September 1, 2007

Goodbye Summer, hello Fall!  Whata farce it was, too.  Hardly any rain (what happened to the rainy season?), rarely over 95 degrees, humidity mostly bearable, and absolutely no hurricanes, much less any that chased us away.  But we have a couple months of Hurry Cain season left, so who knows.  But anyway, all those nay-sayers that told us the bugs, heat and humidity would drive us out were wrong.  But aren't nay-sayers often wrong?  I know, I usually am when I pooh-pooh somebody else's plans.

In case you missed the Lunar Eclipse this time around because you were too lazy to crawl out of bed, or if you happened to be someplace where it wasn't visible, well hold your breath.  It's here, and just for you.  Quite amateurish, I'll admit, but next time I'll do better.  Learned a lot during that experience.  Important things, like coating myself with long pants, long-sleeved shirt, and gobs of bug repellant elsewhere.  Yeah, the no-see-ums were alive and well, and standing there with just my shorts on was a bad idea.

This is what it looks like when Barb and I are "working in the field."  Remember I said we'd had little rain?  Well, in anticipation of the rainy season (thunderstorm and rain every afternoon), the staff, along with us, had planted a bunch of baby shrubs and trees in these sparse areas.  Like all baby plants pulled out of their pots, they wanted water so we filled this 55-gallon tank, drove out to where the plants are, started the little gasoline pump, and watered them.  Filling the tank about a half dozen times to do the job right.  Takes us about 4 hours.  One of us hauls the hose and squirts the plants, the other one keeps the hose from kinking or snagging  under the tire of the EZ-GO, under stumps, and other places (except she's taking pictures at the moment), starts and stops the pump to keep it from running dry, etc.  Being watched all the time by various neighbors.  In this case a trio of Ibis.  Now tell me, would that be Ibises or Ibi?  Anyway, this time there were three of them, call them what you will.

I must be on the nozzle end of the hose and Barb busily learning how to use her new camera on fungi she finds.  Interesting mushrooms all over the place.  Barb got a new camera because the old one had gone into the shop several times for warranty, and the last time we'd asked for an extension and got another six months from Canon.  And a couple weeks after that extension was over, the camera hiccupped again, so they sent her an upgraded one with some features the old one didn't have.  We've added Canon to the list of companies we like to do business with.

The Great Egret marching through our yard and some of Barb's shell club creations.  I'm in constant amazement at what that Bride of mine can come up with.

What we're seeing here is the other end of the Loggerhead egg laying process.  One day Barb and I figured out (based on the instruction sheet we get from Brie - our resident turtle tracking staff member) that it was time for the hatchlings to come out.  So one evening about dusk, we loaded up and headed to the beach, cameras & tripod in tow.  Of course, we know they only come out after dark, but that didn't deter us.  We were bored, what can I say.

We'd checked both the nests that were on schedule to emerge with no luck, and I'd gone back to sit on a bench and wait for Barb to tire of looking for that special shell that she knew had to be in that pile of shells someplace.  Then I heard her yelling and waving her arms and pointing at the ground.  For crying out loud, I thought, why doesn't she just pick the darn shell up and bring it to me rather than making me gather up all my stuff and walk back down there.

And now you can see why.  See, we'd stopped at the ranger station on our way to the beach and told Judy, our toll collector for the day, to please call ahead and let the hatchlings know the photographers were on their way, and would they please make ready.  We'd also run into the Park Assistant Manager, Matt, who was on vacation with his girlfriend and his daughters along with his brother Meredith and the brother's son Joey.  They were enjoying an evening at the beach, doing some boarding, and just messing around.  I told Matt we'd come down to take pictures of some hatchlings and he laughingly told me to make sure he knew about it when we did.  So, naturally, we yelled at Matt and Meredith to come over and see the hatchling we were taking pictures of.  That hand belongs to Joey.

Since Meredith is a park ranger at Wiggins Pass State Park and, of course, Matt has been here at Lovers Key about 12 years and quite knowledgeable about these things, it was decided that this little turtle must have hatched on some other beach, and then hidden in a bunch of weeds like they're supposed to do once they swim out a ways, only this bunch of weeds apparently got washed up on the beach, and it was just trying to get back to the water again.  When Barb first saw it, she was grieved as she thought it was dead, then she saw an eye wink.  Then she got excited!  That's when her arms started flailing and she started hollering at me.  The little guy made it to the water partly on its own and, finally, with a little help from Joseph, the young man who's hand you can see.

The main reasons we stayed for the summer was to see the Loggerhead turtles doing their thing and to watch the shorebirds nesting and the fledglings run around.  We'd not given much thought to the other advantages, like seeing this beautiful spider lily bloom. 

And, of course, from one spiny shaped thing to another.  This healthy urchin got put back in the water so it could live a little longer.  Whenever Barb goes shelling on a low or minus tide, she's tossing animals back into the water that get left high and dry.

Finally, a true "emergence."  That divot in the middle of the cage means that the eggs below have all hatched and the baby turtles have left the nest! (The hatchlings emerge from eggs, empty shells flatten out from sand weight, thus, the depression in the sand--you knew that didn't you?)  You can see their tracks as they scurry to the water.  They all hatch at nearly the same time and are programmed to sit still until after every other egg has hatched, then they all emerge at the same time.  That way, the sand that gets packed down by them leaving won't crush any remaining eggs.  At least that's the way we understand it.  Now, this is exciting.  At least it is to us.

What's this?  Another emergence?  YAA HOO!!

Just a variety of shots showing the tracks the little guys make in the recently rained-on sand as they head out to the Gulf.  The "depression" date gets logged and in  72 hours the nest will be "excavated" by a ranger who will count the empty egg shells, any shells remaining that didn't produce, and, occasionally, we find little dead turtles and ones that are still alive (which we saw first hand--later).  The reason for the 72 hours is that occasionally things get screwed up and there is more than just one emergence, and we don't want to mess things up any further by disturbing the natural process.  We can hardly wait to watch the excavation.

Wish we'd have been there to watch the little critters tumble over that "cliff" on their way to the water.  Luckily, we didn't find any evidence of predation (like raccoons or crabs), so hopefully they all made it to the water OK.  We've been told that the average success rate is something like one in a thousand that actually grow to maturity, which takes about 20 years.  As they crawl to the water as hatchlings, there apparently is an imprint made in their brain of the smell of the beach, which instinct will bring them back to as adults when it's time to lay their own eggs; it is the only time they ever leave the water.  Pretty amazing, considering that all this sand we can see will be gone in less than a year, replaced by other sand being washed ashore for the most part.  And remember too, that this whole beach has been "refurbished" by pumping sand from the Gulf floor (about three miles out), and brought up here in the first place.

It's one thrill after another.  These distinctive black & white birds with the large red-orange bills are Oystercatchers or Oystercrackers, depending on where you are when you see them (geographic distinction only).  Apparently pretty rare (endangered).  I was talking to a visitor who had come from Ohio because she'd heard we had a pair of them.  She'd been looking for three days but hadn't yet spotted them.  Later that same day I saw them again.  Hope that lady got to see them before she had to go back.

Mangrove water snake is this critter's name (thanks to Ranger Mike S.).  Barb spotted him going across the road by the Ranger Station, we're glad it made it; heading straight for the mangroves (no kidding!).  Mike said they come in a variety of colors depending on age.  Thrill a day continues!

Now this isn't something we see every day, and it sure drew a crowd.  That's a dolphin under those wet towels between those big PVC pipes.  It's actually in a sling of sorts, with its flippers sticking through some holes; see the shape of its tail in the towel.  Seems the poor animal had gotten stranded not far from here in a pool left by an outgoing tide.  Took some persistent kids to find who to tell, more time to activate the rescue, and then execute it.  Apparently they'd been at it most the day.  Once caught, the dolphin needed to be put back as near as possible to where it was picked up, but into deeper water.  Our (Lovers Key) boat ramp was the selected place.  I was sort of bemused by the whole process, but those involved were all pretty excited.

You can see the head in front now.  What that girl with the red cross on her shirt was doing holding the snout was beyond me.  Do know Barb had difficulty taking pictures of the dolphin with her there.  Much jostling and jockeying about for positions on this litter patrol, I'd say.

And there goes our thrill for this day.  Seems like there's always something exciting going on someplace in this world we're living in, and we sure are enjoying it.  Rumor has it that Barb's pictures were used in a local newspaper to accompany the story, but we've not seen them.

A fitting end to another beautiful day here, "Lovin' it at Lovers Key".

It's excavation time!  And we've been invited along with other "adoptive parents" to attend.  The Civilian Support Organization, (CSO) called Friends of Lovers Key has a fun fund raiser whereby they offer to let people "adopt a nest" for a modest donation.  We donated, got our name on the display down by the Pavilion, and got invited to attend this excavation.  Of course, as volunteers, we'd have tagged along anyway, but it's fun to get formal invitations to things like this.  Also got a nice certificate and a T-shirt to boot.

Brie is the prime mover for things like this.  She's responsible for the public relations for the park among other things.  She's also the volunteer coordinator in case you ever want to volunteer here and enjoy the kinds of things we've been doing.  Ranger Robert is helping with the excavation and Brie is letting everybody know what's going on and why.  The other fellow in uniform there is Bob, and he's a local volunteer that is really dedicated to the park too.  Bob must have been driving the tram because he's not in his normal field-working T-shirt.  Bob is relied on for all kinds of repairs, and when he's driving the tram he'll come in much earlier than needed just to pick up trash alongside the highway.  Hard working fellow who has found a special place in our hearts by giving Barb three of the most beautiful shells she now has in her collection.

Ranger Robert gets to dig into the nest hole, and Brie is helping by spreading the shells in the shaker box to be counted later.

The youngsters sure seemed to be interested throughout the whole process.  Brie is showing us an egg that didn't hatch, and those round marks made by its neighbors.

Because sometimes there are broken un-hatched eggs, dead hatchlings, and who knows what all, Ranger Robert is wisely wearing rubber gloves.  What?  Didn't that dead hatchling just move?

It sure did!  And a lady in the audience instinctively and appropriately shouted "It's a miracle!"  Talk about excitement in the group.  And it's trying to get to the water!  Taken out of the box, it immediately heads in the right direction--towards the setting sun which leads it to the water.  Apparently if they're left in the dark like this one was while still in the nest, they sort of go into a state of hibernation where their bodily systems almost shut down.  Then when they're all ready to emerge from the nest, there's some sort of trigger mechanism that tells them all to start climbing.  Only this little one must have had his signals crossed, and didn't leave like the others.

Talk about exciting!  What an effort by this little critter!  (The speck in the middle crowd in the photo above is our little hatchling.)  Every once in a while it would stop, appear to rest a moment, then raise its head to check the direction, and off it would go again.  Once in a while it would change direction, and the crowd would moan, then, sure enough, it would turn itself around again and keep heading toward the water.  Once in the water it's not over either, as the subsequent wave action would often as not flip it on its back and wash it back up on the beach, and the struggle would start all over again.  After watching it get tossed and turned and washed back up on the beach several times, we were all feeling a bit of compassion, including Brie, so she came to the rescue (after explaining that it probably had enough time on the beach to imprint its location) and carried it out beyond the breakers.  If you can call that wave action "breakers" (well, it certainly is for a 2-3" sea turtle that weighs about as much as a grape anyway).  Amazing how calm the Gulf usually is.

Brie and Park Manager Mike (in the white shirt) talking about all the fun we were having.

The box of egg shells, after they are appropriately counted by category (hatched, un-hatched, dead, alive), will be emptied into the trash to help cut down on attractants for the predators like raccoons.  The little hatchlings are tasty to a variety of predators.  In addition to the 'coons, birds like them as do the house cats that have been dumped in the park.  Once in the water there are all kinds of fish that will eat them given the chance.  A local journalist put in this way:  "Turtle hatchings are like Doritos to birds and fish."  Barb had to see what the un-hatched egg felt like.  As a girl there was a creek running by her house where the turtles would lay eggs; sometimes the kids would find them and play with them.  Two-legged predators, eh?

Time for the memory-making photos and a fitting sunset to another great day.  Is this a great lifestyle or what?

AHA!  A nest evacuation that we get to participate in.  Ranger Amy came back to work to help out, and Ranger Randy in charge of the action.  Barb was the designated digger and really got into her work.  That aluminum clipboard has the data sheets that need to be filled out, containing the location (GPS coordinates), number of hatched eggs, un-hatched eggs, dead hatchlings, etc.  Because it's a government thing, there's always lots of paperwork involved.

Got one!  Then some more, and some more.  She's really into it, and down past her elbow.  Only job in the park where you get to start at the top and work your way down!

Oops..... broke that un-hatched egg.  No harm done, and didn't even smell bad.  Amy's holding a little one that didn't make it.  It wasn't sleeping, it was dead.

Finally hit the bottom.  You can tell, because the sand is hard-packed, whereas in the nest itself, it's very soft and loose.  Then the sorting and counting  begins.  Ranger Randy and I were busy discussing the various advantages of one hand gun caliber over another while we made sure the women were doing the job the right way...and we were very careful to not get in the way.

We'll end this update with some whimsy from Barb's shell club activities (a panda, of course, made from the "skeleton" of sea urchins painted white), and a shot of us having dinner with Paul and Pixy.  Met them online in the Yahoo Foretravel owners' group.  I had upgraded our A/C system controller and Paul could use the old controller for his system, so a swap and dinner ensued.  Yeah, this is indeed a great lifestyle.

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