The Turtle Watch Group

Its the month of March and the Start of the Turtle Watch Season 2011 on Union Island. On Saturday 19th many members of the Union Island Environmental Attackers, a local community based organization in  St Vincent & The Grenadines, were out in force.  Most had already dawned their headlamps, shoes, pants and dark clothing—they had done this before, and something had kept them coming back, you are about to find out why.

We arrived to the secluded path, at the crest of the hill leading down to Bloody Bay at around 10 pm.  Katrina Collins, President for the group led us in a prayer of safe return, Roseman Adams gave the requisite safety/conservation talk for the first timers of the group, and we set off down the trail.  The full moon peeked through the sparse clouds, shining so bright it cast shadows through the trees during our descent.  I’ve heard a lot about how the moon was very close to the earth at that moment—I believe it—Apollo held a spotlight over Union that night.

Our guest of honour could not have arrived with better timing.  After only twenty minutes on the beach, a huge Leatherback sea turtle bumped her way in on the surf.  The excitement in the group was remarkable.  At first quiet, still, tense—so as not to discourage her from

A Giant Leatherback

coming up.  Once Roseman, (who is a certified handler, and was on the front line of contact) identified her as a Leatherback, and saw she was settling and beginning to ‘body pit’, he gave the OK to come closer. I was finally witnessing one of these giants, lit by the moon, stroke her way up the beach, and start throwing sand around.  What a scene.

We waited while she pitted, wallowed, flung sand around, and finally settled on her spot.  Then, she began to dig.  With her hind flippers, which are about the size of a small dinner plate, she made her nest.  Each stroke resembles the most practiced and attentive of motions.  Like the hands of a surgeon, she dug a perfectly round pit, about 60 cm in diameter, and almost a meter deep.  We waited, with lights off, as she finished her nest.

I wasn’t expecting the switch to flip so fast: Roseman had described the trance state turtles enter while they’re laying—but these, the experienced watchers, resembled a conservation swat team as the turtle began to lay.

“Get ready..” Roseman said camly, his red light already trained on her caripace, several other red turtle lights glowing on the perimeter.“NOW! There’s the first one!”  Five watchers, with preassigned roles descended on the creature.  “Switch to white, and start the count.”  Two members of the squad, young, small, and comfortably perched on the side of the nest switched their headlamps to bright white light and relayed the count of blanks to the record keeper.  The blanks are infertile eggs, slightly smaller which are intended to insulate and protect the bottom, and top of the nest.  They are the first and last eggs laid.

Leatherback Eggs

Stanton, the photographer for the night immediately started snapping shots of the creature, and the people at the watch.  Measuring tapes were drawn by others for several dimensions; it measured six feet seven inches from mouth to flipper tip.  A diagram was drawn depicting body shape, previous injuries, and distinguishing features of the organism.  In this flurry of action, all had an opportunity to touch the turtle—and see her up close.  She laid over 100 eggs, and afterwards took great care in covering them, and patting the soil down.

Judging by her size, it very well could have been her first laying season.  She may be as young as 25, or as old as 27 but it is unlikely she is much older. What that means is this may be her first time on land since she hatched a quarter century ago.  She has lived with no parental care, and no instructions on nesting.  Instinct has guided her through the motions, over three hours of surgical motions, to lay her eggs here at Bloody Bay.  That kind of meticulous genetic programming, of complex adaptation must be a reason the species has lasted millions of years, through mass extinctions, and environmental changes.  We can only hope that they also survive perhaps their biggest challenge in an epoch: problematic primates.

Taking Measurement Data

And then came the tag.  This girl had not been tagged.  Roseman acquired the pre-fab stainless number tag, the application forceps, and placed it on her hind-left flipper—out of the way in a comfortable position. He offered for two of the tourist guests, Germans living in Canada, to name her. They chose “Anneliese,” and so it was—a fine sea-faring name.  Anneliese’s name, and tag number were added to her data sheet and the group retreated back to the perimeter.

Anneliese rose from her trance and began the final stage of her task.  Like a three year old in a sandbox, she tossed the grains left and right—and scooted around from side to side.  At times she was smoothing the areas, at other making big divots.  This went on for another half an hour, while the group chatted and cracked jokes.  As Anna-Liza began her descent towards the water, Rose noticed a slight problem: she was headed towards me.  Turtles navigate down the beach by looking for white light—which is naturally only seen on the foamy break line of the surf.  My T-shirt however, was white, and glowing under the moon.  I quickly juked to the side, behind the shadow of a dude dressed in black, but I think she was a little disoriented…

Data Recording Team

“I could take this thing off—but I’m afraid my skin might be whiter!” I said, gaining some quality belly laughs from the Union islanders around me. Sorry Anneliese, I know that was a long night.  Next time, I’ll wear black…

She circled around one more time, and finally made her way, arduous sweep by arduous sweep, back into the waves.  She took a deep breath, and disappeared into the sea.

The turtle watching work was not quite over.  All sixteen of us started a sort of turtle watch ‘dust-up’.  Kicking sand, raking sand, throwing sand, and rolling around on the sand are all acceptable techniques.  The purpose? To cover her tracks, body pits, flipper strokes, and ultimately her nest.  In essence, turtle tracks were changed to human tracks—hiding her bounty from poachers, who walk this beach.  They carry long sticks to probe the sand until they come up slimey-wet from the eggs.  It’s a simple way of finding a nest, but the turtle watch dust up should make it a little more difficult to narrow the search, since the whole beach was covered in footprints—without turtle tracks.

The Conservation Team

So off we went, back up the hill, back into the van, back to Ashton, Clifton, and spots in between. I returned home with the hope that some of the thousands of Leatherbacks that hatch in the Caribbean this year will mature—avoiding plastic bags, propellers, and poachers in the Atlantic.   I wish them a safe welcome to Bloody Bay, to carefully lay the nests of the next generation.

Story by:

Jonathan Underwood

Persons can be a part of our Turtle Patrols by contacting the UIEA contact us or call Roseman Adams on 784.526.4500

It is not long after you’ve been birdwatching that your mind starts to expand to far off continents, high-elevation weather systems, and genomic machinations. What contrivance of weather, bad luck, and instinctual migratory clockwork colluded to drop so many new visitors to the salt ponds and mangroves of Union Island? Today, we were startled to see a flock of juvenile Forktailed Flycatchers (Tyrannus savanna) in the mangroves of Ashton. Gone were most of the frisky Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes) and breeding Spotted Sandpipers (Actitis macularius) which cluttered the Ashton saltponds just days ago. Even some of the more reclusive locals, like the Smooth-Billed Ani, the Green Heron, and the Mangrove Cuckoo, also made especially impressive turnouts at the suburban ecosystem.

Such delightful variation standouts in contrast to the neat and clean distribution maps printed in birding books. The Lesser Yellowlegs, for example, spends late June and July breeding in the tundra of Canada and Alaska. However, one can easily go to eBird.org, and produce a map of sightings over the entire Western Hemisphere during July. Rather than being confined to the Arctic, sightings of Yellowlegs speckle the Caribbean and North America in the thousands. Mostly, they are the (welcomed) losers: a lost lover, a predated nest, a freak arctic storm, there are so many ways that individuals fail to breed and instead gang up in early southbound flocks to entertain birders.

Robert William Rankin
Sustainable Grenadines Inc
(colugos.blogspot.com, robrankin.multiply.com)

The Forest Reserve Trail.

The Union Island Environmental Attackers Bird Watching crew had a rare find today while hiking along the eco-trail above Chattam Bay, on the Western uninhabited portion of the Island. The humid forest with its craggy boulders is the only known location of a tiny, blue-spotted gecko, Gonatodes daudini, which is endemic to Union Island. The Attackers were lucky enough to spot the rare creature hidden in a narrow crevice along the trail. They join the ranks of only a few dozen humans to have ever seen daudini.

Gonatodes Daudini, photo by Stanton Gomes

Little is known about the tiny gecko, which was just described in 2005 after a discovery by Mark De Silva. With hard work, proper planning, and good luck, Union Island may be able to protect the one-of-kind gecko, and its unique forest- a veritable Gem in the Grenadines. While the lizard and forest may not be major attractions unto themselves, they are key parts in a greater eco-tourism package: from bird-watching in Ashton Lagoon Mangrove, Salt from the Belmont Pond, turtle patrols in Bloody Bay, and forest ecology and endemic species along the once-maintained eco-trail. Union Island has plenty to offer visitors.

The Sustainable Grenadine Inc’s recently approved Ashton Lagoon Restoration Project will facilitate a tourism steering committee to orchestrate such a linked-up package, while another proposal is in the works for the National Trust.

Snail

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQoruKlOJtM

Robert William Rankin

Sustainable Grenadines Inc

(colugos.blogspot.com)

A few days in the field conducting bird surveys has added more species to the group’s birding list! Yesterday, two Whimbrels (Numenius phaeopus) showed up on the Ashton Salt Pond. Whimbrels are one of the more spectacular shorebirds, with an oversized-looking, down-curved bill and impressive gait. They are supposedly rare migrants on the Grenadines. Other impressive sightings for the birding crew have been a group of Roseate Terns (Sterna dougallii) and Snowy Egrets (Egretta thula).

Whimbrel (by barloventomagico, from the Neo Birds site www.flickr.com/groups/neobirds/)

for the Caribbean Waterbird Census / Ashton Lagoon Restoration Project. The data on water quality and bird abundances will help evaluate the ecological effects of the restoration activities.

UPDATE: On the last day of the survey, a very rare Fork-Tailed Flycatcher (Tyrannus savana) was flushed from the interior of the Mangroves. The rare migrant is expanding its range from South American, formerly only known to occur in Grenada in the Caribbean.

Robert William Rankin, Sustainable Grenadines Inc.
(colugos.blogspot.com, robrankin.multiply.com)

Three students from the Avila University research group searching through leaf litter and under rocks for small, poorly known reptiles found together in one habitat only on the slopes above Chatham Bay.

If you have recently noticed a group of foreigners covered in scrapes and mosquito bites, you might have decided that they are not your average “tourists”. What sets these travelers apart is the substantial amount of time they spend looking up into trees and under bushes, rooting through leaf litter, and carefully examining the soil and debris under rocks. Why they would do that instead of enjoying the more appealing features of the island is best explained by their interest in the island’s reptiles.

In fact, these odd visitors are students participating in a summer research program at Avila University in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. Dr. Robert Powell, director of the program, has led students on similar research expeditions since 1991. The program, designed to expose students to the realities of field research and encourage them to pursue careers in the sciences, is supported by a grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation.

This year’s students from all over the U.S. and Puerto Rico display a passion for herpetology (the study of reptiles and amphibians). During their three-week stay on Union Island, which supports more currently known reptilian species than any of the other Grenadines, they expect to make significant strides toward a better understanding the local fauna.

Research projects range from tracking Congo Snakes at night and evaluating lizard population densities to how they behave toward one another and determining what portion of a lizard’s maximum abilities are actually used in their day-to-day lives as they search for mates and food and evade predators.

In addition to learning more about the small Union Island Gecko, discovered by Fr. Mark de Silva, resident of Mayreau, in 2005 and named after Union Island’s own Jacque Daudin, the group has confirmed the presence of the Grenadine Dwarf Gecko, known only from Bequia until recently sighted and photographed on Canouan and Union, and discovered the presence of a Blind Snake. No Blind Snakes were previously known from the Grenadines, and a species on Grenada is known from only two specimens. Determining if it is the same species or a new species must await comparisons with museum specimens in the U.S. and DNA analysis scheduled for after the group’s return to Missouri.

One of the Blind Snakes found on Union Island. These tiny worm-like snakes (this individual is about 8 inches long) live underground and use their blunt heads for burrowing. Notice that the eye is completely covered by a scale, rendering the animal blind. Whether this is a new species or the same form that is known from Grenada remains to be seen.

All three of these species are found in greatest abundance in the Largest Reserve above Chatham Bay, which is the best-preserved stand of mature secondary forest in the Grenadines. Other better-known species of reptiles along with other animals and plants also occur in abundance in that area. Because of the beauty of the Bay, plans for developing the area exist already and these could pose a serious environmental threat to one of the most important natural sites in the islands — unless the people and governmental authorities very carefully regulate any actions.

The group expressed its thanks for the assistance and support of the SVG Department of Forestry, which provided permits to conduct research on Union Island. Mr. Amos Glasgow, Forestry Officer, and Fr. Mark de Silva joined the group for several days and provided help in identifying plants in key habitats. The group plans to share all of their findings with the Department of Forestry as well as the Environmental Attackers and Sustainable Grenadines in an effort to facilitate their efforts to preserve the natural beauty and biodiversity of Union Island. The professors and students also thanked the local community for welcoming them and supporting their efforts to better understand and preserve the natural intricacies of this beautiful and friendly island.

Story by Hayden Hedman