More good turtle news!

We received more good news this morning regarding our sea turtles! A loggerhead came ashore on Pensacola Beach during the night and nested.

Keep up those prayers, good thoughts, and visualization practices! Even though it is difficult to be positive right now, we cannot give in to depression which so often tries to envelope us (at least me!) in a dark cloud.

Mahatma Ghandi said, "Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it." This surely applies to us during this eco-disaster when we feel so helpless and frustrated.

On your good days, be there for a friend who is struggling. On your bad days, know that however many generations it takes we will fight to reclaim and restore our beautiful Gulf water.

Turtle, Turtle, Watch Out!

I was so excited to receive my hardback copy of Turtle, Turtle, Watch Out! last week. A fellow blogger, Annie Patterson, who lives in Barrow, Alaska, did the beautiful illustrations for the book by April Pulley Sayre which tells of the dangers sea turtles face as they try to survive to adulthood. Throughout the book, young people do their best to help protect the sea turtles, showing how they can at times make a difference to the survival of these threatened and endangered species.

You may recall that a few years ago I managed to capture photos of a rare daytime emergence of loggerhead hatchlings here on Pensacola Beach. Annie was working on her illustrations at that time and I shared my photos to help her with the detail of the tiny hatchlings. What a fun connection our Pensacola Beach hatchlings have to this special book!

If you would like to see more of Annie's beautiful illustrations from the book, check out her post by clicking HERE. You can also follow Annie's blog about life in Barrow, Alaska, her delightful illustrations, and links to her work for sale on Etsy by clicking HERE.

If you are interested in purchasing Turtle, Turtle, Watch Out!, please remember that the edition shown above is the hardback copy. I am not sure what difference there may be in the paperback edition.

Tropical Storm Claudette

I woke up at 4:00 a.m. to the sound of thunder. It was time to get up and get ready for a Ft. Pickens turtle patrol. The first thing I did was head to the computer to check the weather radar and saw storm cells right over Ft. Pickens.

Dragging my feet a bit to give the storm time to pass over, I finally headed toward the Park a little before 5:00 a.m.

While getting the mule loaded with supplies, backpack, and cameras, and catching up with previous logbook entries to see if we'd had any new nests since my last patrol, I could hear the surf pounding. Still, I was surprised when the headlights of the mule allowed me to see how far the waves were washing in. Having neglected to check the tropical forecast after the radar, I was unaware a tropical depression had formed overnight. Now it seemed to be staring right at me.


You can see from the photo above, why I was forced to drive the mule much higher on the beach than normal due to rising water.


The waves are cutting into the beach.


Tidal pools were forming,


and then crumbling into the Gulf as waves claimed more territory.



Unfortunately we may lose this nest tonight as the system now called Tropical Storm Claudette comes ashore. The nest is so new (August 15) it cannot be relocated. The fragile embryos would probably detach from the yolk sac and die.

The storm surge tonight is expected to be 3' to 5' and the waves are already coming within 10 feet of the nest. Still, if the storm is over quickly and the nest drains well, perhaps...perhaps...there's a chance.

The Ft. Pickens area of Gulf Islands National Seashore will be closing at 4:00 p.m. this afternoon and campers are being asked to leave the area, anticipating that the island could be breached (washed over) in certain areas.

Shore surprises

You just never know what to expect when you patrol the beach in the early morning hours, but this is the first time I've ever discovered a 27" television.


Luckily I caught this balloon bouquet before it entered the water. Balloons are very bad for sea turtles and other marine life and shorebirds, but we frequently see them on the beach marking the spot of weddings and other events. Sadly most people don't know that once they get into the water, they can be ingested by turtles and dolphin who mistake them for jellyfish.

You may read an article about the threat of plastic bags and balloons to sea turtles by clicking HERE and HERE

Tracking Tiny Turtles

I thought you would like to see hatchling tracks which helped us find them yesterday morning after dawn. The little creatures only have so much energy to expend and they were going to need every bit of it to survive the mess Hurricane Ike is making of the gulf water.


Round the tires, in and out...


And if you click on this photo you can see the hatchling tracks right down the middle of tire tracks (which were most likely from lifeguard trucks or a ranger's ATV).

Tucking in for the night

This is what it looks like when you screen a nest at night. You may click on the photo for more detail.

Before dark, a ranger or volunteer will head out to nests where activity is being heard and hatchlings are close to emerging. A screen is placed over the location of the egg chamber and sand is built up around it. This keeps the crabs out and also confines the tiny hatchlings should they emerge when no one is there (and possibly become disoriented).

Someone will patrol the nests during the night to check the progress.

Disoriented!

I am so appreciative that our 'Traveling Turtle Girl' (marine biologist, Kirsten Dahlen) shared these photos with me. You can see first-hand one of the magnificent creatures we try so hard to protect.


This beautiful loggerhead turtle was disoriented when Dr. LiMarie Rodriguez discovered her wandering in the Opal Beach area a couple of days ago. Thankfully, she and Kirsten found volunteers to help hoist the tired turtle back to gulf waters. You may read more about the adventure in Kirsten's blog.


Happily, this loggerhead lives to see another day, another nest. Seeing her return to the sea we understand the impact we can have on them/their environment. This is why we try so hard to raise awareness, reduce lights on the beach, pick up our trash, fill in holes dug in the sand, reduce recreational equipment on the beach overnight, eliminate plastic bags/Styrofoam/balloons on the beach.