Turtle Patrol Week 3 - May 5, 2018

A beautiful morning out on the Gulf!  Read all the way to the bottom for an exciting first for me!
First to answer last weeks' question (posed to myself) "Why are you doing Turtle Patrol, Becky?"  Last summer, our first one in Sarasota, we almost went to observe a Turtle Walk with the Longboat Key Turtle Watch group.  We ended up not going because of lightning.  But later in the summer we were able to attend an evening nest excavation, I got to see a hatchling (who was later released to the Gulf) and I was hooked!  So earlier this spring I joined the Longboat Key Turtle Watch and attended a training to be a non-permitted volunteer.  So the turtles got me out there, but meeting new people and being out on the beach at sunrise are more benefits!
So back to today...The water was very calm and the moon was setting as we arrived at 6:30am - air temp was 70 degrees.

There was a school of fish hanging out right by the shore.  We were hoping some dolphins would show up for breakfast but no such luck

Sandhill Crane at water's edge

Shell beach art - driftwood from last week is gone and the shell patterns have changed

Early on in our patrol, Mike, our permitted volunteer got a call from the folks patrolling the next zone that they had found a crawl and what looked like a nest!  So after finishing our patrol we made our way to the scene about a mile north

We have a crawl!  The tracks are wider than the false crawl we had last week

Kind of looks like a snow angel but the marks were made by a Loggerhead turtle

Mike says "it's a nest!" and gets ready to verify.  As the permitted volunteer he's allowed to verify that there are indeed turtle eggs down there.  I'm still learning when nests get verified and monitored - I'll share more when I learn that

We document a bunch of data about the nest - location on the beach, distance from the water, distance to the grasses and more

The tracks from the water - she went up on the right, turned left a bit, laid the nest up high then on her way back to the Gulf she crossed her tracks creating a "ribbon" pattern.  Below - Turtle Treads!

Mike lays out an area where he guesses the eggs are so he can start digging.  He's been doing this for 9 seasons - can't wait to keep learning from him!

Mike does his thing and locates the top of the nest - he does this to verify that is indeed a nest and to record how deep the nest was buried.  We have eggs!!

Stakes are marked so we can monitor the nest during the season.  Remember - only permitted volunteers are allowed to do this type of digging.  It is illegal for others to tamper with a nest!

Final step - the nest is covered back up and stakes are put up with tape between them 

That's it for this week!  While this nest wasn't in our zone, it sure was exciting to see my first nest/egg and start to learn the process of documenting the nest.  I'm hoping some Mama turtle out in the Gulf will make her way to our zone next Friday night so I can find my first nest on my birthday!!

By the numbers so far - beaches patrolled by Longboat Key Turtle Watch and/or Mote Marine volunteers:

For our team:

Nests: 0

Hatched: 0

Overall:

Nests: 7

Hatched: 0

Turtle Patrol Week 2 April 28, 2018

Earlier this Spring I joined the Longboat Key Turtle Watch and went through the training to become a non-permitted volunteer.  I wanted to find a way to journal this experience so I can remember the details of each patrol - what we see, what we do and share with those who are interested.  Each week I'll share about our patrol that morning and give you some info about the turtles, turtle season and what we do on patrol.  Luckily I remembered I had this blog from several years ago when I was doing some photo challenges!  

Today was our second patrol.  Last week I was too nervous to take photos along the way but I did see my first ghost crab and saw about 30 dolphins frolicking in the water.  This week I did take some pictures.  There was excitement among the volunteers this morning because the 1st two nests of the season were laid yesterday!  Turtle season officially starts May 1st so these 2 are the types that come early to a party.  We didn't find a nest in our zone today but we did have a "false crawl" - see below for pictures!  

See you next week where I'll answer the question - "Why are you volunteering for Turtle Patrol, Becky?"  Let me know if you have other questions!

Mike, our Permitted Volunteer

Evidence of "false crawl" where the mama turtle comes up on the beach and decides not to lay her nest - wasn't the right time, or just checking out her options.  Turtle patrol puts an X through it to indicate that it's been logged.

Loggerhead turtle tracks - more about tracks in a future post!

Trash clean up is part of every patrol straws, cups, cans headband were part of the collection today

Where's the rest of the boat?  Wall from the "head" - note the toilet paper holder on left...  Hope the people are ok!

Some beautiful beach art - all natural!  Will be interesting to see if a mama turtle chooses this spot for her nest

By the numbers so far

For our team:

Nests: 0

Hatched: 0

Overall:

Nests: 2

Hatched: 0

P52 Catch-up - Hunger, Details & Foolin' Around

So my friend Suz gave me a gentle reminder that she hadn't seen any P52 posts in a while and she was right...I've been slacking.  I've been taking pictures, but just wasn't managing to post them.  So - here's a 3-fer - all of them thanks to an overnight in Chicago at the end of a trip to Indiana

Week 12 was hunger - here's a picture of a place you want to go when you're hungry - the Weber Grill restaurant in Chicago.  If you sit at the counter you can watch them cook on 7 (yes, 7!) giant charcoal grills - heaven for this grilling girl!

Week 13 - details.  Again, a big thank- you to Chicago!!!  I love how this photo came out - the black & white quality (it was taken in color), the beauty of the metal work, and the reflection in the windows.  Quite pleased with myself on this one.  :-)

And Week 14 was "Foolin' Around".  Not necessarily a photo OF fooling around.  This was taken on the way walking to a favorite breakfast spot in Chicago - about 8am on a Sunday.  Crossing this bridge I decided to just turn around to look behind  us (ok, I can say I twirled...that makes it Foolin' Around) and saw this shot - love the contrast of new & old, the lines and the reflections.

"Eyes" of March

Linking with the great P52 photo project.  I may need to re-name it P51 because some how I missed the "Be Still" week.  I'm not surprised - it's been a busy time and it's going to get busier.  And I'm not one to be known for being still - I'm always flitting about here and there and hate to miss anything.  I will keep my eyes out for a "Be Still" photo and share it.

Speaking of eyes - the theme for this week was "The Eyes of March".  I had thought of taking a pic of the eyes of my love, but didn't get around to it.  Then 2 days ago I was in the car, slid the mirror cover over on the sunshade, and there were my eyes and well, they caught my eye.  I liked how they were blocked out by the mirror frame, and I was able to angle it so I was looking at myself...not the camera. 

Thanks for taking a look!

Great leap

Posting for my 9th week of the P52 photo project - yay me!  Yes, I still haven't found the "True Love" photo, but I did take it!
Anywhoo - the theme this week was "Great Leap" - my mind went immediately to one of my favorite moments of 2011 - me standing on the edge of a plane ready to jump out for my first skydive.  Obviously I didn't actually take this picture, but I'm a main participant.  This moment - on the edge, not in control, not holding on to anything but myself was so exhilarating it's hard to put into words.  I can still recall the feeling and can't wait to do it again. If you have any interest in trying it - go for it - you won't regret it!

Cabin Fever

It may appear that I missed a P52 week - True Love - and I kind of did.  I did take a picture, but now I can't figure out where it is.  When I find it, I'll share.
But now we're on to Cabin Fever.  This was a hard one - I haven't had a real reason to have Cabin Fever.  Yes, we've had some cold days and yes the days were short, but in my neck of the woods we have had no snow...barely a flake since a freak Halloween snow.  I live in New Hampshire and I've had to shovel twice this year - it's just not right.  As you can guess, I love snow, and I have really missed it this year.  I don't mind shoveling it, I love skiing on it, I love the look of it...and it's been a brown winter.  Can't control it, but I can complain about it.  :-)
So the other day I took a walk in our local Urban Forestry Center - a great spot right down the road.  Normally there would be cross-country ski tracks and snowshoe tracks...more brown.  But it was a lovely walk on a windy day.  I came around a corner to this view.

And for a tiny glimpse of winter, I did find some frozen water on the path.  I'll take what winter I can find.  I was tempted to step on it and hear that icy crunch...but I left that for the next traveler.

Drink Up! and Into the Drink

Linking with the P52 photo challenge for my 6th week in a row - I'm on a roll!!  The theme this time was Drink Up!  The first thing I thought of was a weekly "business meeting" with some friends I sing with.  We're in a 100 voice group that sings music from around the world.  About 15 of us make our way to a local establishment each week and as long as we talk about or actually sing one of the songs, it's an official "business meeting".  So here's my shot from the meeting - what draws my eye is the reflection of the flash and the lights in each glass.

In between drinks that night, we made our way down to the Piscataqua River - the Memorial Bridge, connecting our fine town to Kittery, ME is being taken down and replaced.  On this night the center span of the bridge was being taken out and floated up river - a big deal in the area.  For reasons to complicated to explain here, we didn't actually see the bridge float out - we saw it before, and we saw it after, but we missed the big hoopla of it leaving.  Oh well.  So we did toast to the bridge with the drinks in the above photo, so I thought I'd include some "before and after" shots.  The center span didn't go Into the Drink - thanks to the hard work and engineering skills of many...

 The last twilight before the middle went away

The next day - blue skies and a bridge to nowhere...