7/4

Another Sea Turtle Trackers encounter this morning!  I spotted their jeep pulled up in front of the Don CeSar.

This time Turtle Joe was checking out a new Loggerhead Turtle nest right next to a catamaran which had been left on the beach.

It turned out that this was a "false crawl," where the turtle comes up on the beach, starts to make a nest, and then for some reason abandons the attempt.  Turtle Joe said that obstacles on the beach (such as beach chairs, large holes left by sand castle builders, or, as in this case, catamarans) will often frustrate female turtles, causing them to turn around and return to the sea without laying any eggs.

Fortunately, probably the same turtle returned to the beach just yards away to make another nest.  This time there were no obstacles.

You can see the turtle's tracks to and from the nest...

I also found out from Joe that the turtle nest mentioned in my last blog was actually also a "false crawl," probably because of the four beach chairs which were in the turtle's way!  Beach chairs are really not supposed to be left on the beach overnight for this very reason.  Turtle Joe said the city plans to remove all these obstacles in the near future.

Further down the beach, five turtle nests in a row!

This morning there was a team from Sea Turtle Trackers on the beach again.  I was in time to watch Joe Widlansky, also known as "Turtle Joe," pound in the stakes around a fresh Loggerhead Sea Turtle nest.

Turtle Joe takes a break from staking out a turtle nest to answer a question.

The mother turtle made her nest right next to a group of beach chairs.

Turtle track close-up.

Sadly, not far from the nest was a dead female loggerhead turtle which had washed up on shore.  Turtle Joe said this was not the turtle who had made the nest; this turtle had been dead in the water for some time.

Joe filled out a report on the dead turtle after finishing with the nest.  Later, he said, someone else would come and bury the dead turtle on the beach.

This afternoon I finally walked up the beach to the Black Skimmer nesting area.  On the way there I saw a Cormorant standing on a buoy drying out his wings.

The Cormorant's feathers are less water-repellent than other birds, which enables him to dive deep under water to catch fish.  But this means his feathers get wetter, so every now and then he has to dry them out a bit.

The Black Skimmer nesting area had been cordoned off, to keep people from disturbing the nesting birds.  There were also some little open boxes at one end of the enclosure, which I did not notice being there last year.  They are, I am guessing, for providing shade for the young skimmers, and perhaps shelter from the rain as well.

These baby skimmers are enjoying the shade provided by this shelter.

The adult skimmers periodically arrive with offerings of fish, which the baby skimmers seem very eager to receive, though sometimes the fish seems almost as big as the chick.

Where's my fish?

This pair has a nest-full!

Thought I would go down to the beach early this morning, to see what I could see.  The one day I didn't bring my nice camera (and couldn't get any close-up shots), and there was a Ghost Crab who had wandered up the path, away from the beach!  I surprised him, and he surprised me.  I took his picture with my phone.  I advanced slowly, and he raised his claws in the air and retreated, until he reached his burrow, and I reached the beach.

It was a beautiful morning.

On the way to the Don CeSar there was a new turtle nest, and the mama turtle's tracks were still visible heading to the nest, and then leading back to the sea.

A close-up of the turtle tracks.

There was a double wedding down at the south end of Pass-a-Grille.  The happy couples, each pair with its own photographer, were sharing space with a loggerhead turtle nest, staked out with yellow tape.

The Don CeSar was peeking over the dunes.

The Black Skimmers were wending their way south along the shore, skimming for fish...

And then heading back north to the nesting area with their catch.

This weekend I really must walk down to the nesting site to see if the baby skimmers have made an appearance.

Yesterday evening there were a lot of Florida Fighting Conches littering the sandbar, stranded by the ebbing tide.

Many of them were struggling to move themselves to a better location.

This conch has come far out of its shell, attempting to right itself...

This picture shows the original hollow where the conch was left stranded.  The little marks in the sand around the conch show where it "kicked" against the sand with its operculum, the spiked end which serves as a door when the snail is fully retracted, and which it uses to flip itself over or move around.

This morning a team from Sea Turtle Trackers was out on the beach tending to a fresh Loggerhead turtle nest.

The nest was too close to the water's edge and needed to be relocated higher up to give the eggs the best chance of hatching.

This nest is right on the water!  Too close!

There was a careful search for the egg chamber within the nest.  Once located, the eggs were gently removed and temporarily placed in a cooler.

The eggs look like ping-pong balls.

This nest contained 81 eggs.  Bruno Falkenstein, who handled the eggs, told us that four turtle nests had been found that morning, the most nests in one day he had ever found.  He added that so far this year nesting is up 50% from the same time last year, which is an encouraging sign that conservation efforts are having an effect.

The team had prepared another site for the eggs closer to the dunes, to the right in the photo.  The original nest is to the left of the vehicle, close to the water. If left where they were, the eggs would have drowned in the next high tide.

Sea Turtle Trackers Inc. is a non-profit organization.  Volunteers patrol the beaches during nesting season, looking for turtle tracks.  This has to be done at dawn, before any tracks are disturbed.  When they find a nest they stake it out with tape to protect it.  Later in the summer, when the little turtles hatch, they will again patrol every evening, prepared to assist in any way they can.  For more information on this great organization, visit their website at www.seaturtletrackers.org.  Also, check out the blog of another Sea Turtle Tracker member at www.minimeatbeach.blogspot.com.

Something everyone can do to help sea turtles is to keep plastic--especially plastic bags--off the beach and out of the ocean.  Turtles love to eat jellyfish, and they often mistake plastic floating in the ocean for their favorite food.  Since turtles can't regurgitate, once the plastic is swallowed the turtle chokes to death.  Remember to throw your plastic and other rubbish in the garbage bins on the beach!

There were very dark clouds indeed hanging menacingly over the Don CeSar this afternoon.  It was definitely raining somewhere to the north of us.  Fortunately it did not rain on me.

I caught a Black Skimmer in mid-wingbeat as he made his way homeward.  The water was full of smooth undulations but no whitecaps, all the colors of the sky and sea reflected in its surface.  Just beautiful.

There were long lines of Beach Pennywort stretching out on the sand from the dunes.  In the lawn this would be considered a weed, but on the sand it looks just right.

The evening tide has been going very far out lately, leaving tidal pools all along the shore.  In these pools can be seen the meandering trails of olive snails, and little scuttling hermit crabs.  And also the sky's reflection.

This evening someone had made a very nice sand lighthouse down near the Don CeSar, with lovely details.  You can see the exposed brick where the stucco has crumbled away, and a little door.

 

There was also a Great Blue Heron, inspecting something very closely to see if it was his dinner.

I almost didn't go down to the beach today.  It was late, and I was tired.  And, I thought to myself, what could I possibly see that I hadn't seen before?  But I went.

There was a family walking along the shoreline, talking excitedly and pointing at the water.  When I caught up with them, the father told me they had seen a large seal.  But it wasn't a seal, it was a manatee.  It only surfaced a few times, and then it was gone.

A beautiful, calm, bright evening at the beach.  The water was so smooth and clear.

There was a little Snowy Egret walking along with me at the water's edge.  He caught a fish.

Down by the Don CeSar there was a wedding party.  It was a perfect day for a wedding.

There was a fisherman gathering up his net.

Another Snowy Egret, a larger one, was watching the fisherman attentively.  But first he had a look in the fisherman's bucket.

Today there was a turtle nest marked out, right at the end of our beach path.  The first one I have seen this season.  Maybe this year I can get a good picture of the hatchlings.

There was a sign posted which said that this particular nest has been adopted by the St. Pete Beach Library!