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.

Digging Up A Nest On Our Own

Saturday morning was our turn at excavating a nest - NB4 was ready to be unearthed.  Even though Steve had the day off, he came out to see it, learn some more.  We're back on the learning curve again, so every experience counts.  Steve got the camera and I got to work.  Not far from the surface I began pulling out hatchlings, some dead, but some alive.  At first the live guys were lethargic, but we quickly watched them wake up and begin their own delayed frenzy.  Steve had to get the bucket to put the live ones in so we wouldn't lose them as I was still digging up shells and turtles.  This was my first time digging up the nest, and I'll admit it was a little gross, but nothing I can't get over considering my years at the zoo.  

Once I hit the bottom and there were no other live turtles, it was time to take them to the water.  We set the bucket down shoreward of the water, to let the turtles run down the beach.  One at a time I took them out and placed them on the wet sand.  They all oriented themselves well and started to make the journey toward the ocean.  Some were faster than others, others had obvious issues.  A few still had curved carapaces, some had flipper problems.  After some time, we took them to the water's edge, hoping this would better encourage them to keep moving.  After several trips we had them all in the water.  Again, some were better than others.  I moved a few deeper so they wouldn't get washed ashore.  Soon they were all out of sight and we headed back to count the remains: 87 hatched shells, 55 unhatched or pipped (hatchling broke through shell but didn't emerge), 16 dead hatchlings in nest, 17 live released in the water.

Soon Steve was gone and the beaches were left to me.  I had two nests on Bradley, both relocated.  Later I removed the small screening from several nests meaning that we should have a lot of emergences soon.  NB1 seems like it should emerge at any time, and NB3 should be very close.  After biking North Middle, and finding no crawls, I headed south.  I didn't find any crawls on South Beach, but I did find a lot of people.  It's hard to remember the day of the week out here, but we always know when it's Saturday because of the boaters on the north and south tips of Ossabaw.  I had to weave around them to scan for turtle crawls, and fortunately found none, since I'd have 50 people watching me.  The Mule then started giving me problems as it acted like it was running out of gas even though it had plenty.  Not wanting to get stuck in the rising tide, I took the barely used road on the south end.  Even though the road was rough, it was fun because I had never seen that part of it.  There were Lantana flowers everywhere - vibrant reds and oranges.  Big pine trees, old rolling hills from older dunes.  Steve and I will have to do more exploring down there.  By this time the Mule was running normally again.  I arrived at the South Middle kayak and headed over for the last beach.  It was hot and sunny, and I hate that I'm often stuck on this beach with no shelter in the afternoon.  

I drove through the dunes and headed south first.  The Oystercatchers were at the nest, so I let them be.  We're still hoping for one chick, so better to not disturb the parents.  The number of shorebirds grows every day as they are returning from nesting, some as far as the high arctic.  I hit the south tip and turned north.  I didn't find a crawl until the north end.  The body pit was very long, which meant more area to probe.  Luckily, I found it at the tail end, and didn't have to work the rest.  I had to relocate it and was relieved when I found a good dune 30 feet away.  By now I was sunburned and tired.  I was soon on my way south.  I didn't find any emergences this day, though some looked like there might have been.  My untrained eyes are have some trouble deciding between sea turtle hatchling and ghost crab.  When I saw the tracks from NB2 with Mark it was very obvious, so I am trying not to second guess myself.  When I see it, I'll know.  

I made it home late, just as late as Steve the day before, and he had so much more work than I.  I don't know, I guess I am that slow.  After data entry, we went to Andy's for dinner and cat time.  Panner has really grown a liking toward us and finally naps on the couch with us.  We're glad to be a substitute family for them.  

I Love This Job...Even When It's Super Hard.

Kate took the day off today - part of a plan to for us both to get some good quality down time.  While Andy is away, and we are watching his pets, we've been granted use of his house, DVD collection, large TV, and two cats to love on.  So, Kate had today off, I get tomorrow off, then Kate off again, followed by me.  Two days off each, with no interruptions by the hog boys...bliss.  Another reason we thought this was such a great idea is because turtle activity has been ramping down, most days having just a couple of crawls.

Today however did not go according to plan.  I'm not sure if the turtle gods like me, or hate me, but there was more activity today than we have seen in two weeks - 15 activities total, 8 nests, 7 false crawls.  It was a long, long day for Steve.

Things actually started out well.  I woke up at 4:30, sleeping on the alarm clock side of the bed and setting my own snooze schedule.  I was out of bed by 5:00 or so, and had a bacon, egg and cheese on a croissant for breakfast (substitute bacon for a small Ossabaw hog loin).  After loading up the Mule and hitting the fuel station to top things off, I was on my way.  Kate gave me her iPhone for the day, with her great head phones.  I could barely hear the Mule running as I made my way to the beach.  I was on Bradley by 6:30 and the tide was just right to get across to North Middle on the Mule.

North Middle patrol had no crawls, and only took a half an hour.  I was back on Bradley by 7:00am.  I then started out on my journey north, and found a crawl within minutes.  I had an egg in hand rather quickly, and continued north.  There was another crawl, I worked it, and then another, and another...  One body pit I came to had a stick sticking straight out of it.  I had known the teacher group on the island had been planning a night excursion and I was happy to know they had found a turtle, watched it nest, and marked it off for me.  Saving me a few precious minutes in what proved to be a long, long day.

It turned out I had five nests on Bradley beach.  I also had six false crawls.  Kate radioed me about the time I was finishing up the fifth nest.  I wasn't sure it was the last nest for North Beach, but I was sure I was on my last set of screening materials.  Of course she offered her help if I needed it, but I wanted her to enjoy her day off, and told her to stay home.  But I had to cross my fingers and hope I could finish the beach without another nest, otherwise I'd be fresh out of material and pretty much screwed.  Things worked out though, I only found one more false crawl north of that.

After Bradley, I was feeling good, rocking tunes, checking nests, and heading south.  The only problem I had was that I had no more screens.  I knew there were some out on South Middle with the ATV, but I wanted to check on South Beach first, thinking I could take note of what I would need, and bring it back on the kayak later.  And so, I drove to South Beach, with no screens.

As soon as I hit the first road to South Beach I saw a crawl, not just a crawl, but an obvious nest.  I cursed a little for not having screens, decided to leave it for now, and headed south for the rest of the beach.  The tide was coming in and I couldn't skirt around the boneyard there, so I tried to drive up and over some of the downed trees.  Kate and I have done this before, a hundred times I'm sure, but this time was different.  The sand must have washed out, and the this particular palm trunk was a bit higher than usual.  And so, the font tires of the Mule ran over the trunk, but then the rest of the Mule came down on the trunk, and stayed there.  I was completely stuck.

I worked on that Mule for an hour or more, trying everything I could to get it unstuck.  Eventually I realized the tide was coming up and there was a real possibility I wouldn't be able to get it un-stuck in time.  I called Kate, interfering with her day off, and asking for rescue.  I told her she could recruit Eric if he was available.  I  wasn't worried about seeming the fool for getting the Mule stuck, I was more worried about leaving it stuck too long and losing it to the tide, which would make me even more the fool.  As they were headed down to me, I kept working to move the Mule.  Eventually I found a long enough piece of driftwood that was strong enough to lever the Mule off the log.  The relief I felt when I did was one of the best things that happened all day.

By this time it was about 1:00 in the afternoon.  I had driven North to meet up with Kate and Eric to intercept them and let them know everything was fine.  Afterward went out to South Middle and found one nest on the north end which had to be relocated.  Following that I went back to South beach, dug up the nest that was sitting by the north road, and drove it down around the boneyard to be relocated on the south end.  I didn't find anymore crawls on South, and finally was headed home.

After washing off the Mule and re-supplying it with screens, stakes, and posts for Kate tomorrow, I took a shower and laid down for a spell.  In less than an hour I was refreshed enough to rise, and head off with Kate to visit our teacher friends at the clubhouse.  They fed us chicken pot pie and other things, along with wine and stories.  We mooched some educational materials off of them which we will add to our turtle library and will hopefully be able to share with friends.  They're headed out again tonight, and I wish them turtle luck.  But for Kate's sake, I hope there are a few less crawls than I had today.

Timmy the Turtle

Today  was like any other day.  I hit the north end, and Steve hit the south end.  My only moment of mention was the discovery of six egg shells and two dead hatchlings at NB4.  There were two ghost crabs hanging around, so I grabbed my shovel and killed one.  My first ghost crab kill.  I didn't think I'd try it, but immediately after I saw the hatchling, I had no problem.  I found myself staking some more out around other nests, probe stick in one hand, shovel in the other.  I never did get any more.  Mark said that we'll find a ghost crab in nearly every nest.  It's a natural relationship, so we can't get too upset.

Steve and I had three nests today, still averaging a good number.  We've been worried about the end of nesting, but they still keep coming, though the days of 8 nests are over.  As I was on my way home, I found Steve at the culvert fishing.  He already caught two nice red drum, so we decided to head home and catch a break before Mark's visit.  Today was our training on nest excavation.  Just after I finished feeding that cats, at only 10:30, Mark called to let me know he was on the island, hours before we expected.  We packed up the truck and headed to Bradley Beach.

Our stop was NB2, our first nest to hatch.  Mark and I discovered the crawls on Monday.  Typically, we'll wait 5 days before we excavate a nest.  This number varies by state, island, organization...  We do this to allow stragglers to find their way out on their own.  It provides ample time for the late bloomers to try, as well as not being to long to help out other healthy turtles.  Mark started by digging in the nest cavity, and started pulling out dead hatchlings, over and over again.  Soon we had lots, not a good sign, but also not the end of the world.

On Monday, Mark counted 49 crawls, so at least that many made it out of the nest.  Eventually, he pulled out a live turtle.  He was slow moving, but still alive.  Mark dug a little hole and covered the little guy with damp sand to keep it cool.  We continued digging up the nest, and once the contents were out, and we only had one live turtle, we took it to the water.  Mark told me to put it down at last night's high tide line, to give it a chance to imprint on its way to the water.  It didn't do so well, not walking directly to the water.  Mark took it to the water's edge and gave it a chance to swim.  The first small waves kept bringing it back onshore.  It was really cute to watch the turtle swim, and especially to lift its head to take breaths.  Mark said that the wave action is also a clue to orient the little guy, and again, it failed.  He said next to take it farther, so that the waves would encourage it out deeper, not back up the beach.  After he let it go this time, we never saw it again.  During the swim trials, we were able to get a better look at the sea turtle.  It had an abnormal lump on its head, and abnormal scutes on its carapace.  Its chance of survival is very low, but we were still glad to send it off in the water.  It's definitely bittersweet to experience this, the live and dead sea turtles hatchlings.  Steve and I are now welcoming the new chapter of our Loggerhead nesting season.

For Mom & Dad Tighe: you should recognize the name reference.  Steve thought of it.  Little Timmys will always have a special place in our hearts.  (For those who don't know - we're referencing Timmy, from South Park).

Other Updates:  I had my first "hole in one" - probe in one.  I used to probe systematically, but Mark and Steve said I'd never get it if I didn't start where I thought the nest was.  The day after (Tuesday), I got it.  Next, the Least Tern egg Steve found on South Middle washed over and is missing.  We're sad, but the terns still seem very active, so we think there are still more nests.  As of a few days ago, the American Oystercatcher nest only had one egg.  We don't know what happened.  Our last bit of bird news is that the Wilson's Plover nest by NB31 never hatched and the parents have stopped returning.  The three eggs are still in the nest.  Steve and I are learning first hand how difficult shore bird nesting really is.

Links of interest: Sea Turtle Necropsy and Oil Spill from NYTimes, Sea Turtles and Shrimping (opinion), Plight of the Sea Turtles

I Still Hate Solo Days

Late last night Steve asked if he could have the day off.  I tried to talk him out of it, but he insisted he needed a day away from the beaches.  I really hate doing them by myself.  It takes so long, and after all the heat and sun exposure, I always feel like I need the next day off.  To make me feel better, he promised he'd do some serious chores, so, of course, I gave in.

I was up at 5, cooked up a large breakfast, and loaded the Mule up for a long day.  I packed all of my accessories - the nice camera, binoculars, snacks, big water jug, towel, my Five Fingers, and my iPod.  Soon, I was on the road, dodging large branches and deep puddles.  I decided to work North Beach first, assuming I'd be done early enough to avoid the flooding tidal creek on the north end.  As I drove north, I checked on the nests.  NB2, the nest that emerged yesterday, didn't have any more activity.  I found my first of three crawls on the north side of the tidal creek.  It had to be relocated, as did the other two.  The first crawl was in an area of dense, dead wax myrtles.  There was no evidence of a body pit, just tracks, and a mess in the sticks and sea wrack.  I guessed there was a nest, so I probed around.  I quickly found the nest, and got to work.  The next two nests were close together, at the north end of the dead myrtles, a very common spot.  These nests were added to Sea Turtle Row.  After I finished relocating the nests, I finished my patrol and headed back to check the remainder of the nests.  It turns out that NB4 had an emergence, though I only counted 4 or 5 crawls, and only 3 making it to the water.  I wonder if we missed it before, or if tonight will be a big emergence.  Only time will tell.

On North Middle Beach, I loaded up the bicycle with enough supplies to replace the screens we used yesterday.  I tried to ride the bike, but with the high spring tide, the sand was too soft, and I frustratingly had to walk most of the beach.  I found three false crawls, all on the north end.  After I dropped the supplies off at our spot, I was able to ride a little bit.  By the time I reached the Mule again, it was nearly 11:00, and very hot.  I hid under the shade of the Mule, completed my data entry, and rested with a lot of water and some snacks.  Once I was recharged, I hit the south end.  South Beach didn't have any activity, South Middle had only a false crawl, but I did have screens to remove, some much more difficult than others.  After this long, hot day, I finally arrived home around 2:45.

As I pulled up to the house, I saw a red-faced Steve pushing the lawn mower around.  He spent hours clearing the tall grass from around the property - a must to too keep the bugs down.  He received help from Codey, who cleaned off the roof.  It had a foot deep layer of tree litter, which is obviously bad for the roof.  Steve also cut up the screens Mark delivered yesterday, hopefully they're enough to finish out the season.  Steve also gave himself an overdue trim.  Shortly after our showers, we realized that the looming storms were nearly upon us so we raced to the houses to feed the multitude of animals.  Then we packed up some food and headed to Andy's to visit the cats.  They're both so sweet.  We're glad to have them around, though some days it just makes us miss our cats more.  Meeka, we're half way there...

Pardon the Delay...

I have to apologize for not writing.  Not only to all our readers, but to myself and Kate.  Part of the purpose for the blog was as a diary for ourselves.  We have a pretty good excuse for not writing: simply, not enough time in the day.

Saturday was spent running the beaches, with 5 false crawls and two nests.  All of that activity was on Bradley beach, and on my patrol.  I hit the beach a bit late that morning.  Kate and I had slept in a little, trying to catch up on the sleep we lost tossing and turning in bed stressing about our household situation.  When I did pull on to the beach, I found a crawl right away.  It looked like a nest, but I couldn't find any eggs after lots of probing, and finally digging up the entire area.  Frustrated, I moved on.  I saw another crawl that I couldn't decipher right away and moved on again.  Then I decided to drive all the way to NB4, which we were expecting would hatch. I thought if it did, it might brighten my spirits.  But, it hadn't hatched, and I continued north to the end of the beach.  I had counted 7 crawls in total at that point.  Of course I was glad the turtles were active, but I was tired, and stressed, and my mind was all over, so I was not in the best of spirits about working all these crawls.  I radioed Kate to tell her it was a busy day up on Bradley, and I could use her help if things were slow to the South.  IT took some time to get her on the phone, but when I did, I learned she had zilch, and wasn't excited about going home, so she'd come help me.

I worked my way back South, checking nests and stopping at the crawls.  In the end, it was only 2 nests, both that needed to be relocated.  Neither was an easy nest to find, or relocated.  Both were up in the dead myrtles and the nearest good dune was a good drive down the beach.  One of the two was extremely shallow, only 1/2 to 1 inch below the surface.  I broke 3 eggs probing that one and was very upset.  I haven't broken an egg by accident in a long time.  Two of the false crawls I had looked like nests and had to be completely dug up, 2 feet down, 6 feet around, to make sure there were no eggs.  It was a lot of work.  Kate showed up and helped a little, but by that point I was just about done anyway.  After my bike ride of North Middle, I could finally call my beach day done and head home.

Back at the compound, we showered, ate, put away our work stuff, and did our data entry.  Then it was time to go feed all the animals on the island.  At Andy's we fed the cats, had a lunch of clam chowder (made from the local bi-valves) and took naps on his couches.  Later we went to Eric's, watered the garden, fed the pigs & chickens, let Bug, Nikki & Sarah Palin run around, fed the 3 hunt dogs, gave everyone new water, convinced Big, Nikki and Sarah to go back in their cages, fed them, and then left.  We finished at Mrs. West's, feeding the horses, pigs and goose.  We got home around 6, ate some dinner, and tried to go to bed.

The boys came home around 8pm or so, and decided to cook up some burgers on the stove.  Soon the smoke alarm was buzzing and we were still awake in bed.  We took a peak our of the room to see the entire house filled with white smoke, the boys just sitting in it eating.  Kate was smart enough to open some windows to vent it all out, but the A/C had already sucked it in and was pumping it into our bedroom.  With burning eyes, windows open to the heat and humidity, we tried to fall asleep.  Eventually we must have... because we awoke Sunday morning, unrested, and ready to patrol again.

Sunday was much the same.  I had two nests on the south end and Kate had one up north.  When we finished up, we came home, got cleaned up, and split up to feed animals.  Kate did the horses while I took care of Eric's farm.  We met back at Andy's to escape and relax, watching LOST on his big TV and cooking up some frozen pizza.  We went home in time for an early sleep, but still didn't sleep well.  Then we woke early enough to meet our boss Mark, who was coming to hang out and help us run the beaches for a day.

Mark arrived this morning around 6:30am.  Kate and I were ready to go to the beach by then.  I drove over to Andy's to give the cats their AM feeding while Kate picked up Mark at the dock.  Then I went south and ran those beaches.  I had three nests, and learned, sadly, that the least tern nest had been washed away by the high tide.  The Oystercatchers are still there, and will hopefully have better luck.

Kate and Mark had 2 nests on North Middle, and caught up with me on the ATV at the tidal creek to their south.  We chatted for a moment, then headed off our separate ways.  I met them again on Bradley as they were working their way North, checking nests.  Kate informed me of some great news.  We had our very first emergence!  That's right, baby turtles left their nest last night and ran into the ocean.  This will soon become a regular occurrence, and hopefully we will be getting some pictures of them.  We won't dig up the nest for 5 more days or so.  There will be more to report then when we learn how many hatched, or didn't.  Mark counted 49 little turtle trails though, so that's something.  More may come out tonight, and another nest, NB4 is primed to go any moment.

When we were all done with the beaches, we came back to the house, hosed off the Mule, showered and headed down to the dock.  We found a care package waiting for us from Jim, whose dogs we watched all week.  He gave us beer, wine, a gift card to the grocery store, some Ossabaw note cards (stationary), and an awesome Ossabaw poster.  I'm sure his dogs are happy to have him back, but Bo is still putting his tennis ball on our front stoop.

Mark ran us into shore for some shopping, while he came back to the island to have a chat with the Hog Boys.  He returned for us after an hour and a half, and brought us home.  Hopefully some progress was made on improving our domestic situation.  We really can't take any more problems.  The work here is hard enough without stress at the house.  When we were done putting away our groceries, we headed out once again to feed everyone's pets.  Storms were brewing, and after a brief respite at Andy's, we had to rush to feed everyone without getting poured on.

Finally home, we cooked a dinner of whatever had to get out of the fridge, did our data entry, and caught up on the blog.

Normal Went Out the Window.

Things are crazy on the island... again.  Everyone is off the island except for the Hog Boys.  Kate and I are once again watching all the animals.  This includes: Jim's 2 dogs and fish tank; Eric's 6 dogs, 4 pigs, and dozen+ chickens; Andy's 2 cats & 2 birds; and Mrs West's 3 horses, 3 pigs, 1 goose and one pea hen.  It's a surprising amount of work.  Eric's house also includes watering a garden.  What do we get out of it all?  Well besides brownie points, we get free garden veggies, and chicken eggs from Eric.  Andy's house provides us with a temple of solace.  He has a big TV and a whole lot of movies.  We can get away from the Hog Boys there, have some food, and love on some kittens.

In turtle news, Kate has found a depression in a nest, NB4.  This means it could hatch at any time.  We were a little surprised, given that it isn't the earliest nest, and wasn't even on our list to remove the small screening on for a few more days.  We suppose it's just in a warmer spot, and the eggs have "cooked" faster (meaning they've incubated faster).

Yesterday, we had nest 100 on North Beach.  Another interesting thing that I failed to report was the rescue of 4 little birds.  I was kayaking from the pavilion on the south point to the ATV on South Middle when I found 4 small chicks stranded on a ledge off the marsh.  It appeared a section of the marsh had collapsed and the chicks were stranded by the water.  I was particularly worried because I had seen a small alligator there the day before.  With a bit of urging, and the physical moving of one bird, I got all the chicks back up into the marsh.  After talking with Tim, the DNR bird guy, it appears the birds were Clapper Rails.

Birds have been on our mind more and more lately.  We have a population of Least Terns nesting on South Middle.  Today I found a nest that they laid.  It only had one egg in it, but it's the first we've seen, and likely the first nest they've laid.  They're an endangered species here in Georgia.  We're so happy to have them.  We've even made some homemade signs for this area to discourage people from disturbing the birds.  Right near the Terns there is a pair of American Oystercatchers sitting on a nest of 2 eggs.  We are waiting for their eggs to hatch, and hopefully in the next few days we'll have little Oystercatcher hatchlings running around.

So, in nature news, things are going well.  We are busy with turtles, birds and the island animals.  In domestic news, things are not going as well.  Cobey, the hunter is great, but Hog Boy Josh is not, and we've been having some serious battle with him.  I don't know what will happen, but I do think we've reached a tipping point.  It may come down to him or us...

100 Nests on North Beach!

We had our 100th nest on North (Bradley) Beach today.

Another important event occurred today: the first Loggerhead hatchlings in Georgia emerged on Sea Island.  We are patiently awaiting ours.  I can't wait to see the cute little suckers.

A Tour of the Main House

Tuesday morning started if off extra early with Steve rolling out of bed at 315AM.  He said he couldn't sleep any longer.  I didn't mind, but there was no way I was getting up that early.  He woke me up for breakfast at 5 and we were on the road by 540.  I started my drive north hoping to locate the next three nests on Bradley to hit 100.  It turns out I only had a false crawl below high tide.  Weird.  I was on the north end of the beach by 630.  With so little time spent on locating nests, I used my plastic screens to rescreen the metal ones.  I also uncovered more nests that had been hidden by the blowing sand of a few days ago.  After two hours of that, I headed over to North Middle to patrol.  I didn't find anything over there either.  I spent some more time uncovering some nests, and baiting raccoon traps.  

I spoke with Steve earlier and he told me he didn't have a single crawl, but instead spent his time recovering more stuff that keeps washing ashore from the flipped boat.  Today he brought home a nice big fish net, a boat seat and cushion.  

Steve headed home earlier than I, and used his spare time to change the oil in the Mule.  He also spray painted some rust spots on the floor - have to keep up on the maintenance.  I brought the bicycle home so he could tune it up too.  On my way home, I picked flowers for Mrs. West.  After visiting Buckhead, we promised each other we'd go see her.  When I got home I noticed Steve stopped at the culvert and brought home crabs for lunch.  He also cooked up some fish he caught the other day.  After a bit of relaxing, we decided it was time to head to the main house.

When we arrived, we spent a minute petting the horses.  I walked up to the side door and yelled in.  We were greeted by Winnie, a former Genesis Project member and summer caretaker for Mrs. West.  Winnie told us that Mrs. West was napping, so instead she gave us a tour of the first floor.  The house is amazing.  There are (were) servants quarters, three kitchens, a large formal dining room, a huge living room, and many guest rooms.  The tile is imported from Italy.  The artwork is from all over, from all periods.  Two personal autographs from two presidents, animal heads killed from wild lands long, long ago.  So much of the house is original, it's like a museum.  Everywhere you look is something that warrants closer inspection, without being too nosy, of course.  Winnie, Steve and I shared some stories, and after about an hour, Steve and I left.  We'll return again soon, hopefully getting to meet Mrs. West.  

We finished the afternoon with more turtle chores, cutting more screens, loading up the Mule.  I made two signs to post on South Middle to keep people away from the nesting birds.  The Oystercacther nest will hatch very soon, and I'd hate if people continued to walk near the chicks.  A colony of 10 Least Terns are still congregating near the Oystercatchers, hopefully with nests, or preparing to nest.  Steve and I are also patiently awaiting the Wilson's Plover chicks at NB31.  It's been about 30 days, so it could be any time that we see the new babies.  I just hope we have the telephoto lens to catch them.

Preparing for Hatchlings, Finding the Witch Shack

We hit the beach a bit late today, needing a little extra sleep after such a long day yesterday.  We almost stayed up even later last night to view the fireworks over Savannah, but decided against it.  I'm very tired, and will just give you today's highlights and get into bed.

I had three new nests today, two on Bradley Beach, and one on North Middle.  Kate had zero crawls.  Two of my nests needed to be relocated.  We've been told the clutch counts will start to drop away from the average of 115 as the nesting season ends.  The two I counted today had 95, and 133 - still pretty good, and hopefully an indication that we'll still be getting new nests for some time.

An important milestone was reached today.  The small screening on our very first nest, NB1, was removed.  The nest has been incubating for 51 days now and is getting ready to hatch.  The large screen will stay in place, as the hatchlings can pass through it. We'll be monitoring the nest each day, looking for a small depression in the sand over the nest cavity.  The eggs will hatch, and the air pocket inside the nest cavity collapses forming the depression.  Then the hatchlings will wait inside for the right moment at night, then climb out and run to the water.

The other significant event from today was the locating of Mrs. West's Buckhead House.  It's a small one room house hidden in the woods with a view of the marsh.  It was erected in two days by her caretaker Roger Parker for her 60th birthday, back in 1973.  She visits it each year on her birthday (though she has missed some recently due to her health).  Inside are some of her treasures, and a book in which she and others who visit the place write.  Mrs. West is an ordained witch, and she uses the house to make potions and casts spells.  There is large ceramic jar where some spells were written and placed inside.  Among her treasures was a large champagne bottle collection, including several Dom Perignon bottles, one I saw from 1963.  There is a bed, a wood stove, dishes, silverware, oil lamps, and chairs.  Her knick-knacks included oddly shaped driftwood, bones and skulls, wax figures, bottles, shells, and other strange trinkets.  The most interesting part of it all was the book of messages.  To read her thoughts, in her own handwriting, as she recorded them over the last 37 years was a real treat.  Many of them were concerned with the health of the island and its animals, and her frustration with the state of Georgia's management of it all.

After our adventure we had a little work to do cutting up material and assembling even more turtle screens.  It seems just when we think we'll have enough, we run low again.  I suppose it's a good thing - 161 nests as of today!

High Winds Yield Stranded Boaters

The strong winds continued Saturday, blowing much harder than I thought they would.  The forecast reported lower speeds, but that definitely was not the case.  I started my patrol on North Beach, locating a nest rather quickly.  I love having an egg in my hand before the sun comes up.  The wind had obviously erased some tracks, and pushed last night's high tide higher than predicted, so Steve and I had to be diligent (though we always are).  As low tide neared, I turned the Mule around to patrol North Middle.  As I neared the creek, I spotted a crawl at the very southern end of North Beach, but it would have to wait.  I continued on to North Middle, baiting the raccoon traps on my way.  We haven't had any problems lately, but with hatchlings just around the corner, we need to keep up the pressure.  As I drove south I noticed two odd things - the first a red buoy #4, drifting south with the wind (probably from Tybee Roads, the channel to Savannah River).  The second odd sighting was a small boat anchored off the north end of South Middle.  Steve and I have seen people do this recently.  They leave the boat to fish inshore.  The strange part about this time was that the water was very rough, seas 2-3 feet, the boat pitching with each wave.  I worried that its anchor would break free and the boat would be lost.  However, I was powerless to do anything so I continued on.  I thought I'd get off easy until I spotted a crawl at the very southern end of North Middle.  I relocated NM14 higher on the dune, and started back to check the rest of the nests.  Some of the nests in the high dune were eroding with the strong northeastern winds.  I moved sand around to fill in the gaps.  When the wind subsides, Steve and I will have some extra work relaying the screens.  (The boat, right side up is on the left)

I returned to North Beach, working the nest on the southern end.  I decided to relocate it as well, moving it just north of the Bradley Road beach access, to large dunes.  So far, the winds had been very strong, making  my entire effort twice as difficult.  I had to deal with sand blowing in my eyes, ears, clothes as I dug holes for relocation.  Worse, the screens wanted to blow off the roof as I needed to loosen the tie-downs to get one.  This became a problem for me the entire morning, and eventually was so frustrated that I threw the hook end at the ground, and instead, it landed on my foot.  Immediately, the pain was bad, I screamed, and soon noticed the bump grow on my right foot.  I limped around, finished screening the nest, and tried to radio Steve.  I was worried I'd need help, given the crawls I already had.  It turned out he was already home, so I told him to stay there.  I started driving north, with my left foot.  I didn't find another crawl until the myrtles, which turned out to be nest, and also had to be relocated.  I added it to Sea Turtle Row.   Soon, I was on the north end, seeing that the winds had changed the water current and have started eroding the bank.  I don't think it will last, but it's an interesting development.  After I checked the nests I headed home, where Steve patiently waited.  We spent the afternoon taking it easy.  When the hog boys came home, we enjoyed an Uno tournament.

Some time in the night, Steve went to the kitchen half asleep to get some water.  The boys told him they saw some drunk guy near the beach.  He told me, half asleep, and we nodded it off assuming it was campers over the July 4th weekend.

Sunday morning proceeded normally.  Steve took several extra screens in the truck to replace the metal screens on North Beach.  I headed to South Beach with the Mule.  I found a nest just south of the boneyard.  I was going to leave it in situ at first, but after some deliberation, decided it needed to go higher.  Considering the time of year, plus 60 days, the chance of storms is increasing.  I continued south, checking the nests as I went.  When I hit the south end, I pulled out my phone and noticed Steve had been trying to contact me.  He told me he found the guy the hunters saw last night.  Steve picked him up and took him to Andy's house.  the man, Jerry, was not drunk, but stranded, dehydrated, and scared.

The story, as I take it, follows:  the two men anchored their 25 foot boat of the north end of South Middle Beach.  This is the same boat I mentioned earlier as being in danger.  The men hiked inland to fish, only planning on staying an hour.  They stayed for two.  When they returned, they realized they were in trouble.  They tried swimming to the boat several times, each almost drowning, and eventually giving up.  They decided to wait until the next low tide to approach to boat.  In the interim, the uncle walked south (I suppose they both did).  South Middle Beach is long, almost 6km.  The uncle continued to the South Beach, hoping to find boaters at the south tip.  He eventually did, and unknown to Jerry, called SeaTow.  SeaTow responded, only after helping a fuel-less deserted boat.  Instead of picking the uncle up at 5PM, they picked him up at 10PM.  They tried to search with a spotlight, but the water was too rough.  Meanwhile, Jerry walked the beach hoping to find help.  At some point, he was spotted by our intern hunters, across the slough.  They shined the spotlight on him.  Given his rambling, about a boat, and uncle, and such, the boys said he was incoherent and assumed he was drunk.  They weren't sure what to do and left him, thinking he would return to his people.  It wouldn't be until early this morning when Steve would find the same man, who was indeed stranded.  Their boat, that was anchored by bow and stern, lost its stern anchor and flipped over during the night.  Steve drove Jerry to Andy's house to begin the rescue process.  That's when Steve got in touch with me.  At that point, nobody on our end knew what happened to the uncle.  I didn't see anyone on the south end, just lots of footprints.  Soon, we figured out that he was safe, with SeaTow.  Andy and Jerry eventually took the ATV up South Middle to get GPS coordinates so SeaTow could locate the upside down boat.  A white hull is hard to locate amongst the crashing waves.  Soon, the two men would head home, sorry for the day's events.  Steve and I feel horrible for what happened.  (The white image in the middle is the hull.)  Another note, the buoy, is now on land on South Middle.  Pictures soon.

After an afternoon discussing the morning's events, Steve and I finally digested the rescue and moved on to preparing for the July 4th party.  We had a bunch of food to bring.  The rest of the afternoon was spent with our fellow Ossabaw Island residents.  Games of Uno and Spades were played while watching the sun set over the marsh.  Andy and Amanda have the nicest view off their back porch.

High Winds Yield High Nest Numbers

After yesterday, when we only had one nest and one false crawl, we started thinking maybe the nesting season had peeked and things were slowing down.  But today was another example of how turtles are unpredictable.  Just when you think you've got them figured out, they surprise you.  Today turned out to be our busiest day ever - we had 10 nests, and 9 false crawls!

The morning greeted us with rain and a cool wind blowing at 25mph.  It looked like it would be one stormy day. We made sure to pack our rain gear as we headed out toward the beaches.  I made a brief stop at the minnow hole to pick up some bait and visit the tiny baby alligators that live there.  Then I drove tot he south end pavilion, released yet another captured house mouse, and then drove through to South Beach.  As soon as I turned off the road and onto the beach I spotted a crawl, the first ever in this area.  It turned out to be a non-nesting emergence (false crawl), but it was a good sign of things to come.

Further down the beach I found another crawl.  It was extremely hard to read.  The rain and high winds made the track look three days old, but I knew it was today's.  You can barely make out the tracks in this picture.  The crawl went over an escarpment and then into an old hog rooting hole.  There was barely any way to tell what happened, if it was a nest or not, and if so, where it might be.  I probed around for awhile but found nothing.  It was raining and the wind was blowing hard.  I couldn't find anything, so I went back toward the water to examine the track closer.  It turned out I had the in-track and out-track reversed.  With this new information I went back to the disturbed area, and found the nest in just a few more probes.  I still think this one was mostly luck.

I found another nest at the southern tip of the island.  It was an obvious one and I found the eggs quickly.  The only difficulty was that the turtle had dug up and thrown some very prickly vegetation around that stuck my hands and feet several times as I dug up an egg.  Soon it was screened off and I was on my way to South Middle.

The paddle out to the ATV was strenuous, with both the wind and the tide working against me.  At one point I tried to take a break from paddling, but I just ended up going backward, so I had to press on.  Once I finally got to the ATV and onto the beach I was surprised by how strong the wind was.  Sand was blowing all over, completely obliterating any view of the beach.  Luckily it wasn't constant, and in the lulls I could make out the wet sand and find the crawls.  I found two nests there, relocating one.  When I was all finished, the kayak trip back was easy, as now the wind was pushing me along.

I drove to the causeway to wait for Kate and use up some of the bait I collected in the morning.  I managed to catch another nice red drum before she arrived.  When she did I learned that she too had a busy morning, and it started just like mine.  The minute she turned onto the beach she spotted a crawl, and then another, and another.  Kate ended up with 6 nests, making our daily total 10, and bringing our overall total to 150!

After we got home, at lunch and took naps, we spend some time cutting up the new screening material Adam had delivered.  We now have enough new screen for 50 more nests.  I would love to hit 200 nests for the season.  We have been thinking the possibility of that is slim to none, and it may still be, but after a day like today there is some hope.

The winds are expected to keep up all night and tomorrow.  It's going to be tough spotting and decoding the crawls tomorrow.  Still there are some good things about it.  One, the beach gets erased, and it's always nice to look at a clean beach over one with tire tracks everywhere.  And two, it's nice and cool out, much nicer than working in the blazing heat with feet scalding on the white sand.

Long Awaited Supplies

Today started off like any other, except that I woke up a little dizzy (read yesterday).  It soon wore off and I was able to join Steve in the effort to get out of the house.  I was headed south  for the first time alone (I've been on North for the last 4-5 days) in several days alone, and in the truck, which mostly meant an easy day.  I hit South Middle first, noting one false crawl below high tide.  As I hit the north end, I saw the Mule heading toward me.  The tide was super low and Steve crossed the creek with only a couple inches of water.  As we greeted each other, he asked if I saw the crawl behind me.  I hadn't yet, so we headed over.  Steve pulled out an egg and decided to head back to north end as the tide would eventually creep back up.  I mulled over the idea of relocating the nest for a bit.  I've relocated all the other nests laid in  this immediate area (it's a popular spot).  I decided in the end that I'd leave this one.  It's higher than normal high tides.  I'm also interested in comparing its hatchling success versus the others.  If this spot never washes over and/or has a higher hatch success than I'll have learned more (or been more confused) about relocation.  To help the nest, I began the dune building process that I did at SM1.  That nest washed over a couple times, and to protect it, I threw wrack and sand around its border.  It has since grown and would be very protected from potential washovers.

Today I noticed something that I've seen recently: and oil sheen in the puddles left by the low tide.  Steve and I will be collecting samples for the Coast Guard.  It's not suspected to be oil spill related, but they might be able to learn something about it.

Next I patrolled South Beach to find nothing so I used the opportunity to get some cell phone calls to my family as I get good reception down there.  My sister and I talked about an upcoming visit and then I finished my routine of checking the nests for depredation.  I also talked to Steve and learned that he had nothing, no nests or false crawls on either beach.  So strange.  We both hope we're not past our peak nesting yet...

Steve and I got home and did some chores until Adam arrived with some much needed plastic screening for the nests.  We ran out recently and had to use old metal screens.  They aren't the best in that they don't provide much protection from hogs, and may also interfere with the hatchlings' electro-magnetic signature. Over the next week, Steve and I will be replacing the metal screens with the plastic screens.  After our fun, yet brief visit, Steve and I prepped for our visit ashore for some food for our July 4th cook-out.  The rest of the day was spent writing this and continuing our Lost TV fest.

As I wrote this, I just saw that Georgia just 1000 nests for the 2010 year!

I've copied some links for some news articles we're interested in.  Each link may not be the most detailed, so if you want more info, you'll have to do some searching.    

First, the bird guys with GADNR released rehabbed Brown Pelicans from the Gulf on Georgia's coast.

Second, researchers are going to relocate 70,000+ sea turtles eggs from Alabama and Gulf Florida to Florida's east coast.  It's a huge effort that's never been done before.

Third, the article from the LATimes about BP Burning the sea turtles alive.

Fourth, Blair Witherington, Florida's lead sea turtle researcher, on NPR about sending observers to spot the turtles before they're burned.

Fifth, BP is being sued for burning turtles.  This will hopefully cause a change and allow for observers to look for the turtles before the oiled sargassum is set on fire.