There have been good numbers of Roseate Spoonbills on Little St. Simons Island as of late. The gorgeous pink wading birds have been seen in nice sized flocks at Skimmer Pond, Myrtle Pond, and North Pond. High numbers have been in the 20s. At Myrtle Pond, the spoonbills have been spotted from the tower, north and south ends of the pond, and at the blind for a lucky few guests. A variety of age classes have been in all locations.
Recent activity at Myrtle Pond includes some new additions to the LSSI family, as Common Moorhens can be seen out and about with their chicks. Many of the chicks, especially on the south end of the pond, are only about a week old, and still very black and downy. There are also some older, more independent chicks throughout the pond; they can be distinguished by the similar markings to their parents, but more overall grayish color.
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:
American Oystercatcher chick and eggs
Redfish
Whitetop Sedge
Lizard's-tail
Prickly Pear
Magnolia
Black-bellied Plover in breeding plumage
Horseshoe crab at approximately two weeks; taken through microscope
Horseshoe crab at approximately two weeks; taken through microscope
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!
