Eastern Bluebird

               If you have noticed the 272 Bluebird houses around the Golf Course and want to find out where they came from,                                                 CLICK HERE:    Bluebird Trail    

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For “Lakeview Estates” Information Click here: Lakeview Estates Home Page,  Summary of Covenants ,   Covenants ,   Yard of Month,  Newsletter   , Minutes of Meeting,      Welcoming Committee ,   Lakeview Notice     Lake Muriel,    ARC,  ARC Approval Form,      Revised Guidelines,  Minutes of Annual Meeting,            Entrance ways             *We no longer use West Beach Realty.      New mailing address: Lakeveiw Estates POA,  PO Box 984, Foley, Al. 36536-0984

Glenlakes Turtle Watch 2009 Team

I received a call from Pompano Jerry at 6:12 this morning. He found tracks! GOOD for YOU Jerry!

The *Rick and Jerry’s Travelling Dog and Pony Road Show* is back in action. (They walk tandem, *when* Jerry shows up) What a fun time we had! Assisted by John and Eleanor Thompson, Tom Dodd, Jerry DuBose, & RICK GAVIN (who nailed the egg site) we discovered that Momma T laid 120 eggs high in the dunes but in a tangle of sea oat roots. We moved the nest slightly south, still high and dry but in a clean patch of sand. We will have to watch for sea oat growth here. The nest was found at 2649 WBB, otherwise know as H&H Hilton. Everything went smooth as glass, eggs were large and not juicy, Momma T laid early last night.

The beach, incidentally, was clear, no tents, umbrellas or apparatus. H & H was uninhabited, a quiet dark area.

Following that, Rick gave Jerry a ceeeegar and we went to Big O’s for COFFEE and one who shall remain unnamed, celebrated with bloody marys! Linda Spangrud joined us and we had some laughs. LOVELY morning!

Both Linda and Rick have been keeping track and this nest mirrors last years even that Jerry found the first nest, only 3 days later this time. Rick has prophesized that our next nest will be about 2 weeks from today and will be west within 10 houses of Isle Call. I took the bet and prophesized that Momma T will return within 1 week within 10 houses west of Hakuna Makata. Loser buys the other a ham and cheese omelet at big O’s or COFFEE at Dizzy Bean.

If my green shirt looks dirty tomorrow it is because I will be sleeping in it! Hoping for your call!

For Barney and Dennis, grates and stakes are under my house.

Marci has had foot surgery, we wish you well Marci! Take care and get back quick!

Priscilla has a fractured foot and will be out for a few days, wish you speedy healing honey!

Our newest member Cricket Gavin, is our special educator…..more on Cricket later!

 BTW, a man on my beach walk Tuesday told me that a couple of years ago….he was fishing armpit deep at sunset, when momma T came up in front of him, he said “charging” and he ran to get out of her way….he said “when they want to lay they mean business!”. He watched as she laid her eggs and left again. This was in section 3, she’s due to return!

 Take care and Good Luck! Sherry

Click here for Pictures: First Nest 09  

Here is a video of a hatching  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tl3yYd-4Rws

Our 2 Debbies ( Willis & Kline) both newbies from Glen Lakes Group) walked section one today and discovered some FINE tracks! Mama T’s crawl was 36” wide. She came fairly straight in, over the currently high embankment, between 2 sets of chairs and beach umbrellas, bumped a log, veered east, continued north a few feet, did a big turnabout headed east again then went west about 103 feet from where she landed. During her efforts to exit she ground a kite into the sand, fought her way into and out of a pit left by summer diggers to slide down the embankment.

Half of the GLG showed up to assist, thanks folks, thanks Tom, Rick and Howard. Howard walked for me subbing for Jerry. Wow! It was FUN! The Debbies were SO excited and they did a wonderful job moving the 95 fat eggs to above the wrack line where the home owners will be taking special care of that nest!

Afterwards we celebrated at Big-0’s. Thank you everyone! 

Click here for Pictures: Second Nest

B-3 was discovered at 2665 WBB by Tom Dodd early this morning. Minutes later tracks were called in by Merle and Michael a short way up the street.

The tracks were identical as B-3 and unfortunately Merle and Michael had the false crawl. We taped it off and will check on it anyway. Guests related that they watched the turtle come in and leave again within 10 minutes around 11:30 pm.

Details;She may be a Kemps, and we are excited!

Laid eggs 30’ from live water.   The nest was moved above the high water mark at the base of the dunes by Tom, Jan and Ken Taylor, Debbie Willis. Priscilla, fractured foot and all gimped out to record the data.

Meanwhile Rick, Howard, Linda Spangrud and I went on to help Michael and Merle. Loved seeing old friends and new friends!

What a beautiful morning! What a SUPER team! Once again we met up at Big-O’s to celebrate our 326 eggs so far!

Thanks to every one of you for all you do!

Click here for Pictures:   Third Nest 09

I received a call from Rick Gavin around 9:30 last night (June 27). He said “whatever you are doing, stop, get in your truck and head for the beach”. Becky Moring tried to reach him but had a bad number after trying to call my old X number at 9:20. Finally reaching Rick through her daughter Suzanne, he called me. Carolyn (who was on LK team in 2003 and 2004) had called Becky. Apparently a visitor had seen Mama T come from the sea to do her duty. The visitor asked Carolyn if they should call the police and that set off the chain of motion.

Howard and I were so excited at first we couldn’t find “Heron Place”. As it turns out it’s almost directly across the street from my beach house! We finally topped the dune not expecting to have arrived in time. Mama T was being still in the sand as quite a number of people gathered around. We quietly moved the crowd away from the turtle and calmed down. Howard stayed beach side to inform newcomers what was happening and asked them to turn their flashlights lights off. Adrian Moring was comfortable in the sand slightly above Mama T explaining the process to a summer guest. Becky and Carolyn were handling quests’ questions. Rick was in amazed and I was making calls as fast as I could without much luck in reaching people. Mike Reynolds, who lives nearby on Lagoon Avenue, did make it.

After a 25 minute rest, a sudden flurry of movement began and I would not have imagined so much sand could be flung so far so fast! It took around 15 minutes from the time she began digging to finish the job and return to the Gulf. The whole process took little more than an hour with her coming ashore at apx. 9:20 and gone again by apx. 10:30.

We could not actually see eggs drop. We simply stayed back in the dark and waited. Mike snagged the marble sized egg she dropped as she crawled towards water. Rick later buried it for good luck. Adrian Moring, with help from Howard and Rick staked off the HUGE mound. Mike did a survey of the area and said to move the nest higher close to my house in the morning as it was in a high traffic area fronting a damaged home that is set to be torn down.

This morning, Howard and I walked sections 2 & 3, Lynn McCready walked 1. Ken and Jan Taylor and grandson Matt had planned to walk 3 with me. Rick returned to the site to grin a bit more. We met at the nest, moved 128 eggs to high and dry.

Distance from wrack line- 18’ ;  New distance from wrack line- 50’; Distance to bottom of dune-10’; New distance to bottom of dune-0;

Reminder- alabamaseaturtles.com has been updated. There is a lot of great information. Check out of nests, stats, due dates, a BLOG, all kinds of fun stuff.

Okay! Enjoy the photos!

Thanks to everyone involved, it was FANTASTIC!

Sherry

www.alabamaseaturtles.com

Good Morning.

First I want to apologize to everyone. I did not have the cell phone with us as we sat on the porch visiting with the neighbors from Illinois last night.

Sherry called around 9:30 pm after getting a call from Rick to get to the beach fast. There was a Momma T on the beach flipping sand.

They got to watch the Momma for about an hour. They did not actually see her laying eggs, but when she got done flinging sand she left the biggest mound Sherry has ever seen.

Sherry called us again after 10:00 pm. Matt had been at the Bay Bear game with the Thompson's and had just gotten home. He heard the cell phone and answered it. Sherry asked if he wanted to help move turtle eggs in the morning.

So, this morning around 6:40 am we met Sherry, Howard, Rick, and Lynn (who walks section 1 on Sunday) to assist relocating the nest. Sherry taught Matt how to pick up the egg, put them in the bucket, and move them and replace them in a new nest. He was quite excited.

The nest was laid three lots (2 beach houses) east of Sherry's beach house. The one beach house is deserted and has been known to be used by locals and there have been some pretty rough parties. Also, the condo complex across Beach Blvd on the lagoon side has built a walkway to the beach between these two beach houses which leads up over the dunes right to where Momma laid the eggs. So, Mike Reynolds (head turtle guy) who was present last night told Sherry to move the nest to a more secure place. He agreed on top of the dune behind Sherry's beach house would be a good place.

I am going to keep the cell phone with me from now on in the evenings. I'm sorry I missed the call last night, and I'm sorry I just didn't think to call any of you this morning.

Pictures will be coming later.

Jan

Y’all have heard of the Giggling Grouper… well today we had the “lucky” Pompano.       Pompano Jerry discovered some nice tracks that led straight to a nest

New distance to top of clutch-10”;     New distance to bottom of clutch-19”;           Distance from high water mark – south 87 feet; New distance from high water mark- north 42 ft;     Distance from bottom of dune-108’;      New distance from bottom of dune-3’

Thanks to all the team members who showed up, it was FUN! Hooray for US!

Thanks Kim and Peggy, Rick, Howard, Jerry DuBose, Debbie Kline , Tom & Priscilla and the Lucky Pompano.

It looks like I’ll be off to Canada tomorrow.    Howard has necessary supplies and will cover my shifts. Make sure you have his #, 747-7329.

Good luck finding nests and BE GOOD!

Turtle Sherry

For Pictures of Nest Five - CLICK - Fifth Nest

On Monday July 13 the Two Debs did it again....Yes they found yet another nest! Way to go! Mama traveled up 76 feet from the water and laid 114 beautiful eggs(That Rick Found)! The nest had to be relocated because it would have been under water with a good SE wind! Thanks to Rick,Howard,Ken,Jerry D and of course the Two Debs for the great team work on getting the nest relocated!

Click here for Pictures: Sixth Nest

Good mornin’ y’all! Rock and ROLL!

Rick found B-7 this morning @ 3225 WBB! It was a really short crawl, even though there were no obstructions whatsoever. Mama T came ashore from the west, turned around 4 ½ feet from the morning tide line, crossed her tracks and headed SE.

Tracks were 36”, alternating. ;) and were 82’ from the bottom of the dune fencing (not much of a dune right there).

After Rick let me wear myself out, he *finally* located 104 eggs which were relocated since mama T laid so close to live water. Top and bottom of clutch were and were replicated at 9“and 19”. The new location is 84.5’ feet from the fresh wrack line and 2 feet from the dune.

Due date on this nest is Oct.13. Click here for misc shots of the moving of the eggs: Seventh Nest

Laguna Key Team

Thank you for your excitement and dedication! Once weariness set in after 3 days and 3 nights of sitting this nest, which was topsy turvy from the get-go (possibly from the dark weather which prededed the hatching/s ?), you kept coming back! This nest was one of the most unusual for Howard and I. The early onset of noise, the loud daytime activity, the loudness of the sounds DAY and night, the huge indentation (cake pan sized from day 52) that should have signaled an imminent hatching but did not. Y'all were incredible, getting to bed at 3 a.m. and getting up to walk at 5:30, coming back to sit at 7:00 p.m for instance.....   Thank you so much for your precious time and energy!

Howard and Sherry ..............Sweet moments

When the elderly woman with the scarf around her head told me, "We have been coming here for 50 years and have NEVER seen anything like this"

When the last hatchling who had just rolled out of her trapped egg as Howard excavated from below (Laguna Team way), her carapace still curved and 1 flipper not yet extended made her way determinably down the long trench to sea.

B-1 Hatching Success Data-

1.escaped from nest- 90 (Day 53) + 6 (day 55) = 96

2.Alive in nest and released- 10

3.Hatched but dead in nest - 0

A. Hatched eggs (1+2+3) -106

4. Dead pipped eggs - 0

5. Lived pipped eggs released late 0

B. Total pipped eggs- 0

6. Infertile, no obvious embryo- 8

7. Dead embryos- 0

8. Depredated- 6 (3 of which were infertile + 3 depredated by seaoats as embryos)

C. Total unhatched- 14

D. Total eggs- 120

E. Survival percentage-88.33333333

C. Total unhatched 14

Bless you, get some rest.  Click here for misc shots of Nest B-1 Hatching : Hatching B-1

1.Escaped from nest=59

2.Alive in nest and released=0

3.Hatched but dead in nest=6

A.Hatched eggs=65

4.Dead pipped eggs=4

5.Live pipped eggs released=0

B.Total Piiped eggs=4

6.Infertile, no obvious embryo=15

7.Dead embryos=5 + 1 tissue mass with no shell

8.Depredated=5 (by crab and sea oat roots)

C.Total unhatched=24

D.Total eggs=95

E. Survival %=62.1  

Weds August 12 @ 4:00 p.m. 1 hatchling emerged. Seconds later the storm hit hard and packed the sand down. 6:33 sand began to move.   At 7:30 (Jerry D owes me 5 bucks) 107 hatchlings set out for the water and made it under the watchful eyes of our “herders”, “assistants”, “educators”, “counters” and “watchers”.       We should have excavated yesterday but due to family matters, we left it for today.

Moments ago Melissa and I completed the excavation where having already watched 108 turtles from 111 known eggs reach water ….BOY! were we thrilled (squeal!) to find 2 live hatchlings about 8 inches down in clean sand!!!! This has been the most unusual nest ever with spectacular results. Thanks to everyone involved.       Results

1. Escaped from nest=108

2. Alive in nest and released=2

3. Hatched but dead=0

A. hatched eggs=110

4. Dead pipped eggs=0

5. Live pipped eggs=0

B. Total pipped eggs=0

6. Infertile=1

7. Dead embryos=0

8. Depredated=0

C. Total unhatched=1

D. Total eggs=111

E. Survival %= 99.099099

Video of hatching: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R14FREY_FYA

B-4 had a cave in last night @ 51 days.  This nest then had about an 8 x2” inch “wedge” that gradually filled in and widened during the night and day following (today).  We have also had some crazy construction (pile driving) going on second lot east which may have increased the falling of the sand, vibrations have been severe.   Today I managed to shut that down for at least 2 days. At the 6 p.m. check I heard noises and peered into the pit and the sand “bulged”.  Things seemed to be proceeding normally until an excited crowd converged and shut’er down! Remember that our footsteps, movements and voices sound like predators.

About 2 ½ hours later a tumble of turts proceeded towards the Gulf. Counts on this first hatching @ 52 days are 109, 115 and 120, like I said it was a “tumble”. Our herders, escorts, counters and watchers did a great job! Thanks go out to Tina Currie (I’ve missed you!) Tom and Linda Spangrud, Jim and Margaret Lorenze, Jan and Ken Taylor, Rick Gavin, Howard Davis, Melissa Parks, Amanda Crews, Lynn Tattoo Girl McCready, Jerry and Merlene Dubose, FINALLY Merlene got to SEE!

We did not call people, it was so unexpected that the nest would hatch at 52 days, team showed up because they had been reading my emails and “got a feeling”.   The varied counts tell us that 8 to 19 hatchlings are unaccounted for. The nest is quiet at the moment. Check with me tomorrow regarding sitting tomorrow night.   ( New Insert:  Went to listen at midnight and found 1 hatchling about to exit the tarp.    6 more by 12:45! Ohhhh yeahhhhhhhhhhh) 

I miss the old days when it was all about the turtles and we whispered and had no crowds, just sitting quietly in the dark, but, we *are* educating people, so it’s a trade off, and one that I personally don’t enjoy.

I would appreciate it very much if our team would set the example by sitting 6 feet back from the trench and whisper to each other. We also need help to explain to tourists in a kindly way, what is happening, no lights, quiet quiet, you know the drill.    A couple of reminders/concerns if I may be a bossy beach;  Never insert the stethoscope into the center of the nest. It is just not necessary. A few inches outside center works just as well.  Particularly after a rain, the stethoscope often needs to be reset. Once reset, run your finger through the sand on the outside of the grate to make sure you can hear movement. If you can hear your finger move 20 inches from the “set”, you can certainly hear turtles move several inches down. Unless there is an emergency, such as fireworks scattering hatchlings, even red flashlights are not appreciated. If red flashlights can ruin *our* night vision, imagine how they affect the hatchlings.

Bug spray…be careful not to spray over the trench or get in the trench if you are coated with it.  Be patient, patience is a virtue nanny always said, (HAH!) In our hectic world that is unappreciated but it is the best way to assist our turtles. 

Thanks all, it was, at the end, a rewarding experience, Sherry

Because of the fact that “pile driving” of 78 pilings starts up again tomorrow at 9 a.m. we got permission to excavate a day early. Here are the results; J

Escaped from nest=118

Alive in nest and released= 4 !!!!

Hatched but dead in nest= 1

A.Hatched eggs= 123

4. Dead pipped eggs= 0

5. Live pipped= 0

B. Total pipped eggs=0

6. Infertile= 5 (2 of these were freshly broken/crushed (bright yellow yolk)

7. Dead embryos= 0

8. Depredated= 0

C. Total unhatched= 5

D. Total eggs= 128

E. Survival %= 95.3125

Pompano Jerry, Melissa Parks, Howard and I did the excavation with “escorting” help from neighbors Michael and Julie Reilly.

What we have then, is 122 actually making water. Tom’s count was closest! Add the 7 late arrivals last night + the 4 today!!.

These turts were really trapped. I doubt they would have lasted another day. In fact, when Howard laid 2 of them on the tarp, I thought they were as dead as the first one he brought out of the pit. We did try to revive the first found “dead in nest”, he/she was “fresh” but wet, perhaps drowned in amniotic fluid (?). One, named *Bear* was so dry he appeared dead. The 4^th hatchling from the very bottom, *Littlest Bent Guy* was still “curled” from being trapped in the shell, but he/she also became anxious to head for the Gulf. All 4 had no yolk sac and seemed fully developed. The FAB 4 began heading to water from the tarp and made their own way south sans trench. The first hatchling, *Gary* went all the way by him or herself while the other 3 took another route. The littlest bent guy crossed westward to get on the same track of #2 *Latoya* & 3. It was *amazing* how they would find and follow the turtle trail. Is it scent, audio, other? Anyway, that’s how they do it on their own, without the press of humans. It’s SO much fun to watch! *Bear* had a particularly large head and a more rounded shell and became very aggressive once revived. Jerry C. took photos with his phone camera. This is the most unusual year!

Pompano Jerry gave the dead baby a burial at sea, long after the others had strongly shot out to sea.

Get some rest y’all. You deserve it, OR go help Fort Morgan! Our gal Stephanie might need some help?

Sherry

1.Escaped from nest-93

2.Alive in nest and released-7

3.Hatched but dead in nest-3

A.Hatched eggs-103

4.Dead pipped eggs-7

5.Live pipped eggs-0

B.Toatal pipped eggs-7

6.Infertile, no obvious embyo-16

7.dead embryos-4

8.Depedated-1 (by crab, found 7/06)

C.Total unhatched-21

D.Total eggs-131

E.Survival %= 100 of 131