Last night’s rain sleeps in this morning resting on a lily pad.
Baby Painted Turtle pictures this
Gentle presence in the wild
Wide awake
Archive for month: May, 2013
A Brief Summary:
I walked beside and inside a marsh today.
I happened upon a female Snapping Turtle.
Ever so slowly she dug into the mud, excavating her deep nest.
Buried and hopefully hidden safely in the soft “digs” could be a clutch of 20-40 eggs.
The turtle plodded back into the murky, aquatic habitat.
Expected to arrive in about 90 days, her hatchlings are left to fend for themselves.
And there are predators like snakes, raccoons, and crows-even this morning I notice curled pieces of delicate turtle egg shell debris.
Horseshoe Crabs are really spiders-arachnids of the sea.
The ancient species has been around for years- something like 400million.
A living fossil- even a “live museum” exhibiting and supporting an array of organisms such as barnacles, algae, and Slipper snails.
I have read that the Horseshoe Crab is uniquely equipped with a “sword-tail” detecting light, and that this spider has nine eyes!
But these weeks they only have eyes for each other as they crawl and scoot to shallow waters for breeding season.
Tomorrow night’s full moon may be very inviting-as the animals are guided toward each other with the help of lunar and high tidal cycles
Like today, East Harbor may be the place to take a quick peek.
Then there is the Spider crab which actually IS a crab not a spider, but sat down beside me anyway…..
There are no pruning shears on South Beach road, no whacking of these weeds.
Just Sun’s translucent evening rays catch wind of nearby seas.
Simplicity is the petal.
The blossom taking bloom,
An Island ever taking time and making more
radiant room.
Although still in recovery, Chocomount is indeed making a “sunning” comeback!
I foresee a beach towel or two lined up side by side upon softer sands these next months.
Having documented the erosive effects of both hurricane tidal surge and wintery blasts this year, yesterday’s view looked promising compared to January and even April.
This time of year Silver Eel Pond is still quiet between scheduled ferryboats.
I noticed though, that nesting birds in the harbor are anything but -between their scheduled feedings.
It was lunchtime when I spied a Blackbird flutter above a dock piling and then completely disappear out of sight.
Four of Twenty Blackbirds tucked in a piling!
The intertidal zone along the coast of Race Point displays the three primary “kingdoms” of seaweeds.
Simply distinguished by color; the red, green, and brown algae washed ashore forming a terrace or berm that was knee-high.
Possibly the changing weather patterns and temperatures caused a bit of stir creating this sea salad mix of Kelps, Wracks,(brown ) Dulse, Carrageen Moss,(red ) and sea lettuce (green ).
The FI Conservancy Board voted March 9 to fund work under four new grants. The first grant will fund planting of native trees in the FI Cemeteries. Another grant will support Justine Kibbe in her work as our island naturalist for another six months. The board also approved a second proposal by Justine and the FI Community Center to work with two FI high school students on stewardship and monitoring of our island’s natural environment. The fourth grant funded a survey of river otters on Fishers Island, which included FI School 9th graders and members of the Island community.
Read more about the grants:
Native Trees – Fishers Island Cemetery Committee – The Cemetery Committee asked for support of their hurricane recovery effort, which involves clean-up, removal, and replacement of damaged and dying trees on the three island cemeteries. The board approved funding for replacement trees, which will be native trees chosen from a list generated in consultation with Penny Sharp and Edward Richardson, President of the Connecticut Botanical Society.
Justine Kibbe, Island Naturalist – Justine has successfully completed her first six months of for the Conservancy. Justine monitored a wide range of sites, collecting data, documenting and reporting on her findings with notes and photographs. She has also authored Field Notes on the Conservancy’s website, in an effort to engage our membership with the state of the island’s natural communities. The board approved Justine’s work for another six month cycle, beginning April 2013.
Island Sentinels – Justine Kibbe – The Conservancy board voted to approve a pilot environmental stewardship program for Island high school students, being developed by Justine Kibbe with support from Island Community Center Director, Elizabeth Reid. Justine will start the program with two students, chosen in collaboration with the FI School. Justine will train the students, the “Island Sentinels”, in late June. During the months of July and August, Justine will work with the students each week to conduct an environmental survey of the island by monitoring key sites. She will then work with the students to help them present their data and findings to the community. The hope is that the data will also provide the basis for further student work during the school year, and, if successful, that the program may expand to the full year.
Mike Bottini/Group for the East End – Shortly following board approval of their proposal, Mike Bottini and a team of three other wildlife biologists visited Fishers and conducted a successful survey, determining the presence of established river otter territories on Fishers Island. They surveyed 40-50 sites on the island by foot and kayak and found otter sign at 20, including an otter den (pictured below)! The research team presented to the Senior Lunch and gained critical information from island residents Steve Malinowski, Lou Horn and Ken Edwards, Bob Evans and Pierce Rafferty. They were accompanied and assisted by FI school 9th graders in some of their survey work. Mike Bottini will return to the Island in July to provide educational programming to FI residents regarding the research and the broader implications for wildlife on Fishers Island.
The team was fascinated by Fishers’ natural environment, including our coyote population. The researchers were thrilled to make their first osprey sighting in 2013, and to see a great-horned owl feeding its chicks on an osprey nest at the east end. To quote team lead, Mike Bottini: “Fishers Island is an amazing place, both the landscape and the folks living there. Although geologically so similar to eastern Long Island, in some ways it is very different. You have some of the largest swamp azaleas I have ever seen, and stands of yellow birch in some of your forests – a species that we don’t have on eastern Long Island. We have some fairly deep and dramatic kettleholes here, but I have never seen anything as striking as the clay pit kettleholes near Isabella Beach…”
Photo by USFWS Chris Paul.
The Atlantic Slipper snail or Slipper limpet is abundant in both West and East Harbors.
Very often I see them growing attached to docks, a Horseshoe crab’s shell,
Lobster pots –even an old washed up bottle.
This snail species lives a very sedentary life cycle, staying put- literally.
The Oldest, larger female animals form the base of a shell stack supporting multiple “pairs of slippers” assembling on top. I’ve read that larger male slipper snails will in fact “become” female should females die off- filling her slippers so to speak.
Rather than graze on sea algae, the slipper snail filters tiny marine organisms.
Just like the oyster, it is a filter feeder.
This can pose a threat to populating oysters by stacking up on (and against) them, competing for nutrient foods and starving them out.
That’s what the Island’s feathered residents are crowing about this morning…
A Brant Goose samples tasty sea lettuce in the Sound.
A Mute Swan provides a down comforter for future signets up east.
A Fish Crow tucked in twigs enjoys a room with a view.
Even a Turkey Vulture was all abuzzard…