Nature responds to Cape Cod's warm winter

Spring is here. Actually, it never left.

BREWSTER —

By Rich Eldred

Cape Codder

Posted Feb 08, 2012

The 50-degree days this week were another reminder that so far this is the winter that wasn’t. Outside of occasional cold days temperatures have been balmy and it’s rained far more than snowed.

“It’s been a crazy year,” observed Mark Faherty, science coordinator at Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. “We had a green darner (a dragonfly) in December at Fort Hill. Insect activity is high because of the lack of frost.”

Faherty is also president of the Cape Cod Bird Club and he knows Cape Cod always gets its share of stray birds, lost migrants or ones blown in by storms. But the weather has enticed several to hang around.

“There has been an ash-throated flycatcher at Fort Hill (a bird more at home in the western scrub), a painted bunting in Eastham (it lingered at a feeder until Jan. 25) and a western kingbird in Orleans,” Fahey reported. “There was a massive flock of warblers at Marconi [Wellfleet].”

Those warblers should’ve gone south.

“Small insect eating migratory birds go to the Caribbean or central America where they spend the winter,” Fahey noted. “This December there were an inordinate number of insectivores ones that were hanging around the Cape. A black-throated blue warbler is still in Wellfleet, coming to a suet feeder. There have been a lot of late [migratory] seabirds, shearwaters into late December.”

A grey catbird was reported in Barnstable in mid-January. On the flip side, birds that winter on Cape have found other homes. Ducks that usually float on our ice-free ponds can do the same on the mainland.

One of the most unusual birds was a brown booby.

“That’s a big mostly tropical seabird. The only place they breed is Hawaii, you can see them off Miami,” Fahey explained. “One was found in Dennis in August and it ended up on the Breakwater in Provincetown through mid-December. So a bird that is never seen north of Miami was hanging out in Provincetown fishing with cormorants.”

The same bird turned up at Cape Cod Canal at the end of last month. The mid-Cape Christmas bird count (Dec. 27) produced a record 136 species.

While the weather has been kind to birds, so far, it has been a grim story with cold-stunned sea turtles.

“We’re up to 149 turtles, so it’s well above average,” reported Sanctuary Director Bob Prescott, who head sup turtle rescue efforts. “That’s a pretty high number, and because of the lateness of the season there are more dead than alive. We had 55 live (Kemp’s) ridleys and four [live] loggerheads out of 13. Right now there are only 31 live ridley’s and two live loggerheads in rehab. So in the end we’re seeing significant mortality.”

Normally, the cold-blooded turtles go south but some get caught in the relatively warm waters of Cape Cod Bay. When the cold weather shocks them the wind and waves toss the limp turtles up on shore. This year the warmer temperatures and lighter winds have left them in the Bay longer - chilled by low temperatures for a longer time but not helplessly washed ashore.

“This was a new experiment in nature,” Prescott said. “It was a nice experimental design. The turtles didn’t strand until well after Thanksgiving. There weren’t many northwest or westerly winds to blow them ashore. We were getting southwesterly winds into early December.”

In early January the water temperature was still 44 degrees, very warm for that time of year but too cold for turtles.

“On big windy days the water over the tidal flats in Brewster and Orleans is 10 to 12 degrees colder,” Prescott noted.

Most of the dead turtles are juveniles. Prescott pointed out that next year could be the first when the impact of the Gulf oil spill shows up. The spill was in 2010 and the two-year old juveniles will be here next summer.

“We’ll see what the sea surface temperatures mean for springtime. Often when we get warmer waters we get more warm water fish, black sea bass, scup might spawn in the Bay in greater numbers,” Prescott added.

One concern is deer ticks. When the temperature tops 35 degrees they’re active. A freezes will slow them down but not stop them as it would a mosquito.

“They actually synthesize glycerol, they make anti-freeze,” said Larry Dapsis, an entomologist with Cape Cod Cooperative Extension Service. “So if you go to an area like Wisconsin where it’s 30 below, they’re happy out there. We’ve recorded Lyme disease cases 12 months a year.”

Cape Cod remains a deer tick hotbed.

“Based on our research about 50 percent of adult ticks carry Lyme disease,” Dapsis said, adding that he’s been getting tick calls since October.

“Deer ticks carry two or three diseases, one that’s got out attention is babesiosos. Over half the cases in Massachusetts occur on Cape,” he noted.

Babesiosis attacks blood cells and causes flu-like symptoms.

Dapsis predicted that the dearth of acorns last fall will led to low mice populations next summer. If the deer tick nymphs can’t feed on a mouse they are more likely to bite humans.

“In 2004 we had a lack of acorns. In 2005 we had a 47-percent increase in Lyme disease,” he explained.

So there is something else to look forward to. He also predicted a big year for winter moths this spring, not so much because of the warm winter, but due to a heavy flight of mating moths in late November.

Dapsis warned gardeners to be on the lookout for two new pests: the brown marmorated stinkbug, an imported bug that invades homes in the winter and devastates crops in the summer. The spotted winged drosophila (a fruit fly) has also arrived in Massachusetts and can destroy soft fruit crops. It has spread here from British Columbia in just two years.

Source: Wicked Local Falmouth

Copyright 2012 Falmouth Bulletin. Some rights reserved

Tufts study focusing on how development and global warming affect wildlife medicine

Taken from a Worcester Telegram article, January 31, 2012, titled, "Outdoors: Rodent-control poisons killing local hawks, owls":

"Tufts is doing considerable research along with its renowned wildlife clinic work. One current study focuses on how development and global warming are significantly affecting wildlife medicine here.

"Annually receiving many wild animals in their clinic, Tufts is in a unique position to note significant patient-pattern changes. Both the species makeup and numbers of patients are changing. For example, the normal pattern of turtle patients at Tufts coincides with periods of their greatest movements across roads, where they’re all too frequently hit by vehicles.

"In spring, when they’re eagerly looking for females, male turtles are far more frequently injured. In recent years, they’ve been arriving for emergency treatment as early as April, about a month earlier than normal. From late May to July, most injured turtles are females, especially after rains, when they get hit while looking for soft soil to lay their eggs.

"In August and September, most injured turtles are males, again looking for females. Females are able to mate late and store sperm, which can fertilize their eggs even years later — in fact, up to a decade later. This last turtle movement and resultant injuries are now occurring as late as November.

"Tufts and other vet schools around the country are obliged to send their valuable wildlife treatment data to government authorities. Unfortunately, that treasure of information is just being stored with no one analyzing it. There’s neither money nor motivation for analysis. The turning in of that paperwork is a bureaucratic formality. There’s certainly enough stuff in there collectively around the country for a dissertation. Too much work and information that could benefit wildlife is currently being wasted. Dr. Pokras would like to see that changed."

Using technology
"Outdoorsmen and women should check our state’s new, entertaining and informative outdoors blog for communication with biologists, park rangers, agricultural and recreation experts about outdoor adventures. You can get their suggestions for hiking, hunting, birding, fishing, farm tours, boating, camping and more. Go to www.mass.gov/blog/environment to help make your outdoors experience both more fun and successful.

"EEA secretary Richard Sullivan announced the Get Outdoors Massachusetts Mobile Apps Contest inviting smart phone mobile application developers to create applications to help the public find outdoor recreation hot spots featuring natural resources in Massachusetts.

"The idea is for app developers to create a public connection to the commonwealth’s best outdoor activities and destinations. The submission deadline is March 30, and registration is free.

"Prizes include the opportunity for entrants to showcase their work to local technology executives, as well as a chance to join wildlife biologists on bald eagle banding expeditions or black bear surveys, a local farm bed-and-breakfast weekend stay, a year-long MBTA subway-bus LinkPass, and the opportunity to sell winning apps after offering them free to the public for a year. Winners will be announced on April 18.

"Many will appreciate the smart phone accessible service that will be developed at no cost to the taxpayer. For information, go to www.mass.gov/eea."

Further links:

Tufts Wildlife Clinic

Interesting case at Tufts: Snapping Turtle

8 Endangered Sea Turtles Board Plane To Warmer Climate

Turtles Fly From Boston To South Carolina

BOSTON -- On the coldest day of the winter, eight rescued and endangered sea turtles from Massachusetts are headed south by private plane to warmer temperatures.

The recovering cold-stunned turtles are being cared for by the New England Aquarium and were transferred Sunday afternoon from Hanscom Field Airport in Bedford.

More than 40 young turtles had become trapped on the north side of Cape Cod this past fall and slowly became hypothermic as the waters cooled. They stranded in December and were rescued by staff from the Massachusetts Audubon Sanctuary at Wellfleet Bay.

With eight turtles now medically stable, officials at the South Carolina Aquarium approached North American Jets owner, Mason Holland, to see if the seven Kemp’s Ridleys and one hybrid sea turtle could hitch a ride south.

Holland agreed because he had an aircraft in the Boston area doing demonstration flights over the weekend.

Once the turtles arrive in South Carolina, they will head to the aquarium where they will finish their rehab and eventually be released in the late spring.

Kemp’s Ridleys are the world’s most endangered sea turtle species.

Copyright 2012 by TheBostonChannel.com. All rights reserved.

Source: http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/30217974/detail.html#ixzz1jYsJYH6Z

Proposed scalloping regulations aim to protect sea turtles

By DON CUDDY

doncuddy@s-t.com

The scallop industry has until Jan. 18 to weigh in on new regulations proposed by the National Marine Fisheries Service to help fishermen avoid encounters with sea turtles, which sometimes become entangled in their gear.

The measure would require scallop vessels with a dredge width of 10½ feet or larger to use a "turtle deflector dredge" in the waters along the mid-Atlantic coast, west of 71 degrees west longitude, from May through October. The fisheries service is seeking public comment on the proposal through Jan. 18.

Research has shown that loggerhead sea turtles are frequently found in the area and have been inadvertently caught by boats fishing there from June on. May was included in the proposal as a precautionary measure, based on satellite sightings of turtles in scalloping areas during that month.

In encounters with the scallop fleet, turtles usually don't fare well, said Ron Smolowitz of the nonprofit Coonamessett Farm Foundation in East Falmouth, which has led the research into the new gear with funding from the scallop industry and the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Tests of the new dredge gear have shown the modifications to the traditional design will not compromise the structural integrity of the dredge nor reduce scallop yield, according to NMFS.

Dan Eilertsen of New Bedford owns six scallop boats and worked with Smolowitz on developing the gear. Eilertsen has already deployed the TDD gear on his boats and expressed general satisfaction with its performance.

"It fishes well but it takes a little more fuel," he said. "They're a little harder to pull around but they fish well. They're at least as good as the others and they may be better, if anything."

To give the industry time to develop TDDs for the scallop fishery, the proposed measure would go into effect one year after the ratification date if, as expected, the measure is approved. If Framework 23, as the rule is known in the industry, is adopted on March 1 the TDD regulations would become effective on March, 1, 2013, and the new dredges would become mandatory in these areas starting May 1 of next year.

The fisheries service is also proposing a revision to the schedule for the yellowtail flounder seasonal closure on Georges Bank and in Southern New England waters. If implemented, closures would be imposed during months with the highest catch rates rather than for consecutive months at the start of the fishing year as is now the case.

For questions or more information on these changes, contact Emily Gilbert, a fishery policy analyst at NMFS, at 978- 281-9244.

Source: SounthCoastTODAY

Unusual turtle stranding season putting aquatic care center to the test

By DOUG FRASER

dfraser@capecodonline.com

December 30, 2011

QUINCY — Juggernaut, a 55-pound loggerhead turtle, poked his head out of the water in the pool at the New England Aquarium Animal Care Center. He stretched his neck and snapped a piece of filleted herring from a pair of forceps.

Large white scars, where skin had been peeled back to bone, covered most of his head. Similar wounds marred portions of his shell and his large front flippers. Sometime in early December his metabolism ground to a halt, shut down by cold water temperatures. He floated at the mercy of the wind until washing ashore on a bayside Orleans beach on Dec. 11.

Aquarium staff theorized that Juggernaut's wounds may have come from being bashed around on rocks or other underwater obstructions as he neared shore. Still, he was luckier than most of the turtles who lingered too long in Cape Cod Bay waters this year. Massachusetts Audubon Society figures show that 35 to 40 percent of turtles recovered this year were alive, compared with 45 to 50 percent last year. And fewer were recovered. A total of 129 turtles came in for treatment at the center last year, with only about 40 this year.

Most turtle strandings happen on the Cape and a high percentage of those turtles are Kemp's Ridley, the most endangered sea turtle in the world. Over the past 20 years, the aquarium has rehabilitated and released more than 800 sea turtles. Five of the seven sea turtle species are listed as endangered by the U.S. The five all are occasional or regular visitors to Cape waters.

Aquarium spokesman Tony LaCasse said one theory posits that Kemp's Ridley, the smallest of the sea turtle species, may get caught in localized currents along the Outer Cape in the summer and are swept into Cape Cod Bay.

With land on virtually three sides of the bay, some may find it impossible to find their way back out, LaCasse said.

Unseasonably warm temperatures this year delayed the onset of turtle-stranding season, which usually begins after Halloween and reaches its peak at Thanksgiving. As of early December, only eight turtles had arrived at the care center, as opposed to 108 at the same time last year.

"They've found a lot of long-dead turtles. (Some) are decomposed, and that is unusual," La-Casse said.

It might seem counterintuitive, but an early cold snap that immobilizes turtles, forcing them to the surface, combined with steady winds pushing them shoreward is probably the best thing that could happen to tropical turtles who linger too long in Cape Cod Bay.

"They still have body fat, and no pathogens," LaCasse said.

With record warm weather continuing through most of the fall and into the first week of winter, bay waters remained warm enough that many turtles tried to wait out the cold, hunkered down on the bottom. They burned through their reserves of fat and became susceptible to diseases.

While many of the 34 turtles being treated in the aquarium's care center look to be in better shape than what they typically see this time of year, their blood tests revealed more internal infections.

"They are a little sicker," said aquarium biologist Kerry McNally.

LaCasse estimated the aquarium's marine animal rescue operations cost between $300,000 and $500,000 annually, paid mostly by admission fees to the main exhibition building in Boston. With more attention paid to protecting nesting sites, reducing fishing impacts and rescue of injured animals, some turtle populations are showing signs they are rebounding.

That's why the aquarium decided to invest in its new care center, which focuses mostly on turtle rehabilitation, LaCasse said.

In one of the labs of the 5,500-square-foot facility located in the old Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, McNally and senior biologist Katie Pugliares checked turtle vital signs and weight, took blood samples and cleaned wounds. The goal was to get turtles swimming and eating on their own.

These turtles are solitary creatures and generally don't play well with others.

"As they eat, they get bigger and more aggressive," McNally said. Typically, healthy turtles are moved to Southern aquariums for release.

But slower progress this year fighting infections will likely delay their release until spring or summer.

Photo: Kemp’s Ridley turtles rescued from the cold on Cape Cod beaches swim in tanks at the New England Aquarium Animal Care Center. -- Cape Cod Times/Christine Hochkeppel

Article Source: SouthCoastTODAY.com

WILDRZ: Turtle Trouble App

Turtle app will help biologist track endangered species

HAVERHILL — For the endangered Blanding's turtle, it could be the perfect Christmas gift.

Local wildlife biologist Mark Grgurovic has teamed up with a video and technology whiz from Marblehead to create an app for the iPad which, once it's complete, will offer downloaders a turtle's-eye view of their wild world.

In turn, people who buy the app will be helping fund Grguovic's work protecting the reptile and its dwindling habitat.

"The iPad app will raise awareness of endangered turtles, and some of the proceeds will go toward my project," said Grgurovic, 36, originally from North Andover but who now lives in Haverhill. "It will allow us to buy radio transmitters and expand our protection efforts."

Grgurovic, a hardwood-floor installer by trade, moonlights as a wildlife biologist while also offering consulting services to municipalities and companies mulling development in environmentally sensitive settings.

He has been studying Blanding's turtles since 1999, when he earned a master's degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst by doing a research project on his beloved reptiles.

But it was a chance meeting last summer that may propel Grgurovic and his four-legged friends to high-tech status.

He was in Georgetown on a turtle-nest protection mission near the Parker River when he was approached by a man who was interested in the comings and goings of the turtles.

It turned out to be Paul Michaels, a videographer, photographer and software developer from Marblehead who broached the idea of putting Grgurovic and his turtles on center-stage in the form of an interactive graphic novel adapted for the iPad.

"He approached me and asked if I'd be interested," Grgurovic said. "All summer, he followed me around with a video camera, and through brainstorming together, it kind of evolved into this."

'This' is a concept that now lives only in the heads of Michaels and Grgurovic, as well on a promotional Web site known as Kickstarter, which offers investors and would-be app buyers a chance to prepay for or invest in the app, which will in turn help fund its creation.

Michaels estimates that the app will cost about $100,000 to develop. So far, just $12,600 has been raised, and the funding window on Kickstarter closes Dec. 25 — Christmas Day.

If they fail to raise the $100,000, says Michaels, he will be forced to go the more conventional, and difficult, route of raising private capital from investors.

"That's Plan B," he said.

With just a few days left for people to buy the app, or to invest varying amounts, Michaels is pulling out all the stops to entice people to buy-in to the interactive app, offering prizes for investors that include making them part of the story as it is created.

Michaels said that while Kickstarter is an unusual way of raising money, it has worked with other products. He said that once the Blanding's turtle app is developed, who hopes to roll out a whole series of wildlife-related graphic novels that offer readers a chance to insert themselves into the story while also learning about endangered species around the country.

"We want kids to own it and enjoy it and be part of the story," he said.

For Grgurovic, more exposure for the beleagured Blanding's turtle is all-good.

Once abundant throughout its habitat — from the Great Lakes to New England — the number of turtles has dwindled dramatically in recent decades as more of its traditional habitat is taken away by commercial or residential development and the construction of roads.

He explained that the turtles have a very large habitat, and that they travel many miles from their hibernation sites to nesting sites in the spring. As they go, they often must cross roads newly built through their traditional habitat. Cars and trucks are the leading killers of the turtle, which have been known to live for 100 years or more.

Grgurovic and volunteers working with him have placed radio telemetry devices on about 10 females and have been tracking their travels to nesting sites around the Parker River, mostly in Georgetown. He has identified some 90 turtles in what has become one of the most well-studied and understood Blanding's populations in the country.

As more is understood, biologists are able to use that information to identify sensitive vernal ponds or other nesting areas that might otherwise be developed and destroyed, further imperiling their population.

He said last year, developers of an industrial park agreed to build replacement habitat that was going to be destroyed by the construction of roads and buildings. The project worked, Grgurovic said, as several turtles were seen in the new habitat over the summer.

He could not say where the project is located, noting that collectors have been known to swoop in and rob nests as the hatchlings come out. The turtles are then sold on the black market for up to $10,000 apiece, he said.

"It's against the law to take an endangered species, but some people like having these as exotic pets," he said, adding that Blanding's turtles never last long in captivity. "They die within a week if they are in a glass cage," he said. The reason? "They need huge areas."

WILDRZ: A Kids Graphic Novel+ Adventure App, for your iPad

A Technology project in Marblehead, MA by Paul Michaels

More information HERE!

Source: Gloucester Times

Turtle rescued from frigid ocean temperatures on Cape Cod

From the Marine Animal Rescue Team Blog

Hybrid the Hybrid!

Yesterday, (11/29/2011), we received our eighth sea turtle of the 2011 cold-stun season. This turtle arrived at 65F from Eastham, MA. We were told the turtle was found trying to get back into the ocean and was able to be saved and brought to the Wellfleet Audubon.

More HERE.