Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Posted on June 6, 2007 | Filed Under Daily Journal
Observations: We left the Turtle House at 5:15 A.M., I monitored North Beach and Katy monitored South Beach entering at South Beach Entrance at approximately 06:00.
North Beach was monitored by entering at Seaside Ramp, driving northward through the boneyard and on to St. Catherines Sound, then returning during daylight along the entire length of North Beach. This was the first day of inshore shrimping, we had six trawlers off North Beach this morning.
South Beach had one nest, 07-008 that was deposited last night near the south end of South Beach at [31.56357 N, 81.15766 W] in heavy minerals held together by an armoring of palm logs. The clutch was located by Katy with the magic Ti Shovel and relocated to a slightly higher and more secure site nearby.
Nest 07-008 illustrates the efforts a loggerhead sea turtle will go to nest. This turtle crossed through a tree-boneyard, over several palm logs, dug her egg chamber in a heavy mineral deposit, and deposited 124 eggs. The standing tree near the crawlway used to be behind the first dunes and was formerly the site of raccoon trapping on South Beach.
Nesting is down significantly along the Georgia Coast, about 33% of normal. St. Catherines Island is following this trend with 33% of our nests at this time last year. We think the low nesting is normal at this time … every fourth year, or so, is a low year. We have decided to practice ultra conservative conservation this year and assure as many hatchling make it into the ocean as is possible, not taking any chances that we can avoid.
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Monday, June 4, 2007
Posted on June 6, 2007 | Filed Under Daily Journal
Observations: We left the Turtle House at 5:15 A.M., I monitored North Beach and Katy monitored South Beach entering at South Beach Entrance at approximately 6:00. North Beach was monitored by entering at Seaside Ramp, driving northward through the boneyard and on to St. Catherines Sound, then returning during daylight along the entire length of North Beach.
South Beach was monitored from South Beach Entrance northward toward McQueens Inlet at near dead low tide. Katy encountered x crawlways, turned at McQueens and monitored southward across Flag Inlet and to the south mudbank, parked the Gator and walked SW Beach. When I radioed Katy after exiting North Beach, she said she had seen 3 crawls and had two probable nests. I responded by driving south to South Beach Entrance where we joined forces. Katy’s first probable was a certain nest [31.60117 N; 81.14702 W], which we left to excavate later. This second probable nest was just south of the Big Washover at [31.60653 N; 81.14456 W], little more than a swirled area surrounded by flattened grass on the scarp. We excavated this non-nest (my call!) to check it, pulling at the flattened grass to see if it was still rooted, which it was and … saw ants on a flattened egg shell under the seaward edge of the grass!!! When pulled back, the grass exposed two additional flattened eggshells (broken by the nesting female in depositing her clutch of 107 eggs). The eggs were removed from the egg chamber, ants picked off, and relocated to McQueens Dunes, a long move, but to much habitat that will be utilized when possible due to limited habitat south of the (high tide) tree gates on the Big Washover. The relocated clutch, Nest 007-006a was out of the ground for 19 minutes and was relocated at [31.62657 N; 81.13311W].
Nest 07-006 was situated on the back shore between South Beach Entrance and the Big Washover. Although surrounded by swirled grass this nest was deposited as a simple, obstructed, backbeach nest. It was situated in a vulnerable position and was moved onto a dune at McQueens Dune Field.
On the way back to deal with the other nest, I found a beautiful coral colony in a shell lag near the south end of the McQueens Dune Ridge (GAB 200706041) that was associated with an elusive Lightening Whelk, a second small coral colony, and … about 40 Lettered Olives, and an Atlantic Pen Shell, a Polinices carrying Slipper Shells (Crepidula) and Shelf Oysters inside. The will be cataloged into my Atlantic invertebrate collection.
We returned to the first probable nest and Katy excavated it, discovering a clutch of 52 eggs in Nest 07-007. The small clutch was moved out of harms way onto the dune that was scarped at the back of the original nest site.
Nest 07-007 was a simple, obstructed, backbeach nest deposited in front a scarped surface north of South Beach Entrance in the wrack zone. This, again, is a highly erosional area, indicating the nest must be moved if it is going to hatch. It was moved onto the surface lying above the scarp and about 3 m back from the scarp.
So, What is a scarp?
A scarp is a small erosional cliff formed as the waves erode into the backbeach area or downward, lowering the beach level. Scarps thus formed are always evidence of an erosional shoreline. Fresh scarps are straight, steep, and “clean”-looking. As they are attacked by the weather they slump and collapse forming a less steep appearance with a depositional “toe” at their bottom. Scarps are important in sea turtle conservation because they stop turtles from crossing from the beach into the preferred nesting habitats behind the shoreline.
Gale A. Bishop
6/06/07
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Sunday, June 3, 2007
Posted on June 6, 2007 | Filed Under Daily Journal
Observers: Katy and Gale
Observations: We left the Turtle House at 5:15 A.M. and drove through the maritime forest to South Beach. Three trees were down on State Road, two on back creek Road, and one on South Beach Road, all were successfully driven around on the Gators. I monitored South Beach entering at South Beach Entrance at approximately 5:45 AM and drove northward to McQueens and Katy, a few minutes behind, monitored southward. Rain associated with Tropical Storm Barry began Friday night about 20:00 and continued through most of Sunday monitoring, accumulating 4.26″ (10.8 cm) in the gage on the Main Dock.. Monitoring of South beach was accomplished from McQueens to the Mud Bank near the South Tip … SW Beach and North Beach will be monitored on the second tide … as four non-nesting crawlways indicated that nesting was unlikely as the females could not trigger due to lack of warm, backbeach sand.
Four non-nesting crawlways were encountered:
Crawlway 1: 31.59715 N; 81.14887 W
Crawlway 2: 31.00000 N; 81.00000 W
Crawlway 3: 31.00000 N; 81.00000 W
Crawlway 4: 31.00000 N; 81.00000 W
Nests 07-004 and 07-005a were observed and found to be intact, although 07-005 (original position) had been overwashed and eroded somewhat and 07-004 was overwashed and partly eroded, exposing part of the screen. Nest 07-004 was recovered with sand and will be watched on the afternoon tide. Smaller branches were cleared on the way back to the Turtle House, arriving at about 08:15.
A Further Note About the Weather
Tropical Storm (now Tropical Depression) Barry has moved north of the Island on the west and we are now receiving 30-40 mph winds from the SW and West … The leading winds from the east and northeast last night did some minor erosion on the beaches. From broken branches and trees I estimate the winds last night were approximately 40-50 mph (Beaufort Scale 8.0 -9.0, fresh to stong Gale force. Beach effects consisted of slight erosion at McQueens, minor scarping south of McQueens, and erosion of the “toes” of scarped dunes” along South Beach Entrance, and root washing on the south end of South Beach. Washover fans were active on the night high tide and surf (estimated to be 4-5 feet at dawn).
Gale A. Bishop
6/03/07
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Saturday, June 2, 2007
Posted on June 6, 2007 | Filed Under Daily Journal
Daily Observations
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Observers: Katy and Gale
Observations: We left the Turtle House at 5:15 A.M., Katy monitored North Beach and I monitored South Beach entering at South Beach Entrance at approximately 5:45. Rain associated with Tropical Storm Barry began last night about 20:00 and continued through most of Saturday. Monitoring in the rain was attempted with moderate success.
South Beach was monitored from South Beach Entrance northward toward McQueens Inlet on a flood tide then southward across Flag Inlet to the obstructionist trees.
Four non-nesting crawlways were encountered:
-
Crawlway 1: 31.60641 N; 81.14453 W
Crawlway 2: 31.60287 N; 81.14622 W
Crawlway 3: 31.59326 N; 81.15090 W
Crawlway 4: 31.58717 N; 81.15346 W
Batteries in my GPS went down between Crawlways 3 and 4 … on the way back to South Beach Entrance, I replaced the batteries and took the long/lat of Crawlway 4.
Nests 07-004 and 07-005a were observed and found to be intact. Monitoring was terminated due to high tidal conditions and deterioration of weather conditions on a flooded beach.
A Note About the Weather
When the weather deteriorates it makes working extremely difficult and often dangerous. Routine tasks become difficult or impossible, like Note Taking. During rain we take minimal notes (crawlway locations, nest data, etc.) and compose notes from the days work in the laboratory. Flooded beaches are difficult to drive as the sand becomes fluidized and glasses wetted with rain. All equipment is kept in plastic bags (ZipLocs) making its use even more difficult. In a short phrase, our degrees of freedom begin to be attenuated. When this happens we often revert to minimal expectations and focus on safety of the personnel and equipment.
Gale A. Bishop
6/02/07
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Friday, June 1, 2007
Posted on June 6, 2007 | Filed Under Daily Journal
Daily Observations
Friday, June 1, 2007
Observers: Katy and Gale
Observations: We left the Turtle House at 5:15 A.M., Katy monitored North Beach and I monitored South Beach entering at South Beach Entrance at approximately 5:45. North Beach was monitored by running Seaside Spit then driving the north end of North Beach by Katy.
South Beach was monitored from South Beach Entrance northward toward McQueens Inlet to beat the flood tide. One crawlway was encountered on the south margin of McQueens Inlet with a certain nest [31.63243 N; 81. 13050 W] at its zenith. This nest had two covering pits and was situated in the front of the wrack zone on the backbeach. Due to a rapidly flooding tide, I put two plastic screens over the probable nest and scooted back south to avoid being trapped by the tide. I then monitored southward across Flag Inlet to a beach obstruction near the south end of Flag Lagoon, turned around and headed back toward South Beach Entrance … when I noticed a possible nest immediately south of Flag Inlet at [31.58216 N; 81.15594 W], before recrossing Flag Inlet ahead of the flood tide. Katy joined me at South Beach and we walked across Flag Lagoon and crossed Flag Inlet to complete nest 007-004 which we determined had been deposited on Saturday May 26. Evidence of this was established by bicolored eggs, white below and pinlish above and by Ghost Crab burrows in the crawlway. Because of its location on the erosional overwash area south of Flag Inlet we decided we would move it on day 12 … the morning of June 7. I found a beautiful coral colony crossing Flag Inlet (GAB 200706011) that will be cataloged into an invertebrate collection.
In the afternoon, on an ebb tide at about 12:30 Katy and I returned to McQueens Inlet (13:30), excavated the nest on McQueens margin and located the nest’s clutch with some difficulty and relocated it behind the storm wrack line onto the face of a northeast facing dune. A clutch of 104 eggs was taken out of the grond at 13:45 and replace in the ground at 13:56 in nest 007-005a [31.63203 N; 81.13028 W]. I stopped at Flag Inlet to observe vibracoring of Flag Inlet by the island Ecology program while Katy monitored SW Beach on foot, returning to Flag Inlet at about 16:46.
Gale A. Bishop
6/01/07
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