Turtle Walk #6

Today's Turtle Walk Post

Walk #17

Today was our 17th and final turtle walk of the season. We only have 1 nest left in our zone that is due and should be hatched and dug by next week. I believe there are 10 nests left in the area from the eastern tip of Sanibel to the Tarpon Bay Beach. From there to the West end of Sanibel is monitored by SCCF, using their beach vehicle. There are nests still to hatch in that area. I will put the statistics for the 2009 turtle season on my Turtle Talk blog, as soon as it's available.

It was about 75 degrees this morning when we did our walk but it got up to 93 later in the day. We had afternoon thunder storms that brough us a little more than a half inch of rain. There is a 40 to 50 percent chance of rain each day for the rest of the week.

There was a pink glow in the east this morning as we walked out to the beach.

An osprey was standing watch at the top of a tree.

There was hardly anyone on the beach for a while.

Gradually people began coming out onto the beach to walk under the pink cotton candy clouds, waiting for the sunrise.

It was so quiet and peaceful out, even the birds seemed relaxed and in no hurry to fly away.

It took a while to see the sun, because it had to climb up from behind clouds.

The only shells were small ones.

This bird seemed to be taking a rest, and just sat there watching me as I took it's picture.



Just before leaving the beach, there was an area at the high tide line, where some sea weed was lying beside a little pool of water that had been left. I spied a Bubble shell and as I bent over to pick it up, I saw a couple more, then a few more. After picking them up, I moved a little more of the sea weed and saw two Top shells, some Apple Murex, a Nutmeg, Augers, Drills, a couple of Whelks, Shark's Eyes and Top shells. Then I saw four, tiny white Wentletraps. I got distracted for a moment and looked away. When I looked back, I could only find two of them. I looked and looked and never could spot the other two again. But, I was content with my handful of shells. :-)

I'm pleased to say that there was hardly any trash on the beach this morning, and no new sand holes. I will post the statistics for the 2009 nesting season as soon as it's available.

Best viewed in HD on YouTube by clicking on the screen below.

Walk #16

Today was our 16th turtle walk of this season, at first light we were on our way to the beach. The hatch date for the only sea turtle nest left in our zone, was yesterday. I went off with high hopes that there might be hatchlings on their way out of that nest.

This photo looks very dark, but if you will click on it to enlarge it, you will see why I took it.

The temperature during the night had gone down to 73, so it was still cool and a little windy. It was a nice change, but later in the day it was 89.


There was a big change in the amount of people walking on the beach when we first got there. As the sun came up, more people were coming out, but not anywhere near as many as there has been this summer. I've noticed that there is hardly any traffic on the streets and some of the business owners have already noticed a drop in their sales. The island will probably be pretty quiet for a while now, since kids have gone back to school and summer vacations are over. This is a great time to plan a visit. :-)


This ghost crab hole caught my attention because the sand that it dug out was a pile of little sand balls. It doesn't usually look that way; I guess it is because the sand there was wet.


Three Men In a Tub, came to mind. So, what do you think this was; Three Babes In a Bowl?


King?


This one is self-explanatory.

Very artsy, I think.





An example of 'The Sanibel Stoop'.



Viewable in HD on YouTube.


This was laying all alone. Diver down! ???


Sea Anemones , I think. I saw about 10 of these mixed in with the sea weed at the tide line.





The Snowy Plovers were busy running around as they gathered their breakfast. There was a large group of them again this week.


Now, I had a problem here. I knew someone who used to leave something at the walkway of the condo they were staying in, so that when his wife got up and walked out to the beach, she would know which way he went. This was laying about half way up on the beach and looked like sand had washed over it......but it was pointing. I looked in that direction and didn't see anyone, so that and the plastic bag, went in with the other trash I had picked up.


There wasn't great shelling here this morning. This is the way it looked through much of the one mile strip.


Somebody definitely blew out a flip flop. I just hope they didn't step on a pop top.


This group of laughing gulls didn't seem too happy, they were all just standing very still as I walked by.


Some small shells were scattered here. I saw a couple of very small paper figs, but they were broken.


I spotted this little sandman taking it easy, next to a sea horse.


I just happened to notice two Bubble shells and as I reached for them, I saw a lady walking pretty close to me. I asked her if she had found any Bubble shells this morning. She looked at them and said that she hadn't. She thought all the shells that were on the beach were called Tulips. I told her that there are many different kinds and gave her the Bubble shells. She thanked me and went away happily looking for more shells. Just after that, I found one more; that being the only one I carried away.


Someone I know has a real thing about feathers. So, this photo is for you. :-) I've also heard a discussion about whether it is illegal to pick up bird feathers and take them. In the US, it is illegal to collect bird feathers. All native migratory bird species are protected by federal law and it is illegal to have in your possession any protected bird, its nest, its eggs, or even its feathers, without the required federal and state permits. Penalties upon conviction can be severe. Even if a sympathetic jury finds that you meant no harm in picking up and taking a feather. There are legal fees and there is no way to prove how you got it. Seems to me that it is best to take a hands off approach...look but don't collect.

What's left of the big whale shark, sand masterpiece, is still there. :-( The tide hadn't been high enough to wash any of it away yet. But, it served a purpose during the last couple of days. There was a pile of small shells that got caught there.


This walk was uneventful. The sea turtle nest still looked perfectly intact. There were no surprises today.

Next stop was the Sanibel Cafe. I mentioned before about the island being a quiet place now. As we drove in to Tahitian Gardens and walked toward the Cafe, there sat the owner waiting to welcome us. Yes, they know this is a ritual for us on Tuesday mornings. :-) If you have plans to come to Sanibel, don't forget to drop by the Sanibel Cafe for one of the best breakfasts or lunch, you will find here. Be sure to say 'Hi' to Richard and Bonnie, who will no doubt be there to personally take care of you.

Turtle Walk #14

Before going into today's turtle walk, I want to share information I found in a news article today, concerning the Leatherback hatchlings. A few leatherback hatchlings from the east coast were released on Sanibel in the '70s as part of an experiment. They now think that it's possible one of those may have come back to nest here. That certainly helps give my curiosity a rest. :-)

I found another very nice blog called 'Two Turtle Trackers', that offers information and photos of the Leatherback hatchling release. I'm so happy I ran across it! Now I will also know what a morning turtle walk is like on their section of Bonita Beach in Florida. This is their fourth year of searching for new sea turtle nests on Bonita Beach as volunteers for Turtle Time.

Today was our 14th turtle walk of the season. The beach was quite busy you could see shellers, walkers and the people out just to watch the sunrise. It wasn't too hot this morning and on the beach, there was enough breeze to keep the noseeums away. Thank goodness!

Was this an alien visitor?

This tidal pool is still a stinky one.

We didn't have any new turtle activity today, but one of our nests that is due to hatch has been invaded by ghost crabs. We know they got into the egg chamber because there was a broken egg shell on top of the nest.



This varmint is a ghost crab. You hardly notice them on the beach, unless they scamper across the beach in front of you.

We called our Permittee and he came over to check the nest. He was going to call to give SCCF a report on it. They would then decide what to do about it, if anything. The usual procedure is to let nature take it's course. You know.....that whole 'Circle of Life' thing. It was sure tough walking away, knowing that baby turtles were probably getting their tiny eyeballs ripped out. I really don't like this part of the volunteer job. Needless to say, the rest of the day didn't look to bright to me, even though there were beautiful rays coming up from the sun.









Best viewed in HD on YouTube by clicking on screen below.




Maybe a tug boat?

Very simple, but everyone knows what it means. :-)

I don't know if this board came in with a Pirate on it, or if it washed up all be itself and the Pirate was lost at sea.

?????

More ????? It appeared to be a big guy with long hair, beard, and swimming thong. This is what the BIG shovel built last week, that I had a photo of.

Looks to me like they put his legs on backwards.



In the video, you could see a young father holding a baby as he watched the sunrise. On our way back, we found this tiny little sandal. I know it belonged to that baby, since it was the only one on the beach during the time it took us to walk back. They were no where in sight, so I picked it up and placed it further from the water where I thought it would be found when they returned to the beach.

Just before the Buttonwood Lane beach access, I noticed this healthy looking bunch of sea oats.

Being raised on a farm, I always knew this was oats, but until several years ago, I didn't realize just how important sea oats is to coastal dune areas. It is considered so important that wild sea oats is a protected species. Picking or disturbing sea oats is against the law. Violating the law carries a hefty fine, even for harvesting the seeds. (Sea oats is grown and sold in nurseries that have permits to propagate protected plant species.)

Sea oats not only beautify beaches, but most importantly it preserves the beach from erosion by stabilizing the sand dunes with a deep root system. Sea oats is highly drought, salt and heat tolerant, so it thrives in coastal areas.

You can see in this photo how it is trapping more sand, making the dunes grow. The more the dunes grow, the larger the plants will grow; and so the cycle will continue year after year, if it is not disturbed.

Due to hurricane damage on Sanibel, there has been a large amount of sea oats seedlings planted in the dunes. There was a huge amount of them planted at Bowman's Beach and other places. Next time you visit the beach, take a little extra care, not to trample on what might appear to be just a useless sprig of grass. It just may have a very important purpose in life. :-)

To read more about sea oats......