On Wednesday, May 26, the LSSI staff bid a fond farewell to one of our naturalists, Roxann Vistocci, who will be moving on to a new path in life.  Roxann began her career as an LSSI naturalist in April 2008, spending over two years leading island guests on activities! In the fall, Rox will move to the Pacific Northwest, to enroll in the graduate program at Islandwood, an outdoor education facility on Bainbridge Island. There she will work with students in outdoor education, while earning a Certificate in Education, Environment, and Community, in partnership with the University of Washington.

In the meantime, she has moved back to New York City to spend some time with family. While in NYC, Roxann will continue her career path as an Urban Park Ranger with the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation.   While on LSSI, Rox took a particular interest in the reptiles and amphibians found on the island, and also helped initiate the outreach program bringing LSSI to the second graders at Goodyear Elementary School.

We wish our dear friend the best of luck in her future, and miss her already! ALL THE BEST TO YOU, ROXANN!!!

The loggerhead sea turtle nesting season is off to a good start; as of May 27 we have encountered a total of 11 turtle nests on the beach and 3 false crawls. On Saturday, May 22, guests visited the beach on an evening walk to look for turtles, and saw a female far down the beach. They ran like mad, and got to the area just as she was arriving at the tide line. They watched her swim away, and marveled at the luck they had to have that brief look! Our turtle interns continue to monitor the beach daily seeking out new nests; keep checking back for more updates.

Yesterday we embarked on a hike from the bridge on the South End of LSSI to the Wishbone Trail, following hammocks and crossing the low marsh on the way. Fiddler crabs marched by the thousands across the marsh, scuttling into burrows and out of sight. The birding was quite eventful for a warm late spring morning. The calls of male Orchard Orioles continuously flowed around us, and on many occasions the dark, brick-red male songbirds could be seen flitting in the low branches of the gnarled Live Oaks.  Watching through binoculars, we saw the Orioles and several other birds feeding on bright green, plump caterpillars, and sometimes transporting the caterpillars to young birds or to nest sites. Many of the birds we saw, such as pairs of Eastern Towhee and Carolina Chickadee, appeared to be defending territories and busily collecting food. A Red-bellied Woodpecker flew from the side of a tree with an insect in its bill to another tree, and leaned down into a cavity to feed its young. The young woodpecker popped out of the cavity and let us have a peek at it!

Other birds encountered on the hike included Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Tri-colored Heron, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Downy Woodpecker, Eastern Wood-pewee, Blue Jay, Carolina Wren, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Yellow-throated Warbler, Northern Cardinal, and Red-winged Blackbird!

This morning our new turtle intern, Kristina Hammond, embarked on her morning beach bike ride to discover the first loggerhead turtle nest of the season! The turtle emerged near the time of high tide, crawled up into the dry sand, started to excavate a hole, changed her mind, went a little farther on to the beach, and dug the nest she laid her eggs in.  Judging by the return crawl, she spent a great deal of time up on the beach. Her return crawl was filled with meanders and loops. Finally she made it back out to sea, some time after the tide had begun to fall. Kristina located the eggs and confirmed that the turtle had truly laid a nest, then marked the area with protective screening to keep out predators. She added a stake with today’s date  so that we will know when to begin looking for hatchling turtles.  The average time for loggerhead eggs to hatch is between 50 – 65 days.

The looping return crawl of the first loggerhead of the season

Closer view of the crawl

On May 11, LSSI naturalists came upon a snapping turtle along the Backbone Trail. Judging by the behavior of the turtle and some visual clues, we believe that the turtle was a female who had just completed nesting. The dirt seemed to be disturbed, then packed down; a sign that she may have buried eggs there.

Female snapping turtles have some of the largest clutch sizes recorded in freshwater turtles; a typical nest contains 20 -40 eggs, but nests with over 100 eggs have been recorded (Buhlmann, Tuberville, Gibbons, 2008).  If this is indeed a nest, it should hatch in 60 -90 days! We will continue to monitor the potential nest site, and be on the lookout for quarter-sized snappers in late summer.

May is a great month on LSSI:

• Wilson’s Plover and American Oystercatcher are nesting on the beach

American Oystercatcher chick and eggs

• Baby Marsh Rabbits can be seen, especially on Beach Rd.
• Fishing is heating up; Redfish, Sea Trout, and Black Drum are being caught regularly

Redfish

• There are plenty of Blue Crabs in the creeks!
• Botanical notes: Magnolia Trees are flowering, Prickly Pear are blooming with large yellow flowers (a great nectar source for insects!), Whitetop Sedge is flowering, Lizard’s-tail is blooming, Mulberry and Dewberry fruits are ripening

Whitetop Sedge

Lizard's-tail

Prickly Pear

Magnolia

• Shorebirds are in full breeding plumage, and will soon be departing for northern ranges

Black-bellied Plover in breeding plumage

• Sea Turtles will begin nesting; one non-nesting emergence has been detected so far
• Baby Horseshoe crabs are developing in eggs and beginning to hatch on Sancho Panza beach

Horseshoe crab at approximately two weeks; taken through microscope

Horseshoe crab at approximately two weeks; taken through microscope

• Tree frogs are abundant on the reeds at Willow Pond
• Creeks are abundant with small shrimp and bait fish
• Juvenile sharks are being caught skiff fishing

It seems like no matter where you go on the island, you are certain to find something interesting!

Recent LSSI guests Ray and Janet Benedict took advantage of a beautiful morning on May 11 and decided to bike out to the beach to see the sun rise. While on the beach, they saw something that made them curious. They took a photo, and came back to the lodge to describe what they had seen. As they explained, we began to understand what they had been looking at, and the picture confirmed it… a loggerhead sea turtle had emerged from the ocean and crawled ashore! All of the naturalists were very excited to hear about the first emergence of the season! (Our turtle intern will arrive on the island on May 13.)  Luckily, many of our naturalists have been turtle interns in the past, so we knew just what to do! That same afternoon naturalists and guests hit the beach to try to locate the possible nest.

May 11 was a fairly windy day, and by the time we got to the beach, many of the tracks had been blown over. We could merely detect the initial emergence and the last part of the return crawl, which were in wet sand. After spending some time looking for a body cavity or other clues in the vegetation, the naturalists determined that most likely the female did not nest, and had made a “false crawl.” Interestingly, she seemed to have a barnacle or other object on her plastron (the bottom of her shell) that made a unique pattern within the crawl. Hopefully we will be able to tell if that turtle tries to come up to nest again. So far, we haven’t seen another emergence.

It is always exciting to see loggerheads nesting on our beaches. Last year, 53 turtle nests were recorded on LSSI, and in 2008, a record 113 nests were found.

A beautiful phenomenon is taking place each night on LSSI… the magical appearance of fireflies. Fireflies, or lightning bugs, are not true flies at all — they are actually beetles. Most adult beetles in the Lampyridae family have the awesome ability to bioluminescence, or produce light. Even the larval stage and the egg will glow, but you aren’t likely to find them as they are usually in rotting logs or leaf litter. During the larval stage, most fireflies are predatory and even hunt in “packs,” feeding mostly on worms, slugs, and snails. Some will actually inject their victim with an anesthetic from their mouth parts to immobilize and eventually ingest it. As adults, some species will not eat; however some may survive on nectar, while others are a bit more sinister. it has been documented that females of certain species will mimic the blinking of other species to lure a “mate” and then devour him instead!

Fireflies have a species specific blink pattern to attract mates, and studies have shown that some females will choose a mate based on certain aspects of his blinking pattern. Generally, the female beetle will wait and blink from the ground while the male flies above, blinking and looking for a potential mate. the light that we can see is produced by a chemical reaction that occurs when Luciferin combines with an enzyme called Luciferase and oxygen.  The reaction is very efficient; the product is almost entirely light, rather than being wasted as heat. It is not entirely clear how the beetle controls the blinking pattern. Some research suggests they can control the amount of oxygen that reaches the photic, or light producing organ, while other studies indicate they may be able to control it in other ways.

In North America, there are believed to be 20 genera of fireflies, within those there are thought to be at least 150 -200 species.  Get outside and watch some fireflies!

For the second school year in a row, LSSI naturalists Abby Sterling and Roxann Vistocci are taking LSSI to the classroom! Second graders at nearby Goodyear Elementary are treated to a visit once a month by our naturalists. The teachers at the school coordinate with Abby and Roxann on lesson plans ahead of time, and introduce topics such as barrier island ecology, marsh ecology, and other science concepts to the schoolchildren. When the naturalists visit the school, they bring hands-on projects to the classroom and further investigate each topic with the children. Although Goodyear Elementary School is located near the coast, sadly many of the children haven’t had the opportunity to see these types of environments on their own. Our goal is to engage the young students in learning about the special habitats that are found almost in their own backyards!  By encouraging our young people to learn about the environment, we hope to foster an appreciation for the world around us.

One of the most rewarding parts of the project for Abby and Roxann is the interest other grade levels at the school have shown. For instance, last year’s second grade class discovered a Red-shouldered Hawk nest in the school yard and got to observe it with a spotting scope brought by our naturalists. This year, the hawk is back; each time the scope is set up, not only does this years’ second grade observe the bird, but the students in last years group always want to take a peek as well. Even students as young as the kindergarten class love to watch the hawk nest.

At the end of the school year, a number of students will be rewarded for good behavior and grades throughout the school year with an opportunity to come on a field trip to Little St. Simons Island for a full day of learning and fun!

Little St. Simons Island was visited on May 4 and 5 by wildlife biologists Trina Morris and Anna Yellin, two employees of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. Trina and Anna work in the Non-game Conservation Section of the DNR, which is a part of the Wildlife Resources Division. The reason for the visit was to educate guests and island staff about bats. The pair were also interested in seeing what species of bats are found on the island. On their first day on the island, the biologists went out into the field to look for potentially good areas to capture bats; they looked for areas with good habitat and water availability that would attract bats.

The weather was a bit on the rainy side, so the first night Trina gave a presentation to island guests. She talked about which species are found in Georgia, common myths about bats, bat biology, threats to bats, and the benefits of having bats living near you. All of the bats in Georgia are insectivores, meaning they only feed on insects like mosquitoes! She mentioned that bat guano is now a popular tool for compost, and also how people can attract bats by constructing bat boxes.  The final part of her presentation was to go outdoors and use a device called an Anabat. It is a special machine that lowers the frequency of bat echolocation calls to a level that can be detected by humans. Not only that, but an Anabat records the data and shows it visually on screen; reading the data can help determine which species of bat is giving the call! Guests watched the biologists use the Anabat and got to see two species of bats right at the LSSI pool.

The next night the weather was better and it was time to trap some bats! Trina and Anna set up mist nets; mist nets are specially designed to capture wildlife in a very fine mesh that doesn’t hurt the animals. The nets are extended into the air on telescoping poles and monitored constantly. Bats left in mist nets can quickly chew themselves free, so timing is critical. On that particular night, two species of bats were captured.  Two Seminole Bats were caught, and one Yellow Bat. The Yellow Bat was especially exciting for two reasons… that was only the seventh ever record of a Yellow Bat in Georgia, and it was a pregnant female! It was the first official record for a Yellow Bat on LSSI. Each bat captured was weighed, the sex was determined, a few measurements were taken, then the bats were released.  Only the biologists could handle the bats, but guests had the opportunity to examine the bats up close and to take pictures.

We will continue to partner with the Georgia DNR in bat assessments and monitoring on Little St. Simons Island in the future. In the meantime, we encourage everyone to learn more about the fascinating world of bats and to help protect valuable habitat for our insect-devouring nocturnal friends.