Photos

Advertisement

Two legs and a puff. That's what a Snowy Plover hatchling looks like, according to Nancy Lingeman, a member of the Gasparilla Island Sea Turtle Patrol.

"They're the size of my thumbnail," she said, "but their legs are almost the same size as the adults. It's the funniest thing, to see those little fuzzballs running around."

Snowy Plovers are among the rarest birds in Florida.

Every day during turtle nesting season, Lingeman is out on the beaches at the north end of the island, scouting not only for signs of turtle nests but keeping an eye on the nests of rare shorebirds like the Snowy Plover and the Least Tern.

The Snowy Plover and Least Tern are both protected as "threatened" species under Florida and federal law.

The first loggerhead nest of the season was found on May 6. As of Sunday, there were six. Lingeman has two of the six at her end of the island.

There have been two false crawls so far. "That's when they come up on the beach and, for whatever reason, they don't lay their eggs. It could be an obstruction on the beach, the sand may not be what they want, they may be scared off, or they just may not be ready. We usually have a fair number of false crawls."

The Boca Grande Club, Sea Oatts and the Dunes are all very good about keeping the beaches clear of possible obstructions during nesting season. "They all work hard to make sure things are posted and chairs are brought back off the beach every night," Lingeman said.

There have also been three strandings. "I had one stranding. It was a propeller cut. Almost half of the shell was gone." Lingeman spotted the loggerhead, which had just recently died, out in the water.

Down the beach, past a reddish egret wading in the surf, a Snowy Plover nest could be hatching soon. Snowy Plovers nest in the whitest sands and are almost impossible to spot.

"They're a family unit," Lingeman said about the pair of tiny white birds. "One sits on the nest during the day, from sunrise to sunset. Then at sunset, the other one comes in and sits on the nest. Once the eggs hatch, they stay together as a family unit. At that stage, the male does a lot of the care.

"For the first 21 days, until they fledge, they're very vulnerable to predators -- ghost crabs and other birds. The adults chase off the ghost crabs."

Foxes are one of the biggest predators as far as both turtles and birds, Lingeman said. "Last year there were three mating pairs of Snowy Plovers. All three pairs nested, and the fox got all three nests."

"The determined little things kept nesting," she said, "and on the fourth time, out of three nests, we ended up with four chicks that survived."

Once they nest, a wide area around it is marked off with stakes, string and signs. "Any shorebird nesting, we'll protect the nest as much as possible," Lingeman said.

"When they first hatch, they're a soaking wet glob. Their only natural instinct is to drop and put their head down. The first time I saw it I thought, 'oh, my goodness, it's dead.' When they start darting everywhere, there's nothing you can do after that. Then they're the parents' responsibility. They go from fuzz to feathers and then they can fly."

Last year, several Least Terns nested in a nearby area. "For whatever reason, we never knew why, one day they just left."

Lingeman was apprehensive that they may have done the same thing again. The area where they nested last year had been fenced off and decoys put out to attract them. "It did the job," she said. "We no more than got it posted, and less than 30 minutes later they were here."

There were about 12 of them in the area Sunday. Monday morning, there was no sign of the terns, whose numbers have declined considerably in recent years. "I also don't see them feeding along the shoreline. Maybe they're hunkered down somewhere," she said hopefully.

Some shorebirds try to protect their chicks by doing the broken wing thing, Lingeman said, but Least Terns have a distinctive and very effective -- method of their own.

"They fly directly at you. When they do that, they're trying to make you back up. If you don't, they come at you again and spit sand at you. And if that doesn't work, they poop on you. It's time for drastic measures."

Lingeman said she's found that most people are very respectful of the marked turtle nests and the roped off shorebird nesting areas. "People are used to seeing the turtle nests, but the bird postings are fairly new to people. I think it's a wonderful opportunity to educate people. Once they know what you're doing and why, they're very respectful."

Lingeman is one of many volunteers who patrol the island's beaches, divided into nine zones, during nesting season. "Some walk it every day, some do it every other day and some once a week. We've got a couple of people who like to do it on weekends. They're all volunteers. We lose a few every year during the course of the season. We can always use volunteers."

Lingeman, who started wintering in Boca Grande 15 years ago, made the decision to stay year round five years ago, after she lost her husband. "I used to go back north for the summers. Then one day I asked myself, why am I leaving a place I love? Now I can't imagine living any place else."

The beach renourishment several years ago from Belcher to 17th Street has affected the shoreline at the north point, Lingeman said, where more shorebirds were hunkered down on a wet, windy morning. A Turnstone Plover flipped stones and shells in search of breakfast. A pair of Willets splashed in the shallows. Black Skimmers and Terns mingled out on the sandbar, beaks into the wind. A lone Gannet stood apart, contemplating a long journey north.

Then a surprise. A shadow ventured from behind the protection of the sandbar out into the open water of Gasparilla Pass. Appearing momentarily above the surface were the nostrils of the manatee.

"That's what's fun about this. You never quite know what you're going to find. Everyday there's something new and different."

Facebook  MySpace  Digg  Stumble    Mixx  Fark  del.icio.us   LiveSpaces

Member Comments

View Comments: | Post a comment

No comments posted for this article.

You must first login before you can comment.