I Like Bones

As some of you know, I love to collect animal bones.  Both recent and fossil.  Last year I found several old sea turtle bones, bird bones, fish bones, and some unknown.  One find that tops the list is the alligator remains I stumbled upon in a dry water hole near Middle Place.  At first I only found the skin and claws of a foot.  Later I returned to find the skull (in several pieces) and bones.  I cleaned them up, pieced what I could together, and added it to the bookshelf of artifacts in our living room (it's like a small museum).  Well, so far this year trumps anything I could have thought of...


During a morning survey, I saw a foot of connected vertebrae sticking out of the sand.  I jumped off the ATV to retrieve it.  It didn't budge.  I grabbed the shovel and started removing sand.  It still wouldn't come free. Rather than delay my sea turtle work, I decided to return to it.  I radioed Steve, and by chance he was nearing the tidal creek that separated our beaches.  We agreed that he would come back with me.  After no nests were found, Steve and I got to work on the skeleton.  Soon it was free of the sand.

Since it's a marine mammal, likely a bottlenose dolphin, we took all the necessary information; somewhere on South Middle Beach and about as long as Steve (we did take measurements and coordinates).  Steve used his MacGyver skills and it was soon safe for transport.    

A couple screens, sea wrack, and cable ties.

Once we were home, I notified Clay, DNR's marine mammal biologist, of the stranding.  He later told me that it closely matches the remains of a stranding documented over the winter.  He also told me that the cranium had been salvaged.  I learned that I can register these bones with NOAA to legally keep them.  Hopefully they'll allow it.  More on that later...

A couple of days later Steve and I worked together.  While riding on the ATV, again on South Middle, Steve stopped to pick up a pink frisbee in the dry sand.  As I was sitting there, I noticed something white in the sand.  Steve picked it up and it was a dolphin cranium!  We looked around and found the maxillae (the bones that make the rostrum and hold the upper teeth).  The neck vertebrae are still attached.  

Looking down on top

I also found 7 small vertebrae scattered through the area.  Once home, I again reported this stranding to Clay.  It's likely an unknown event.  The cranium is packed and ready for retrieval by DNR.  I've since returned to the location and found more bones including a scapula and ribs.  Hopefully the next spring tide will uncover more!

Image borrowed from http://csweetr.tripod.com/dolphinfo.html

And we thought last year was busy...

The Welcome Tree

Steve and I arrived on Ossabaw May 9th.  Nearly every day since returning "home", the sea turtles have been hitting our beaches harder than ever in nesting history.  This is true for both Ossabaw and Georgia.  Overall, there are twice the number of nests as last year and four times as many as two years ago.  The best part of this, is that Ossabaw has more nests and overall activity than every other Georgia beach.  Take that, Cumberland!  Another bit of great news is that we have 3 of 7 leatherback nests in GA.  The first was spotted by our boss on an aerial survey April 19th, which means we'll enjoy an early emergence this summer.  All the great news isn't without loss.  We have already had four dead stranded sea turtles: 1 loggerhead boat strike, and 3 Kemp's ridleys with no obvious cause of death.  Numbers are also up across the state, but there isn't any leading cause of mortality.

Kate in leatherback crawl

Any guess where the nest is?

We are also enjoying the great success of our nesting shore birds.  The slough near South Middle is home to a nesting least tern colony.  We have four confirmed nests so far, and I started scouting out more possible nesting and courtship/breeding behavior today.  For those who read our blog last year might remember that the least terns were unsuccessful last summer.  I'm very optimistic that the established nests will hatch.  South Middle is also home to an American oystercatcher family with two adorable chicks.  They hatched out about a week ago and have been seen all around the beach with their parents.   Again, a nesting adult pair was unsuccessful last year so we're happy to see chicks!  This 1km stretch of sand is also home to countless Wilson's plover families.  We have to be so very careful when driving the ATV  because there are chicks everywhere!

American Oystercatcher chick

Of course there are so many stories to share so far, but right now we have to pack.  Steve and I are going to camp out and look for nesting turtles tonight!