A World Class Birding Event

Steve and I woke up at the same early hour, had breakfast and packed up the Mule.  I was getting ready to drive when I noticed the headlights were very dim.  The battery was low since we didn't charge it last night because of the blackout.  Steve swapped batteries and we were on our way.  I patrolled South Beach and looked for whelks on my way back to add to tonight's dinner.  Steve searched for clams, but had no luck.  We then drove north.  My stretch was the same, and just as I was looking forward to a nice walk back, Steve radioed me about a crawl.  I wanted to get back quickly which meant I had to run.  This is something I wish I was good at, but after all the years of trying, I still can't, and rather detest it.  Steve and I do hope to keep practicing the run on that beach, however, so that by the end of the season we'll be able to run a 5K.

I met up with Steve and we raced to the crawl.  He didn't say anything and wanted me to read the tracks and tell him what I saw.  It was nothing like before!  I wish pictures could do it justice.  The loggerhead came up the beach, only 60 meters from the last false crawl, and to similar erosional, woody beach.  She dug a body cavity and even a nest cavity.  For some reason, though a good one, she left the hole and walked toward the water.  As she hit the water's edge she turned back up the beach.  This time she ran into a fallen branch, gave up, and headed back for the ocean.  Steve and I wonder if she is the same turtle that came up a couple nights ago and failed to find a good spot.  We learned that often after a false crawl such as this, a sea turtle will return not far only an hour later to try again.  We'll never know, but I hope that she comes back to Ossabaw to nest. 

Once we completed the sea turtle work, we got busy saving the horseshoe crabs.  This morning was the most I had seen yet.  Steve took some footage of the mass migration to the water.  On the drive home we stopped to check out the blue crab trap in the marsh.  Two crabs are in there, but there is no more bait.  We'll have to remember one of these days to throw the cast net for some.  Once we arrived to the neighborhood, we took care of Andy's pets again.  Only one more morning.  

When we got home we decided to play in the pasture across from our house.  We were looking for plants to put in pots around the porches.  Nothing of the sort was found but I stumbled on a large black snake, and two dung beetles rolling a dung ball!  Another rare showing from the island.  Before we headed home, we stopped up at the dock to see what the GADNR birders were up to.  A few had just come back from a sand bar to get scopes for up close viewing of migratory birds.  Brad, the GADRN Nongame Manager, asked if we'd like to go along.  Of course we would.  He called it a "World Class Birding Event."    

The trip was only a couple minutes northeast of the dock.  Several shore bird species are here to refuel on horseshoe crab eggs before continuing their journey to northern breeding grounds.  Of the birds there, some we saw were white and brown pelicans, sanderlings, plovers, oystercatchers, and the most special to the birders: the red knot.  The red knot winters in southern South America and breeds in the high arctic tundra.  Many groups of scientists track them through the use of bands on their legs.  Brad gave Steve and me a scope and a notebook to look for and record bands on the birds legs.  Different countries use different color bands, and most have an alpha-numeric sequence.  From a distance, Steve and I took turns spotting a banded bird, and then took time to carefully watch until the band was readable.  We successfully noted 4 bands.  Not bad for our first time.  After Brad was finished taking photographs of the birds, he was eager to use our scope to locate some himself.  Steve and I were then given permission to use a huge lens that coincidentally works with our new camera.  We took some great shots.  

After the trip, we came home thirsty and hungry.  When we set out earlier, we only planned to look for a cactus, not spend a few hours on a sand bar.  Steve cooked up whelk fritters again.  As the food supply gets lower, I am thankful to be able to find food here.  We just returned from feeding the animals again.  The two little pigs were extra obnoxious and the horse flies were attacking everything in sight.  Tonight might be the first night that after a very full day, we are done and ready to relax (blog completed too) by 730.  

  

Rain Brings Lazy Day

I was very tired again this morning, though I think I'm starting to adjust.  Last night while I was writing the blog, one of the head GADNR guys, Ed, showed up to introduce himself.  It was after 10PM.  Recalling the conversation now, I really don't know why he decided to stop by, especially so late.  So this morning I was functioning on about 4 hours of sleep.  But Kate made a real breakfast today, and after driving the half hour ride to the to the the south end, I was awake enough.  The morning ride is a real trip, we have to navigate about six miles of dirt road that varies in quality from a little bumpy, to downright ridiculous.  The Mule doesn't have high beams, and we need to wear our sunglasses or risk bugs in the eyes.  Kate is still healing from a corneal abrasion she received from a large bug a couple days ago.  My favorite part of the ride is Hell Hole Road (the first half).  There the road is pretty smooth, but has plenty of twists and turns that make driving it a lot of fun.  With the low light conditions, I often overshoot my headlights and only realize where the road is going at the last second.  It's a a lot like the video game Mario Kart.  Other places the road is no fun at all.  The hogs root up parts of it, or roots from trees cross over it making the ride extremely bumpy, often enough to bounce things out of the back, spill our morning tea, and provide a literal pain in the ass.  Still, everything considered, driving on Ossabaw sure beats a commute down some traffic jammed highway.

Once we got to the south beaches Kate took the kayak trip to South Middle and I drove the Mule on South Beach.  Both patrols were pretty uneventful save for the Bald Eagle sightings, and a few rescued horseshoe crabs.  It was low tide when we got on the beach, which made the trip to South Beach easy for me.  When the tide is low, I can drive the short route onto the beach, avoiding a really nasty road that should doesn't even deserve to be called a road.  This apposed to high tide, when a bone yard divides the South Beach, and the long twisty path through the woods must be used to get south of it.  So since it was low tide, I spent a few extra minutes at the south tip of the island collecting whelks that are sitting in fresh water and will soon become our second go at "conch" fritters.  I expect them to be better this time around, since the first was a learning experience..."first pancake" type of thing.

After the south beaches we take Mule Run road up to Bradley Road and onto North (Bradley) Beach.  I took the little kayak to North Middle and did the walk (5.2km).  I was beat at the end, the morning drive that woke me had worn off, and the lack of sleep finally caught back up.  We both had expected Kate to find a crawl on North Beach, but she didn't, and part of me was happy to be able to go back home so early.  I was back in bed by 10AM for a little nap.

When I woke up I found Kate had gone off to do laundry at the other house in our new, green, Georgia DNR pickup.  It's pretty nice to have a truck.  It has some fun stickers on it, a working radio, A/C that only works on high, and a VHF.  It also has one tire (right front) that is bigger than all the rest.  I'm wondering what that will do to the suspension over time, but hey, we're happy to have it.  It was starting to rain then, so I continued my laziness and watched some episodes of Survivor on the laptop.  Kate came back and joined me between a few more loads of laundry and a grilled cheese and tomato lunch.

Around 4:00 in the afternoon, we headed over to see the horses.  We've run out of feed for them, so we could only give them corn and apple biscuits.  They seemed happy to have that, and we'll hopefully have more feed for them soon.  Now don't think they underfed or anything.  These horses have thousands of acres of pasture to split between the three of them and eight donkeys.  They've only just begun to be fed horse food, I suppose to supplement their diets as they are all getting quite old.  Cela, the oldest, is 25 or more.

Then we went over to Andy's and fed his animals again.  His cats are sweet.  Panter, a skittish black one, and a long haired grey one that I can't remember the name of.  His dogs are also sweet, but a pain.  They get very excited, and one of them jumps, pees, and steps on feet.  The parakeets got a treat of millet that I found mixed in with their food and were quite excited to have it.

We ran into some people at the club house as we were headed home.  It turned out to be Brad and Tim, two of DNR's bird guys, with a crew working on a TV show about birds.  They invited us to stop over for dinner, and after returning home and getting cleaned up, we headed back over.  That building is amazing, it is one of the original prefabricated homes.  I believe it was sold as a build-it-yourself kit from Sears and Roebuck.   We hope to see more of it soon.  There are great pictures from the island on the walls, a bookcase stocked with wildlife and archeology books, along with information on the feral hog program and more.  We even ran into Ms. West as we arrived.  She was in her car, being driven by her great niece, with her niece riding in the back.  They had Toby the dog with them.  I'm glad Kate finally got to meet her, and we really hope to see her much more.  She must be a wealth of information and have so many stories to share.

After a pasta dinner we walked down to the dock to watch the guys start setting up some equipment they will use tomorrow to catch some birds and band them (to track their migration).  If we finish our patrol early, we'll be hooking up with them again to learn more and to watch, and hopefully share a few beers and stories.  It was getting late so we headed home.  At the clubhouse, and on the ride home, we realized the entire island's power was out.  It had been acting funny earlier in the day, but now it was just plain off.  We lit some candles at home and got ready for bed.  I was just about to give up on the blog for today and settle down when it came back on.  So here you have it, another day on Ossabaw on the books.

Forgot to Mention...

I forgot to mention in Sunday's Blog that at night, we gave each other haircuts, shaves really, to mark the beginning of the nesting season.  Kate's plan was to remove all the blond, and will now grow her hair long and naturally brown.  We didn't cut it short enough to get all the blond, so there may be another buzz coming soon.  Here are some before and after shots.

Our First False Crawl, and First Clams.

The alarm clock went off at 4:45 again this morning.  Somehow it got off station and instead of the usual Morning Edition on NPR, it was playing 70's classic rock.  Yesterday during our first attempt at finding the turtle nest I was bitten twice by the same fly on my right foot.  I must be slightly allergic to whatever type of fly it was, because by the time we went to bed, it was red, swollen and rather itchy.  Kate fixed me up with an ice wrap and elevated it, leaving it hanging out of the covers.  This meant that I ended up on the right side of our our king sized bed (really two twins pushed together), which has the alarm clock - I snoozed it three times.  Maybe it was the one beer each we stole from Andy's fridge while feeding his animals in order to celebrate our first nest with.  Perhaps it was the long and tiring day we had yesterday.  Or maybe it's just because it is still dark as night (I guess technically it still is night) when we awake.  In any case, it's hard to pull down the covers and exit the bed in the morning.  When the idea of finding another nest finally enters my very groggy mind, it becomes a little easier and the morning routine begins.

Kate promised last night to make me breakfast this morning.  Of course she made cereal, which I knew would happen, but at least she added a hard boiled egg (which I cooked previously) and half an avocado to round it out.  She can normally cook a mean breakfast, but I think these mornings are just too early for her to function.

After breakfast we started packing up the Mule.  Kate went out to the Turtle Shed to get some extra screens and stakes.  We've only been carrying one set, expecting our first nest, but now that it's begun, we'll have to carry more.  I was loading our other equipment into the bed when I was startled by two donkeys.  They don't normally come right up to us, especially not in the morning, but these two wanted something, most likely food.  It could be that they smelled the bucket of crab parts sitting on the porch from yesterday's lunch, but that doesn't seem like donkey food to me.  They are strange creatures though, so who knows.  Later today, I had to chase 3 of them out of the auto shop while I was trying to work on the Mule.  They're very bad, they get into everything.

So off we went to do our patrols.  We went north first so that we could finish up the day at the south end and head over to the hunt camp and meet the barge.  Every six months a barge comes to the island and brings new (really old, but new for the island) equipment, propane tanks, tankers of fuel, etc.  We are expecting our very own pickup truck!  Though when we finished our patrols today the barge had yet to arrive, so we'll be receiving the truck tomorrow.  Back to the patrol...

I headed up North beach after dropping Kate at the Kayak.  Right away on my drive I spooked a bald eagle who was fishing down on the beach.  He flew up and over me, and headed off into the nearby trees.  We've been seeing one eagle down on the south beach pretty regularly, but this is a new eagle. They really are quite a site.  I continued on my drive and once again came upon a hundred or so horseshoe crabs washed up on the beach.  They mate at night, the smaller male latching onto the larger female.  Some are still hooked up when we find them upside-down.  We plan to make a trip out at night to see just how many really come up.  It must be a lot if that many are stranded each morning.  A raccoon was feeding on one unfortunate crab as I approached.  He caught sight of me and ran over the dune.  The raccoons here are a reddish brown color, different from what used to eat our cat's food off the back porch in Tampa.

I continued cruising along, scanning the beach when right in front of me I spotted a crawl.  I had to hit the brakes quick before I ran over it.  This was my first crawl by myself.  I saw Kate's yesterday, but only after she had already found it and drove me back to it.  I guess I started feeling what she would have yesterday.  I did a scan of the track, marked it off, finished patrolling North Beach and headed back to get Kate, scaring the raccoon off again after he'd reemerged from the dune to finish his breakfast.  I had to wait about ten minutes for Kate to finish her walk.  I think we are going to get my bike from the RV soon and use it on that beach to speed things up.  She came back carrying two inflated balloons, "Happy Birthday" and a yellow happy face.

We got back to the crawl and started working it up.  It was much different from yesterdays.  This crawl only had one track.  The turtle must have crawled out right over her in track.  Because of this we could not tell the species, or determine if there was a differential indicating a time span spent on the beach.  The crawl ended with some disturbance, which might indicate a nest, but the placement was poor.  I thought if it was a nest, we'd have to relocate it.  The disturbed area was just at the high tide line and surrounded by drift wood and sea wrack.  This area of the beach is erosional, with a scarped dune and some bone yard.

Our patrols on the south beaches were uneventful.  Kate tried looking for more whelks for fritters but the tide was too high to get to the good spot.  I took a swim between South Middle and North Middle to retrieve a bucket I left there a few days ago.  I had a purpose for the bucket... During my kayak trip out to the ATV I noticed something on the bank of the creek that we've been looking for - a clam.  We've seen plenty of shells around, but this was a whole clam.  It was high and dry, and I thought it was just a washed up dead clam, but as I got closer I noticed two open pairs of clam shells in the same area.  I just had to try digging.  It didn't take long before I was pulling them out one after another.  Little-necks, top-necks, cherry-stones and quahogs - I was finding them all.  I filled the little compartment in the kayak and decided to go do my patrol and retrieve that bucket.  I got a few more on the way back after my patrol, 17 in all.  When we got back home, I put them in fresh water so they'd spit out their sand and salt.  Later, we had them for dinner.  The smaller little-necks and top-necks we steamed and ate whole.  The larger cherry-stones, and the 3 very large quahogs, I boiled, then diced, and added to a butter sauce to dress some baked asparagus.  We also had mashed potatoes and salmon.  The salmon was frozen, we're still frustrated we haven't figured out fresh fish, but we are very happy to have clams added to our ever growing list of free island food.

After dinner we went out to feed the Ms. West's horses, pigs, and goose, and Andy's dogs, cats and birds.  Eric and Amanda are back with the baby, and are taking care of their own pets now.  I took my camera to the stables today and will add more photos to our web album soon (including some close-ups for you Dr. Bard).  I added a widget to show you the nest count for our beach over on the right.  If you are interested in a summary of our data, you can see it here.  Until tomorrow...

Our First Nest! (continued)

Our day finally came.  It started out like any other day.  Steve was walking North Middle Beach and I had the Mule up North Beach.  On my patrol, I came across nearly 100 stranded horseshoe crabs.  I couldn't just drive by all of them so I made a pit stop and flipped over 52.  Nearly all of them made it back to the water.  I continued my drive north, scanning for nest signs, looking off to my left, when it showed up directly in front of me.  The track of the turtle leaving the nest was fresh in the wet sand from last night's high tide.  I had to stop myself for a second to realize that I was finally seeing what we came here for.  I was so excited and immediately got out, started to walk the path and call Steve at the same time.  I examined the crawl for direction, species, and body cavity to determine if it was a false crawl or a nesting event.  All signs pointed to a nest.  I tried Steve over and over but his phone was out of range.  I then called Mark, our boss, and relayed the info.  He told me to go over the steps he trained us, and "Good Luck."  I hopped on the Mule and went as fast as I could to pick up Steve.  I arrived at the tidal creek to find him stranded, and a small fishing boat retrieving his kayak, since he didn't pull it high enough up the beach.  Before Steve and I could go to the nest site, we had to find our shovel and metal stakes that fell out of the Mule on the ride to the beach (Steve drives like a maniac).  Luckily, they were only a few minutes drive inland.  We sped back up the beach and immediately got to work.

Our training has us look over a few key things.  First we determine species.  Since we had never seen a crawl before, this one was tricky.  Measurements and body drag pointed to green, however, flipper pattern looked like a loggerhead.  Pictures were sent off to our boss for help, and an egg shell for genetic research will ultimately tell.

Next we determined nest status.  The first sign is called track differential.  This is where the track is longer on one path than the other because of a rising or falling tide and signals that she had spent a period of time on land.  The picture to the right shows an evident track differential.  She came up the beach on the lower track.  Notice that the track is washed away with the high tide/wrack line.  After spending over an hour on land, she heads for water, which has receded with the tide, and therefore leaving a longer track in wet sand, the top track.  


After track differential, we looked for track continuity, or an area of disturbed sand without distinguishable tracks. The disturbed sand was looked over for signs of a body pit, thrown sand, and ripped up vegetation.  Otherwise a track with an in-out track with no disturbance is a false crawl.  Our nest had an obvious disturbed area with all the signs.  Then we outlined the body cavity with sea wrack to preserve the shape of the area.  Once we started digging, most of the area was disturbed and clues lost.  We probed the area using a blunt dowel careful not to puncture the eggs.   We used a systematic method to find the nest.  I thought I found the nest right away.  The layer of dry sand pushed into more packed sand, which then led to softer sand below.  I got on my hands and knees and carefully started to dig with my hand.  Nothing but soft sand.  The entire area we dug did the same thing, and caused much frustration.  The next step was to remove 6 inches of sand and probe again.  We continued this method for 2.5 hours.  Still nothing.  We called our boss and got the okay to give up.  We hated leaving the nest without verification, but exhaustion was taking over.  Steve and I packed up our stuff and headed home.  

On the way, we stopped at our crab trap.  I pulled up the trap and found four large blue crabs.  We were both happy that our newest endeavor for food had worked out.  They soon became lunch.  After, Steve took a nap and I looked over the nest pictures and did some research.  I also completed my Oil Spill Response module.  After Steve woke up, I convinced him that we missed the area and had to go back.   It was 5 PM by then, so we knew we wouldn't have too  much time.  We packed up the Mule and headed out.  I drove and made it to the beach in what might be record time.  I was even soft on the bumps too.  We arrived by 545 and I was very confident we'd find it this time.

Steve proceeded by marking off the area we thought we missed, and started probing.  Still nothing.  He then started removing small layers of sand and looked for a round area that didn't follow the surrounding pattern of sand.  Again, nothing.   I got in and started probing.  Then started digging as well.  I was almost ready to give up when Steve said to check the area between the two areas we had dug.  I thought we already dug there that morning, but he insisted.  After hours of searching, I found it.  Smack in between the two dug areas was the top of the nest.  Finally!  We took an egg for research and closed it up.  Then we filled in the hole we just dug.  Steve and I covered the nest in two plastic screens to protect it from ghost crabs and raccoons.  Then a stake went into the ground to mark it - North Beach 1.  Glad that we successfully found our first nest, we packed up and headed home.  After some pit stops of feeding animals, we arrived home exhausted.  It is finally official, though, our sea turtle nesting season has begun!  

Our First Nest!

We wanted to share the news that we got our first nest!  It was quite an ordeal, and it's very late, so we can't write it all now.  Details tomorrow.  Hopefully these pictures satisfy for now.

The Canoe Trip That Wasn't

Steve and I departed even earlier than we have been. The sky was still dark. We stopped at a culvert on High Causeway to set our first blue crab trap in the salt marsh. We used the dead bait from yesterday, since none of the fish survived. Still on a learning curve. We apparently have no clue to the entire fishing process. I'm eager to check it tomorrow morning on our way to the beach. Stay tuned.

The beach patrols were the same. No turtle nests. I did get to see a bald eagle from only 20 feet as it perched in a dead tree on the beach. It didn't care much for me or the ATV so it flew back toward land. I radioed Steve so he could look for it on his way back, and he later told me he got to see it too. Funny, because earlier this morning I was wondering when we'd get to see one again. Adam told us there are 12 sub-adults on the island so I half expected to see them more often. Here's hoping.

Steve was pretty exhausted all morning so we napped when we got home. He was excited that we were back in bed before 10AM. He was awoken at 1030 to a tick bite and after inspection found two more. I decided to get up, have tea, and slack off to tv on the computer. Finally, Steve woke up at 1:00. Even though Steve was still tired, we decided to try a canoe ride to shore for groceries. The prospects of a ride off the island are nil for maybe another week since Andy is still in Alaska and Eric just had a baby. We didn't plan for two full weeks without supplies, though we're rationing quite well.

Before we leave the house, Steve starts up the engine to make sure it runs. It does. We load up the Mule with PFDs, Coast Guard required supplies, oars, and shopping bags. On the way to the dock we fill up the gas can. At the dock, Steve and I load the canoe with all our stuff and attach lines so we can use the crane to lower it into the water. (The crane is a lifesaver). After safely getting it into the water, we push off the dock. 

Steve was at the tiller, leading us through the shallow water. We passed the last piece of Ossabaw and immediately noticed the water conditions worsen slightly from the wind. Still doable. We near a sandbar and begin to take caution, but oops, too late. The water was already much shallower than we thought and the engine cuts out. No worries, we thought. I grabbed an oar and pushed the canoe to deeper water. Steve gets it running again and we continue making way. A couple minutes later the engine quits. I grab the oar, this time to keep us away from the sandbar as Steve tried to start it again. He tried, and tried, and tried. I immediately doubted that it would run and started paddling for our dock. The tide was flooding - not what we wanted to fight against. The wind wasn't too strong, but the land funneled it right at us. Steve's effort to start the engine seemed futile so I told him to start paddling with me. We were both giving it everything we had to get this HEAVY canoe back home.

After about 30 minutes, we were back. I'll admit that a couple times I worried about making it. If the canoe fell off the wind, it was incredibly hard to straighten out. After only 10 minutes, the crane had the canoe out of the water, we had the supplies in the Mule, and the canoe was stored away. Although the ride failed, we are still glad we tried. I tell myself that events like these build character (and muscles). We realized on the paddle back that we were in view of the webcam the entire time. After we got home, Steve checked out the shots. We appear as a blip in the distance in most, but some were worth keeping. Just goes to show you should check it out once in a while and you might see us flailing in the water.

The next couple hours were spent on the couch watching a movie. Later we went to feed the animals, and not just the horses et al at the main house. Now we have to care for Andy's and Eric's animals. In total, we are feeding: 3 horses, 5 pigs, 8 dogs, 2 cats, 2 parakeets, 1 goose, 1 peahen, and 9 chickens. It's officially a zoo on Ossabaw.