Gulf Islands National Seashore

How blessed we are to live in such a beautiful part of the country.   Pensacola Beach is flanked on both sides by the Gulf Islands National Seashore.

Sea oats in silhouette

The golden sea oats were only a silhouette tonight as Mother Nature slashed my initial across the sky. ;-)  What?  You can't see the 'Z'????

The amazing Green sea turtle crawl!

I was not very excited to wake up at 4:15 this morning to the sound of wind howling across the chimney and sheets of rain hitting the bedroom window.   Luckily the rain had let up by the time I got to Opal Beach and what an awesome patrol it turned out to be!  Not only did I discover my sixth sea turtle nest of the season, but it turned out to be that of a Green!  It's the first Green sea turtle nest I've ever found!

The mama turtle's crawl was 41" wide and what a path she made!  There were two body pits (eggs were found in the second pit), and there were three loops where she became disoriented afterward, as she tried to make her way back into the Gulf of Mexico.  Considering she probably weighed 300 lbs or more, you can imagine how tired this poor mama sea turtle must have been by the time she made her way back into the sea.

By the way, this is the sixth Green sea turtle nest of 2011 season (out of the total 75 nests to date).  So far, all of the Greens have nested in the Santa Rosa area of Gulf Islands National Seashore.

Why do fish jump?

It was a gorgeous day at Ft. Pickens -- except for about half an hour when the skies grew dark as a rain cloud passed over and drenched me!  That's partially why the video is jerking around - I'm beginning to feel the first drops and scanning the sky around me, but I wanted to capture the moment.

As you can see in the video clip, fish were jumping all over in the surf, either having a great time or trying to escape larger fish feeding on them.  It was driving the Laughing Gulls crazy.

There was a lot bird activity to enjoy throughout the patrol: sea gulls, Great Blue Herons, Snowy Plovers, Least Terns, Black Terns (who appear to still be migrating), and Willet.   Coupled with the fact I found a Loggerhead nest and a false crawl, I'd say life is good!

Common Loon

It was almost two months into the 2011 sea turtle season (which started the first of May) before I saw Common Loons resting on the beach again. Prior to that it was 2009 when I observed them or heard them calling before dawn as I readied my vehicle for patrol.

I'm not sure why they weren't around last year. The easy answer is that they were affected by the oil spill in some way, possibly just by the number of people on the beach helping with the clean up.  Whatever the case, it is great to see and hear them again.

Loons are excellent swimmers and divers, but their legs are located farther back on their bodies than most birds and it makes them very awkward on land. If you see one struggling on shore or trying to get back in the water, don't assume they are injured, just quietly leave the area. Remember, when I get these pictures or video on patrol, I am quite a distance away and it is our purpose to complete our patrols with as little impact on wildlife as possible.

Breakfast with the Black Skimmers

There are all kinds of captions one could use for this video clip I took during sea turtle patrol this morning, starting with "I can't believe I ate the whole thing".   Poor little Black Skimmer fledgling finally just sidled away behind the dune to finish his fish in peace.

Sunrise at Navarre Beach

"We can only appreciate the miracle of a sunrise if we have waited in the darkness."

~~ Author Unknown

Herons at Nest FP-6111

Sea turtle patrolers can count on finding something unique on the beach nearly every time we go out.  Sometimes it will be sea creatures we can't identify or interesting bird behavior (as shown below).  Sometimes it's curious things which have washed up on shore. 

This summer, for instance, I've see considerably more logs, driftwood, and large splintered pieces of wood along the beach both on Ft. Pickens and Santa Rosa, probably originating from storm damage hundreds of miles from us.

There are also times when nests get washed over during a high tide.  Wood and sargassum littered a large area around nest FP-6111, intriguing a family of herons who decided to swoop in to investigate.  I hated to interrupt them, but after a couple of minutes I had to push past to complete my patrol.

For Justin

"Let the wind carry you home,
Blackbird, fly away.
May you never be broken again.

"Beyond the suffering you've known,
I hope you find your way.
May you never be broken again."

~~ Blackbird, Altered Bridge

Justin was the son of a friend in Tennessee, a beautiful young man who was badly injured in a car accident late last year and has been in a coma since that time.  After overcoming many obstacles throughout these past months, Justin passed on last night and hearts are heavy at the loss for his family and the many friends who stayed by his side, hoping he'd be able to return to them one day. 

Blue Angels over Pensacola Beach

It certainly has been a busy couple of weeks with family visiting, the Fourth of July celebration, and the Blue Angels Air Show on Pensacola Beach. It has been great to see crowds back at the beach, helping local business owners make it a profitable year, and trolley stops being put to good use as people save a little gas by taking advantage of free rides.

I've taken time to catch my breath, had a little quiet time while I cleaned the house and worked in the yard, plus check out and download  photos and video I've taken recently.

There are tons of great photos on the web and on Facebook of the Blue Angels performing over the beach, so I'm just going to share a few video clips I took of Team RV, Fat Albert, and the Blue Angels performance so you can get a taste of the excitement last weekend. Our thanks to Mike and Chrissy Cook who invited us to attend their Blue Angels party and family reunion! Chrissy is a wonderful hostess!


Fat Albert



Here comes Fat Albert again!


Blue Angels


How cool is this!!


Team RV in their brightly colored planes.

Glorious Day

"And now, this is the sweetest and most glorious day that ever my eyes did see."

~~ Donald Cargill (1619 - 1681)

Grand Show

"This grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never all dried at once; a shower is forever falling; vapor ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal sunset, eternal dawn and gloaming, on seas and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls."

~~ John Muir (1838-1914) John of the Mountains: The Unpublished Journals of John Muir

Happy Birthday, America!

Happy Birthday, America! I just watched fireworks taking place all over our island - east from my balcony and west from my windows.  It was an amazing display. 

On our 235th birthday, I would challenge my blog followers to take a few minutes and read something very precious to our country, but so easy to take for granted: our Declaration of Independence. 

Happy Fourth of July

Happy Fourth of July from my paradise to yours!

Sunrise

Sunrises and sunsets are always beautiful at the beach, but they are more dramatic recently due to the wildfires we are currently experiencing near our area.  It's a bit more difficult to appreciate their beauty when you discover it's because sunlight is passing through a light haze of smoke.

For a look at the number of wildfires we are currently experiencing in Florida, click HERE. 

Drought conditions for our area of the Southeast are at the highest level, D4/Exceptional Drought. 

False crawls!

Shortly after sunrise this morning I came across my first false crawl. It was a little west of Marker E...

Less than ten minutes later I came across my second false crawl, almost a condensed version of the first. It was located about a quarter of a mile farther east, on the east side of Marker E...

And less than ten minutes later I came across my THIRD false crawl approximately another quarter of a mile east, which put it between Marker E and D.








I've never found three false crawls during one patrol. And, what made it even more interesting is that when I took measurements of each crawl width, I discovered the crawls were made by three different sea turtles.

One track was 36" wide; one was 37" wide; and one was 38" wide. Also, the track patterns themselves were different. Tracks may have a unique pattern if there has been an injury to a flipper or if barnacles are present on the plastron (belly) of the sea turtle.

Although I did not discover an actual nest today, it's still fun to know they will try again within the next day or so and hopefully be more successful!

A New Day

Sometimes the only thing that will help is a new day.

Little spouts!

For about an hour this morning, during the earlier portion of my patrol, I watched funnel clouds dropping down here and there from a long line of rain clouds in the Gulf of Mexico.  I was hoping I might be able to capture a photo or video of one as it  made contact with the Gulf and started sucking water up into the funnel, but none progressed to that point.

Dark clouds started on the southwest horizon and crossed the island diagonally to the northeast.  I managed to stay behind the system, but could see heavy downpours in the Gulf.   Waterspouts are intriguing to watch, but can wreak havoc if they come ashore.  Which ever way they head, you should head the other direction!  Remember, simply put, waterspouts are are tornadoes which occur over water.

FP 6191

A Fathers Day gift for all you sea turtle lovers out there!  I found this nest at Ft. Pickens shortly before 6 a.m. this morning near Marker E...hence it is tagged as FP 6191 (Ft. Pickens - June 19 - 1st nest discovered on this day in this area)   My measurements showed it was a good sized Loggerhead with a 38" crawl.  Unfortunately, the nest was too near the water and had to be relocated, during which time we discovered there were 129 eggs! 

My thanks to Bio-techs Toby Singleton and Lauren Quinn for coming out to relocate the nest.

This is the 3th nest I've found this year; the 9th for Ft. Pickens; and the 29th for the entire area from Santa Rosa to Perdido Key!  What an amazing year!

The Great Blue Heron and the ray

Sometimes when I get busy, I forget about photos or video I've taken during patrol and wanted to share with you. This short video clip shows the Great Blue Heron I posted about on Sunday, walking around with just a bit too much breakfast to handle.

The biting flies have been out recently.  That generally happens when the wind blows out of the north, so when you see the picture jerk up and down and make a weird noise, it's because the flies were biting my ankles as I crawled nearer to the heron on my elbows and knees. I was trying to scrape/shrug them off of me!

The way I see it, even the Garden of Eden had a snake, so pests are to be expected in our little paradise, too.