Sorry to tell you that we started a little earlier today and it was just barely light enough to see; so, no pictures. Everything was still the same, no turtle tracks; the two nests in zone 1 looked fine. We did however, have so much trash that we had to leave it where we came off the beach and go back to pick it up and haul it to a dumpster. What a mess of things we found this morning. There was another pair of lost flip flops, as usual and plenty of plastic bags, a beach ball, etc also a comforter that had no doubt, come from one of the condos in the area, laying on the beach and piled full of trash. That was a major endeavor, dragging it all the way back, along with arm loads and a big bag full too. But, I guess somebody had to clean it up. There was only one other person on the beach and that was a jogger who went by just as I was dragging the comforter up to the Buttonwood access. She probably thought I had been out sleeping on the beach! Hopefully things will be better next week. There wasn't even a pretty sunrise to look at. We checked later today to make sure we would get a call after the nests in our zone hatch. We really want to be there when they do the dig to find out how many eggs hatched, if any are left, etc. We were told; yes they would call us so we can be there. Yippee!
Did you know?
A steep decline in Loggerhead nesting is evident from the nest counts at the state's index 27 beaches, which are those used for research and trend analysis by the state wildlife institute, an arm of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. And did you know, Sanibel/Captiva are Index Beaches?Last year was the lowest nesting season on record for the loggerheads -- about half of the 1998 peak -- at the beaches used by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute to study long-term trends.
What happens to Florida loggerheads is critical because the state hosts 90 percent of the nation's loggerhead-turtle nests.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Saturday, June 28, 2008
New Nests
There are three new nests this week:
Sunday – Zone#6 – Nest #19 -- 111 feet west of the Building “C” entrance at the vege line.
Wednesday – Zone #6 -- Nest #20 at Pointe Santo – 47 feet east of the east corner of the east most building at the vege line
Saturday – Zone # 5 -- Nest #21 – 120 feet east of the eastern-most walkway at Algiers Park
Sunday – Zone#6 – Nest #19 -- 111 feet west of the Building “C” entrance at the vege line.
Wednesday – Zone #6 -- Nest #20 at Pointe Santo – 47 feet east of the east corner of the east most building at the vege line
Saturday – Zone # 5 -- Nest #21 – 120 feet east of the eastern-most walkway at Algiers Park
This year's nesting stats as of June 23
Sanibel East End, 29 Nests, 29 False Crawls
Sanibel West End, 129 Nests, 133 False Crawls
Captiva, 59 Nests, 49 False Crawls
Total , 207 Nests, 211 False Crawls
Sanibel West End, 129 Nests, 133 False Crawls
Captiva, 59 Nests, 49 False Crawls
Total , 207 Nests, 211 False Crawls
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Walk #8
It was Sunday morning again and time for another 'Turtle Walk'. Left the house at 5:30; it was still dark. We stopped for coffee and there was a pickup with a boat hooked behind it, in the 7/11 parking lot. The men were getting prepared for a fishing trip. That is the first time I’ve seen anyone else there that early and there were actually a couple of cars coming onto Periwinkle from the causeway this morning.
Warning: If you are tired of seeing the sunrises on Sanibel’s Lighthouse Beach, run away now!
Walking on the boardwalk to the beach just before sunrise, you could see a beautiful pink glow, behind the palm trees. I can honestly tell you that is a sight I will never get tired of.
The sunrise this morning was something that an artist could make a fabulous painting of. The gradient colors went from a very dark blue down to a very light blue, then from lavender to shades of pink. There was a bright streak going straight up from the center of the horizon, as if a spot light was shining upward. I tried to capture it in a photo, but it didn’t show up very well.
After we were out on the beach for a few minutes, that one streak turned into several. Just when you think it’s the most beautiful sight you’ve ever seen; it gets better! I think that’s what made me think of the ‘Life Is Good’ motto this morning and smile to myself. It doesn’t get better than this! Each time I see an especially beautiful sunrise, I think that I will never see a prettier one or forget this one.
It was hard to look away, but I began to notice that we certainly weren’t the first people on the beach this morning because there were quite a lot of footprints along the water’s edge. There was a man standing on a boardwalk setting up a tripod to take pictures of the sunrise. He was certainly in for a treat today.
Then right in front of me, lying crippled on the beach, was a broken boat ladder. Now you have to get a mental picture of me dragging a boat ladder and Gary carrying a big trash bag, to fully appreciate the humor when we spied a beach ball rolling back and forth in the surf. We looked at each other like, who’s going after that? At about the same time, he saw more trash to pick up, so I dropped the ladder, retrieved the ball, dropped it in the trash bag, and we were on our way again. I can tell you that by the time we got to the parking lot area, where a dumpster was, dragging that ladder was getting pretty annoying.
Back out on the beach again, we saw a whole row of birds standing in the water, watching for little tiny fish. One of them held a fish in its beak while it flipped back and forth.
At the end of the group of birds, were three men and a lady fishing. They were all dressed in serious fishing regalia. None of them smiled or spoke as we passed. No doubt they were on a serious mission. Seems to me that a person goes fishing for the pleasure of the catch, but they certainly didn’t appear to be enjoying it. Yes, that peaked my curiosity. But then I wondered if they were watching while I was dragging that ladder and perhaps a little curious as to why we were designated trash collectors for this particular morning. By the time we passed them, we already had a growing assortment of sand pail handles, sand toys, paper and plastic bags, bottle caps, straws, water bottles, and cans.
It was getting much lighter out and it was clear enough that you could see pretty far; Ft Myers Beach, and quite a bit further south to maybe, Bonita Beach.
As we made the little detour through the path at the end of the island, I noticed how nice the trees and flowers looked. All the rain we’ve had lately has certainly enlivened them.
We followed the path back to the beach, and just after that, noticed something bright pink under the bushes next to the road that goes to the light house. So of course we checked it out. It was a sleeping bag, soaking wet and beside it laid one men’s shoe. That’s right, more trash!
Once again, the Ospreys started making noise and got my attention. Today there were two of them on the nest. Earlier we had seen one flying, carrying a fish nearly as long as it was. The poor fish was flying along head first with its tail going back and forth. It wasn’t a good day to be a fish!
A black-crowned night heron was walking along the shoreline looking for breakfast. I was thinking it must be about time for him to call it a night.
Just after passing the fishing pier there was another surprise waiting; a bright umbrella weaving back and forth with the waves. It was broken, so I folded it up and carried it back to the trash barrel at the pier.
As I started back up the bay side beach, I could see Gary bent over picking up something. It was some sort of fishing net that had washed up on shore and it was tangled in and around the plants covering maybe 25 or 30 square yards. He was able to pick up one small pile, but the rest of it was like fishing line. That was a time consuming venture!
There were pretty morning glories blooming. I had been looking at them for a couple Sunday mornings before this, and had been waiting for more blooms. So, today was the day!
I saw only one star fish this morning and it reminded me of a poem I read a few days ago.
A little boy walked carefully along a crowded beach,
Where starfish by the hundreds lay there within his reach.
They washed up with each wave, far as the eye could see,
And each would surely die if they were not set free.
So one by one he rescued them, then heard a stranger call,
"It won't make a difference ... you cannot save them all."
But as he tossed another back toward the ocean's setting sun,
He said with deep compassion,
"I made a difference…. to that one!"
Sometimes it seems like one or two people don’t make much of a difference in the whole scheme of things, but if each of us does just a little, it will.
As we walked off the beach and across the island on Buttonwood Lane, I took a picture of this mailbox for someone who will love it.
After we left and were driving, we had to stop to let this guy make his way across the street. Don’t you think that was kind of ironic? Who would have guessed we had to look in the street to find a turtle?
Did you know?
Loggerhead females return to lay their eggs on or near the same beach where they hatched. Unlike other sea turtles, courtship and mating usually do not take place near the nesting beach, but rather along the migration routes between feeding and breeding grounds.
Warning: If you are tired of seeing the sunrises on Sanibel’s Lighthouse Beach, run away now!
Walking on the boardwalk to the beach just before sunrise, you could see a beautiful pink glow, behind the palm trees. I can honestly tell you that is a sight I will never get tired of.
The sunrise this morning was something that an artist could make a fabulous painting of. The gradient colors went from a very dark blue down to a very light blue, then from lavender to shades of pink. There was a bright streak going straight up from the center of the horizon, as if a spot light was shining upward. I tried to capture it in a photo, but it didn’t show up very well.
After we were out on the beach for a few minutes, that one streak turned into several. Just when you think it’s the most beautiful sight you’ve ever seen; it gets better! I think that’s what made me think of the ‘Life Is Good’ motto this morning and smile to myself. It doesn’t get better than this! Each time I see an especially beautiful sunrise, I think that I will never see a prettier one or forget this one.
It was hard to look away, but I began to notice that we certainly weren’t the first people on the beach this morning because there were quite a lot of footprints along the water’s edge. There was a man standing on a boardwalk setting up a tripod to take pictures of the sunrise. He was certainly in for a treat today.
Then right in front of me, lying crippled on the beach, was a broken boat ladder. Now you have to get a mental picture of me dragging a boat ladder and Gary carrying a big trash bag, to fully appreciate the humor when we spied a beach ball rolling back and forth in the surf. We looked at each other like, who’s going after that? At about the same time, he saw more trash to pick up, so I dropped the ladder, retrieved the ball, dropped it in the trash bag, and we were on our way again. I can tell you that by the time we got to the parking lot area, where a dumpster was, dragging that ladder was getting pretty annoying.
Back out on the beach again, we saw a whole row of birds standing in the water, watching for little tiny fish. One of them held a fish in its beak while it flipped back and forth.
At the end of the group of birds, were three men and a lady fishing. They were all dressed in serious fishing regalia. None of them smiled or spoke as we passed. No doubt they were on a serious mission. Seems to me that a person goes fishing for the pleasure of the catch, but they certainly didn’t appear to be enjoying it. Yes, that peaked my curiosity. But then I wondered if they were watching while I was dragging that ladder and perhaps a little curious as to why we were designated trash collectors for this particular morning. By the time we passed them, we already had a growing assortment of sand pail handles, sand toys, paper and plastic bags, bottle caps, straws, water bottles, and cans.
It was getting much lighter out and it was clear enough that you could see pretty far; Ft Myers Beach, and quite a bit further south to maybe, Bonita Beach.
As we made the little detour through the path at the end of the island, I noticed how nice the trees and flowers looked. All the rain we’ve had lately has certainly enlivened them.
We followed the path back to the beach, and just after that, noticed something bright pink under the bushes next to the road that goes to the light house. So of course we checked it out. It was a sleeping bag, soaking wet and beside it laid one men’s shoe. That’s right, more trash!
Once again, the Ospreys started making noise and got my attention. Today there were two of them on the nest. Earlier we had seen one flying, carrying a fish nearly as long as it was. The poor fish was flying along head first with its tail going back and forth. It wasn’t a good day to be a fish!
A black-crowned night heron was walking along the shoreline looking for breakfast. I was thinking it must be about time for him to call it a night.
Just after passing the fishing pier there was another surprise waiting; a bright umbrella weaving back and forth with the waves. It was broken, so I folded it up and carried it back to the trash barrel at the pier.
As I started back up the bay side beach, I could see Gary bent over picking up something. It was some sort of fishing net that had washed up on shore and it was tangled in and around the plants covering maybe 25 or 30 square yards. He was able to pick up one small pile, but the rest of it was like fishing line. That was a time consuming venture!
There were pretty morning glories blooming. I had been looking at them for a couple Sunday mornings before this, and had been waiting for more blooms. So, today was the day!
I saw only one star fish this morning and it reminded me of a poem I read a few days ago.
A little boy walked carefully along a crowded beach,
Where starfish by the hundreds lay there within his reach.
They washed up with each wave, far as the eye could see,
And each would surely die if they were not set free.
So one by one he rescued them, then heard a stranger call,
"It won't make a difference ... you cannot save them all."
But as he tossed another back toward the ocean's setting sun,
He said with deep compassion,
"I made a difference…. to that one!"
Sometimes it seems like one or two people don’t make much of a difference in the whole scheme of things, but if each of us does just a little, it will.
As we walked off the beach and across the island on Buttonwood Lane, I took a picture of this mailbox for someone who will love it.
After we left and were driving, we had to stop to let this guy make his way across the street. Don’t you think that was kind of ironic? Who would have guessed we had to look in the street to find a turtle?
Did you know?
Loggerhead females return to lay their eggs on or near the same beach where they hatched. Unlike other sea turtles, courtship and mating usually do not take place near the nesting beach, but rather along the migration routes between feeding and breeding grounds.
Nesting Statistics as of June 21, 2008
We had 8 new nests this week... by Zone and the numbers of the new ones:
Zone #1 - Nests #3 and 5
Zone #2 - a new nest at Tiqua Cay - #12
Zone #3 - Nests #4 and 8
Zone #4 - no nests
Zone #5 - Nests #1, 6, 7 and 9 - new nests #17 at Sand Dollar and #18 at Gulfside Place
Zone #6 - Nests #2, 10, and 11 - new nests #13 at Villa Sanibel, #14 at Casa Ybel, #15 at Casa Ybel and #16 at Casa Ybel
That's 18 nests!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)