Lifeguard Position Available

Well, I imagine there probably is one available at The Big Club….

Monitored that Beach yesterday, and spied this very hefty Harbor seal off the western tip. It is not a regular occurrence, so I very discreetly hopped from one slippery rock to the next to document the moment.

I laugh, it appears the seal is working out and doing leg lifts-perhaps prepping for Lifeguard duties!

Actually, there was a pair of seals on that warm rock, and two bobbing heads farther off shore. Adult Harbor seals can weigh close to 300lbs.

I am guessing their diets here are sustained mostly with Menhaden fish stock, just like our Island Osprey. 

 

Site Fidelity:Oyster Catchers & Seals

Based on my previous wildlife jottings, I am reminded that Hay Harbor is a destination for a very few American Oyster Catchers winding down their spring migration.

Yesterday in blustery gusts, I hid in tall reeds trying to still my camera and record this summer resident’s earlier return.

Site Fidelity is something I first heard of and learned about in the Pribilof Islands.

By early summer, I was routinely hunkered in tundra grass, placing a check mark in data sheet columns as tagged female Northern fur seals completed their arduous journeys across the Bering Sea. Amidst the thunderous roaring waves, hundreds of glistening brown and very expectant mother “sea bears” coasted gracefully, then waddled clumsily to shore. Within hours, they “pupped” (not popped!); each delivery adding a precious family member to a declining species.

It has been researched and scientifically noted that female pups born of that seal species will be faithful to the same site-that same craggy rookery, returning in future years to bear their own young.

Back here on Fishers Island, I read a bit about Philopatry (Greek for “home loving”) It is an ecology term for Site Fidelity.  By returning to the same nesting and feeding territory, American Oyster Catcher populations maintain their species adaptation to specific environs.

I found a tad of humor reading that the term can also describe nesting animals that don’t remain in their home nests during an “unfavorable” season…..

As I see more and more familiar faces journeying across the choppy Sound by ferry to Fishers Island these days of spring, I think truly, that same Site Fidelity is often exhibited -loving summer homes and expecting wonderful family time.

** Seal photo credit to my friend John Hocevar of Greenpeace

Grassland Ecology

During Naturalist course studies in Florida, there was class discussion about controlled or prescribed burning-especially in wildlife refuge settings.

Fire is a natural part of grassland and forest ecology, and used as a tool it plays an intricate part in overall management of wildland settings.

Stimulating germination of desirable grasses and vegetation, prescribed burning may improve wildlife habitat.

While monitoring Middle Farms last eve, I thought to document a few photos taken near The Driving Range.

This summer student Sentinels and I can take note of specific grassland revitalization here.

They Say It’s Your Earthday!

“We’re gonna have a good time…..”
The Beatles tune was humming in my thoughts today.

Coasting by the Henry Ferguson Museum, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to spend some very good time paying homage to our dear Earth. So I sat in serenity under my favorite gazebo.

Barred Owl snoozing in the shade of unfurling, pale pink leaves in the radiance of a blue sky.

“I’m glad it’s your Earthday

Happy Earthday to you"

Each and every day.

 

Spring Into Action

You can observe quite a bit of activity along the Island Recreational Path this week, but you must be quick about it!
And while the fauna may stand still for a moment, the flora buds are bursting to be seen and faded blades brightening into green. A Canada Goose stands statuesque while a Painted turtle basks in its glory of sunlight just across from the Picket Landfill.

Pedal a bit faster and even faster past the Driving Range and catch a glimpse through naked branch -freshly caught Menhaden between tight talons, but don’t expect Osprey to share. Hurry now, for Springtime waits for no man.

Birds Do It

So I notice.

Chocomount Osprey keeps a watchful lookout for a mate.

Cock Pheasant guards his Hen along East Harbor.

Oyster Pond Egrets find each other at long last.

While a preened Tree Swallow awaits……..

Olde Blue

There are several “local” Great Blue Herons that I am acquainted with on Fishers Island.

Darby Cove, Hungry Point and Hooverness all provide very suitable habitat that sustains these birds as residents. These three sites provide tidal marsh activities that seem to mimic an ideal estuary ecosystem with salinity levels that let native wetland grasses thrive. In turn, grasses provide essential filtering capabilities of surface water runoff; catching and retaining excess nutrients, and pollutants that affect fish and amphibian egg development.

I observe quite often The Great Blue Heron snacking on frogs as well as the small fish that hide in the dark, damp roots of our Island wetlands.

Always very alert to my presence, it is only a loud “squawk” and long wing span shadow hovering overhead that I get to document during most monitoring treks.

But I was pleased to get to know The Great Blue Heron while studying in Florida.

It was an opportunity to see the bird’s nesting and feeding habits AND discover that immature Blue Herons are actually white-easily mistaken for the Snowy Egret

So, I return to Fishers Island, getting to know my neighbors even better!

 

Lesson From A Jetty In Jeopardy

With summer and various fishing seasons approaching I am reminded to remark on the abundance of monofilament(fishing line) debris I find at nearly all monitored sites on Fishers Island.Walking shorelines I also see large amounts of old frayed and knotted boat line from vessels and torn ropes from lobster traps. I document entangled birds I encounter too – a hook and line protruding from beaks or webbed feet, frayed string necklaces tangled with feathers.

There is a popular fishing site in New Smyrna Beach-a jetty around which I monitored local dolphins, Brown Pelican and Snowy Egret. While attending Coastal Systems at Marine Discovery Center I viewed a video that documented local divers for Volusia County disentangling this same jetty from over 600 pounds of monofilament. Filmed underwater it was an eye opener to see what wasn’t visible to all those fishermen casting their rods topside.  They missed seeing gloved hands spend painstaking moments cutting away snarled nests of line from sea urchin spines and coral communities, synthetic tumbleweeds blocking sunlight where sea grass should grow.

Volusia County also takes forward steps with educational outreach and places receptacles for recycling fishing line especially near popular recreational areas.

For the few weeks I observed people fishing and surfcasting practices here, I took the time to explain to some folks that the living Jetty was once strangled by their “catch” and was now “released”.  Enthusiastically describing aloud the freedom and relief for a tiny urchin was a huge step for me so I smiled and mentioned they too can “get hooked” on conservation and educational outreach….

 

Dolphins & Naturalist In The Know

Being in the “now” is also being in the Know.

And that’s what I share with student Sentinels that help me to monitor Fishers Island. It is a perfect fit of ecosystems just waiting to be discovered with young naturalists bound to become very familiar with natural history-in the making.

Living these months side by side with the Indian River Lagoon, bicycling to class I realized I had myself unintentionally acquired an entirely new but now familiar monitoring “route”.

It has grown from a local Gopher Tortoise nesting under steps leading to the beach, a Brown Pelican flock flying frequently in the 3 o’clock shadow, a keen eyed Kestral perched on a telephone wire, River Otter scat “somewhere” near a fishing dock, one Pileated Woodpecker routinely darting across the bike path, Calico scallops in a neighborhood tidal pool….

And this morning’s grand finale-DOLPHINS!

There are between 200-800 Bottlenose dolphins in the Lagoon, like humans they have established different local communities-ocean dolphins differing from the estuary population.

I note the “Fab Five”. Looks like a family, at least one yearling and an “auntie” or two.

Individual animals can be identified by bodily scars along with dorsal fin shape and size (I spy a notch and nicks).

Each day as I pedal across the causeway I have anticipated observing and possibly monitoring local dolphins swimming and fishing below the bridge.

Now, I am in the Know!

Meeting Calico Scallop

Rise and shine from burrow so brine

Calico  Scallop.

Kneeling in low tide’s ebb, I listen as my camera shutter opens and closes rapidly

“Click- click-click”

“What is that?” I ask.

“Click” I hear answered from an open then closed shell.

And then it clicked, I get it.

Only inquisitive Ruddy Turnstone can tell……