was packed with dead fish and ice.  I had seen a boat tied up at South Beach, and figured the fishermen must have walked up here.  Still they were nowhere to be seen.  I moved the cooler out of the way, launched the kayak and paddled up to the ATV.  My drive on South Middle showed no crawls.  I used the opportunity to stash some extra screens on it's north end for the future.  I headed back, spotted the fishermen way up on the island and called Kate to relay all this to Andy, the Law Enforcement Officer for the island, so he could go chase them off.

On the way home I crossed paths with a young alligator, only 2-3 feet long.  After lunch, a shower, and a 20 minute nap, I was refreshed.  My whole survey today took me 6 hours.  It seemed long when I first took note of it, but I now realize that today was our biggest nesting day so far: 4 nests, 2 being relocated.  Really, I wasn't any more tired at the end of it than I am on days Kate and I work together.  I know I can handle the beaches all by myself, giving Kate much needed rest.  I'm a little worried for June, when we could easily have 8 nests in a day, along with false crawls (which I had none of today), but we need days off to recharge, so it has to be risked.  Now hopefully, Kate is ready to run the beach alone, and give me another day all by myself, this time at home.

Note: Being alone today, I didn't take any pictures.  The ones in this post are from days previous.

20 days, 10 nests, No Rest.

We have 10 nests incubating, spread over 11 miles, across 4 beaches.  We are driving about 40 miles everyday, at an average speed of about 10 miles per hour.  We've been working for 20 days now, have not had a day off, and do not expect one anytime soon.  When we do get a day off, it will be for one of us, while the other does all the work alone.  We are tired sore, bug bitten and sun burned - and we're having an amazing time.

Today we did the regular routine.  We found two nests today on the north end of South Middle.  They are SM2 and SM3.  One of which (SM2) needed to be relocated.  Kate did most of the work today while I snapped pictures, did the data entry, and cheered her on.  She says she wants to be more comfortable working the nests before she'll be ready to go it alone and give me a day off.  Hopefully that will happen soon, though on my "day off", I'm certain I'll find a bunch of things to keep me busy.  At least, when that day finally comes, I'll get to sleep in past dawn.

Besides the normal routine, we managed to squeeze in a few adventures.  First, since Kate was so quick on the bicycle today, she spent some time cast netting at the north end tidal creek.  She caught a dozen or so minnows.  Later, at the south end tidal creek she tried to catch some larger fish with the net, but had no luck.  While she was working on that, I went clamming in the surrounding mud.  I found 7 clams, but they were mostly large chowder clams.  I was hoping for little or top necks, but these will get eaten in some form.

On our way back home, we wanted to stop at our crab pot and refresh it with the bait Kate caught.  We decided to take a new road as a shortcut to the pot.  It went as shortcuts usually do.  After a rough ride, navigating through overgrown areas and around fallen trees we were almost to the pot.  Then we came upon a small sign and a missing bridge.  We had to turn around and go all the way back.  It sure would have been nice to place that sign at the beginning of the road.  Still there was some notable vistas along the way.  We spotted several egrets roosting, a large alligator, and some new flowers we haven't seen before.  We plan to go back and pick some, but other than for that, we probably won't use that road again.

We finally did get back to our crab pot.  There are 4 large blue crabs in there now.  With the fresh bait we added, more should follow soon.  We want to make crab cakes, but that will take a lot of crabs.  When we got home, we were dirty and tired, so we showered and lazed around on the couch through the afternoon.  I uploaded some more photos to our ever growing web album.  We also called AT&T to suspend my phone.  That should save us some money for a few months.  If you'd like to get in touch with me, just call Kate, or our house phone.

A Nest On Every Beach

This morning was the first that we overslept, sort of.  The alarm went off at 4:45, and I hit the snooze, which is customary.  Steve woke me up at 5:35.  Not too late, but late enough to have to scarf down cereal.  Not having enough time to make coffee, I made us some tea, with the added benefit of half & half and sugar.  Steve packed up the Mule quickly, with extra screens, stakes, and posts, expecting another busy morning.  We also packed in Steve's bicycle!  This is our greatest addition to the sea turtle patrol.  With the mule loaded to capacity, tea in hand, and new snazzy clear safety glasses, I drove us off down Main Road.  It was such a treat to be able to see!

We arrived on North Beach and Steve hopped out.  He took his bike across the creek and we headed our separate ways.  I passed the two new nests near the road and expected something to show up rather quickly.  The first crawl wasn't too far off.  Her tracks lead far down the wet sand telling me that she was a late arrival, since high tide was at 2:30 AM.  I peeked at the nest, figured it was safe, and continued up the beach.  The same high tide can also make finding nests more difficult if the turtle nests early in the night.  Her tracks will only be seen in the dry sand.  I was driving close to the eroding myrtles when something caught my eye as I drove past.  I turned back and looked more closely.  Some tracks were there, and she dug a body cavity, and what looked like an attempt at a nest cavity.  The area she dug was bordered by dead shrubby trees and the high tide.   One of the worst locations possible for a nest.  I decided to continue on to survey the rest of the beach.  Not too much farther was another crawl, on a washover fan.  This crawl was very similar to the last in that she dug a body pit and started a nest cavity.  Again, I planned to revisit it after the survey was complete.  Steve radioed to tell me he found a nest on the very north tip where we store the bike and extra screens.  He worked it up as I continued north, delicately traversing the mine field of horseshoe crabs.  I made it to the end of the beach, pulled out the binder and prepared to check on the incubating nests on my return.  Every nest was safe.  The nest we relocated yesterday by the raccoon tracks did have fresh tracks around and loose sand from the raccoon on the screen.  I'm not too worried though, because we're told the raccoons only think to reach through the screens, not to dig around.  They're smart, but not smart enough.  

By the time I reached Steve, he had found the nest and pulled one egg.  We took all the equipment across the creek.  I completed the paperwork and Steve covered the nest.  We're still feeling lucky that the first nest on North Middle was at the very northern tip.  He completed the round trip in 20 minutes, saving at least 40.  We crossed the creek back to the Mule and headed back to visit the three crawls I had.  Without too much writing, they were the same situation.  All three had abandoned nest cavities.  We spent a little bit of time probing to be sure.  Each site was different in sand composition, height, and distance to the water.  It really makes us wonder why some are abandoned when they seem like good locations.

We made the drive south and I hopped out for the kayak.  I arrived at the ATV and noticed for the second morning a Wilson's Plover.  The first morning it did a broken wing display, characteristic of a nearby nest.  Perhaps one morning I'll locate the nest to make sure we don't harm it.  I hit the beach and not 20 feet south I saw my first Wilson's Plover chick (not my photo).  It was so tiny.  A miniature version of its parents.  We'll have to allow them some more room when we drive the ATV.  My long drive on South Middle didn't turn up any turtle activity, but I received another call from Steve telling me that he found a nest that needed to be relocated.  He did all the work himself as I finished my patrol.  I drove extra slowly to kill time and picked up 17 balloons.  Eventually I got word from Steve that he was done with his nest and finishing his patrol.  I met him back at the Mule and he told me about the nest.  It was located on a scarped area of erosional pine forest.  He said there was no crawl, basically the turtle climbed up some sea wrack and laid the nest.  Steve also said that had it not been for an old sea turtle screen from last year, he might have missed it.  We're told that experts miss 7% of nests, so we're bound to miss something.  He's really getting good at this.

We came home and lounged around.  I took a nap in the back yard and Steve tinkered with the internet that's been giving us some problems.  A little later we decided to tackle the shed.  It was scary in there.  There was a lot of old tools, rusty screws, junk, and it thick with cobwebs.  After a few hours of labor, it looks much better.  We finally have space to store stuff.  We also found some cool stuff.  This place is all about found objects.  We hauled the trash to the dumpsters and the other stuff still sits in the yard waiting to be hosed off.  Another chore checked off the list.  We rounded off the night with dinner, data entry, first aid kit repacking, and the creation of two patrolling kits as it's become evident that most beaches will have some activity every day.  We need to start completing our own nest work alone if it can be to save time.  Since we don't think we'll be getting another Mule any time soon, we need to shave time however we can.

I found this story yesterday and wanted to share it.  We're very worried about the oil spill, and new data shows it seeping into the loop current, and therefore threatening everything along the gulf stream.

Things are Ramping Up

It's really starting to feel like turtle season now.  We had a total of 3 nests this morning, one which had to be relocated.

The morning started out as usual.  Kate and I were both up before the alarm sounded but neither of us stirred until it did.  We got extra sleep last night, me hitting the sack around 7pm and her around 8pm.  It was much needed.  Once we popped out of bed, had some eggs and packed up the Mule, we hit the Main Road, down to Willows Field Rd, over to Bradley Road and off onto Bradley (North) Beach.  We got there earlier than any previous day, 6:15am.  Normally, as soon as we hit the beach we make a right hand turn, and head a few hundred meters south to the blue kayak.  This morning however, I made a left.  Kate asked immediately, "What are you doing?"  She didn't see what I saw.  Not 15 meters from the road was a beautiful loggerhead crawl.

This mama turtle knew what she was doing.  She came up before high tide, climbed high on a nice sandy dune, right up to the top and put down a nest.  I wish I could have been there in the evening to see it happen.  She was a big one, and the track she left was perfectly textbook.  The dune she picked will stay high and dry until her babies are ready, and when they do hatch, they'll have a clear shot to the ocean with no obstructions, and no chance of going the wrong direction.  She did her job well, giving them the best start she could.

Kate and I briefly looked at the crawl, admiring the swirls, and confirming with each other it was not a false crawl.  Then I dropped Kate off at the kayak and we each headed off for our patrols.  The tide was low, and Kate didn't even use the kayak, she just walked across the inlet.  I started speeding North, eager to see the next crawl, and to check on our incubating nests.

It didn't take too long to come upon another crawl.  This one was in another good spot, atop a decent sized dune.  It looked like a nest, and if so would be left in situ (in place, as opposed to a nest needing to be relocated).  So I did a little circle with the Mule in the wet sand so I'd be able to see the spot on the way back, then continued north.  I came upon the third crawl of the day in an erosional part of the beach.  I looked at it for a little while, going back and forth between nest and false crawl.  My first instinct was nest, and if so, this one would need to be relocated.  Again, I marked the spot and sped off to finish my patrol.

I hit the north tip of the beach with no more signs of turtles.  I radioed Kate to let her know what I'd found and to find out if she had anything.  Luckily she didn't.  Though we want nests, I knew if she found one on the south end of North Middle, we'd have to get the gear and walk all the way to it, losing a lot of time.  We discussed our plan of attack before I turned around and headed south.  On my way back to get Kate, I stopped to check on the two nests (NB1 & NB2) we already had worked up in days prior.  All was well with those, no ghost crab holes, no egg shells strewn about, no hog or raccoon attacks.  I made my marks indicating so in the book and went back south.  I stopped off at the first nest we had discovered by the road and started working it.  I had just finished analyzing the crawl to determine her orientation and marked off the body pit with sea wrack when I spotted Kate finishing her walk.  I picked her up in the Mule, and together we really got working.

We marked the GPS location, and started probing.  This one was a little trickier than it seemed at first.  It turned out the turtle actually climbed up and over the very steep dune - I myself had trouble walking to the top.  Using this information, along with looking at the in track versus the out track helps us to guess which way she was facing when she laid the egg.  Other signs like thrown sand and uprooted vegetation aid as well.  It's important to know her direction, because that leads to a good guess at where the actual nest cavity is.  Overall, the mess she makes in the sand can be a six to eight foot circle, while the top of the nest cavity is only about six to eight inches.  Trying to find this small area, buried under all that sand, is the true art of this work.

Our first assumption was wrong, and I started to worry we'd be digging for hours like our first nest.  We used the shovel to skim off half a foot of sand and probed again.  Still nothing.  I skimmed down some more, but the dune kept collapsing and filling in my hole.  At this point it seemed we were too deep for the nest cavity, so I turned around and started skimming another area.  I felt and heard the shovel just rake over an egg.  I was a little worried I'd broken it, but it was intact.  It wouldn't really have mattered, because I took that egg for the DNA research.  Glad we found the nest in good time, we covered it back up, put on the protective screens, marked it with a post labeled NB3, and finished filling all the data into the book.  We put our supplies back in the Mule and headed to the northernmost nest, since the sooner we relocate the better.

We checked this crawl over and it appeared the turtle had tried two spots.  Looking at the tracks in the sand, we were able to determine which spot was second, and therefore the actual nest.  We marked off the body pit, made our guess at where the cavity could be, and probed away.  One spot seemed like it, but after Kate dug it out, found nothing.  We skimmed off some sand, and probed again.  This time we found it.  Once we were sure there were eggs there, we moved on to the relocation protocol.

We headed down the beach about 350m to the north were we found a reasonable place to build the new nest.  There was a small dune, but it had raccoon tracks all about.  We are a little worried about this, but it seemed the closest good spot, so we stuck with it.  We headed back to the nest and Kate started digging.  One by one she carefully removed the eggs and placed them into a 5 gallon bucket.  This turtle laid 158 eggs!  The average is only 115.  It filled over half of the bucket.  She must have been a big girl to be carrying all those eggs.

Kate checked the size and shape of the nest cavity, picked up the bucket and we slowly drove to the new spot.  Using a cockleshell, Kate created a new nest cavity in the approximate size and form of the original.  Then she slowly filled it up with the eggs.  We took our one, filled over the hole, covering it just like mama would do, throwing sand, sea wrack and vegetation to camouflage it.  Then we covered it with screen and marked it NB4.  It was now about 9:30, and we knew we wouldn't be able to relocate any nests on the south beaches if we had any.  The cutoff time for relocation being 10am.  We headed south to the last nest.

We worked it up just as the others.  I marked off the body pit, and made my guess at where the nest cavity was.  I probed once, twice, three times and then jackpot!  I probed a few more times around the area to be sure, but I barely needed to.  The wooden dowel we use to probe only goes so far down before it hits hard sand all around the nest, but when it finds the nest cavity, the sand is softer, and just when it should hit hard, it pushes through and you feel it give.  It's a little shocking each time, as you have to pull yourself back so not to probe all the way into the eggs.  I dug down where I felt the give and had an egg out and the spot marked in about 3 minutes.  I wish they could all be that easy, and I know they won't be, but I do have to say, I think I'm getting good at this.  NB5 was marked off and should be ready in 50-60 days.

We got off North Beach and went south to do those patrols.  No nests or crawls on either South or South Middle.  Kate retrieved an old fishing net we might use for something off her beach, as well as some whelks.  I brought back a crab trap and one big whelk from South Middle.  We headed home to shower and nap before meeting Andy at the dock for a ride into town.

We got three hours in town, just enough time to hit Walmart, Radio Shack and Kroger (the local grocery store).  We filled 4 large tupperwares and a cooler with stuff - mostly food.  At Radio Shack we picked up a pair of walkie tallkies that should be strong enough to use on the beaches.  Our state issued phones have a radio, push-to-talk, feature, but still require a cellular signal, which isn't available on all parts of the island.  We also brought back my bike from the RV.  Now we can do North Middle with some speed.

When we got home, we unpacked everything, stocked the fridge and pantry with enough goodies for a couple more weeks, ate dinner and jumped on the computers.  Tomorrow should be another exciting day, with more nests to be sure.  We are really settled in here now, and with fresh food and a few more supplies to round out what we'd been missing, we are ready to work, work, work.  Hopefully with a whole lot of play mixed in.