Sunday, July 15, 2012

False Crawls

As I told someone else, this morning's patrol was all work and no glory.  Ft. Pickens still has only six nests this year, but I had THREE false crawls (FCs) this morning.  After seeing these photos, you may see why she may have been too tired to try again.  Maybe tomorrow.

The photos I'm sharing with you came from FC number 3.  

She emerged from the Gulf and crawled due north...
 Climbed up a huge mound of sand...
Came down on the road side and headed east...
Crawled about 50 yards...


Which seemed to go on forever...
Finally found a spot to cross back over...
Crested the top and slid down on the Gulf side of the berm...
This final shot shows where she came out of the Gulf and way down there at my UTV was where her crawl re-entered it.

WHEW! 








Unfortunately, on my way in this morning, I witnessed another speeder through the Park. I was going 20 mph and they passed me going around 40-45 mph. I didn't have time to get their license number. There was only a sliver of a crescent moon, so it was very dark. Now, can you imagine how hard it would have been for that person to stop if this sea turtle had been in the middle of the road? It gets so frustrating sometimes. Some people don't realize that we are trying to protect the shorebirds, chicks, and even an occasional sea turtle which ends up on the wrong path. Remind your friends to slow down and smell the sea breeze. Adding ten minutes or so to a drive through the National Seashore should be a pleasure and it could surely save some of our wildlife.

5 comments:

Susan said...

DJ, this is so disturbing. Six nests is much lower than last year, right? What do you think is making a difference?

Barrier Island Girl said...

Hey Susan. I understand! It upsets me too! Ha! But other areas are having a great year. Santa Rosa and Pensacola Beach are up. Ft. Pickens and Perdido Key are down. Remember though,a loggerhead doesn't nest every year. They generally nest every other year. Ft. Pickens had a good year in 2011, 17 nests, so hopefully they will be back and our numbers up next year.

Overall (Perdido Key, Ft. Pickens, Pensacola Beach, and Santa Rosa) our numbers are spot on for this time last year, and it was our record year - 84 nests. The difference is the distribution. You could think of this as a good thing because the number of nests on Pensacola Beach is higher. That means people are beginning to do things which make the residential area beach more attractive. :-)

Thanks for your great comment and question.

Simon said...

Thank for the wonderful photographs and for the work that you do, I know how hard it can be - just wanted to say hello from another turtle volunteer across the pond!

Loui♥ said...

DJ!
love you!
love your pics..
your dedication not only to our area..
but also to all those others..
inhabitants on land and in the sea..
with whom we share our corner of paradise!!
see ya real soon!!
sandy hugs..
Loui♥
ps the verification thingy is back on again!

Barrier Island Girl said...

Sorry, Lou. I had to turn it back on due to the spam I started getting. Every time I checked my e-mail, I was getting notification of another advertisement that had shown up on the blog Very irritating, but not sure how else I can handle it. :-(