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Tag: Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch

Auction to benefit Turtle Watch

Auction to benefit Turtle Watch

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Outdoors, Sea turtles.

HOLMES BEACH – Enjoy live music, live and silent auctions and good food at the Second Annual Turtle Watch Wednesday on Sept. 25 from 4-6 p.m. at Hurricane Hanks, 5346 Gulf Drive.

A Paradise Realty and Vacation Rentals are teaming up with Hurricane Hanks again to raise funds for the not-for-profit Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring organization, which documents sea turtle and shorebird nesting and hatching on the Island.

If You Go

Who: Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring

What: Turtle Watch Wednesday

When: Wednesday, Sept. 25 from 4-6 p.m.

Where: Hurricane Hanks, 5346 Gulf Drive, Holmes Beach

Why: Bid on cool gifts while helping raise funds for Turtle Watch

The first 75 guests will receive a free drink ticket, and Hurricane Hanks will offer 50 percent discounts on appetizers, donating $1 for every food and drink item sold during the event.

Live auction to benefit Turtle Watch
This Robert Wyland photograph on canvas will be among the items auctioned to benefit Turtle Watch on Wednesday, Sept. 25 from 4-6 p.m. at Hurricane Hanks.

Mike Sales will provide live music during the event, which features a silent auction, a 50/50 raffle and special T-shirts available for a $20 donation.

The silent auction will feature items from more than 50 local businesses and will include jewelry, clothing, dolphin tours, gift cards to restaurants, home furnishings and much more.

The live auction will include a Robert Wyland giclee on canvas of a sea turtle in Hawaii worth more than $1,000. The numbered and signed print is #44 in a series of 750.

The print was donated by a North Carolina resident who has visited Anna Maria Island several times and follows Turtle Watch and Island activities on Facebook.

“I sit in North Carolina and covet AMI!” said Jeannie Sowers, who will be attending the fundraiser as part of a birthday/anniversary trip to the Island.

Last year’s inaugural Turtle Watch Wednesday event drew 300 people and raised about $3,000. This year’s funds will be used for turtle-friendly lighting and community education about the importance of following turtle lighting laws to keep nesting mothers and hatching turtles from becoming disoriented.

Turtle Watch has documented more than 50 disorientations of turtle mothers and hatchlings so far this season, Fox said. More than 90 turtle nests are still on the beach waiting to hatch between now and the end of the season on Oct. 31.

“We have lights that will keep both turtles and people safe,” she said, adding that the funds raised at the event will help purchase more.

One educational aide in the works is a placemat for kids to color while families enjoy local restaurants. Anna Maria Island Sun cartoonist Steven Borggren is working on the design, which will include Mr. and Mrs. Foster Dribbles and their cat, Tobert, from his cartoon, Beach Nutz, published weekly in The Sun.

The Sun and J & J Graphics are co-sponsors of Turtle Watch Wednesday.

To donate silent auction items or for more information, please call Sharon Hoatland at 941-737-3642.

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Where’s Bortie Too?

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Outdoors, Sea turtles.

Loggerhead sea turtle Bortie Too has traveled 103 miles since being tagged and released after nesting on Coquina Beach on June 21. She may be coming back to land to nest again, according to Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring.Where's Bortie Too

She will compete in the Sea Turtle Conservancy’s 12th Annual Tour de Turtles beginning Aug. 1. The annual event is part of the Conservancy’s research project tracking satellite-tagged turtles to determine where and how far they migrate. The group uses satellite telemetry to track turtles released from beaches in Florida, Costa Rica, Panama and Nevis.

Bortie Too is sponsored by the Conservancy, Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring, Waterline Marina Resort in Holmes Beach and Bortell’s Lounge in Anna Maria, for which she is named.

Youngster raises money for turtles and shorebirds

Youngster raises money for turtles and shorebirds

Written by Tom Vaught on . Posted in Outdoors, Sea turtles.

Spencer Quinlivan is a 9 1/2-year-old animal lover from Pinellas County with a soft spot for sea turtles and shorebirds. He visits the Island regularly, staying in a house owned by his grandparents, and quickly became aware of Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring.

A few weeks ago, he decided to raise money as a school project by selling lemonade, bananas and cookies on Pinellas Trail. According to his father, Patrick Quinlivan, it was cool and windy, and not too many people needed to cool down.

“Luckily, there was a busy police station with a lot of foot traffic,” Patrick Quinlivan said. “They all came by and if they weren’t thirsty, they just donated money. He ended up with $215.22.”

The family visited the Island a couple of weeks ago and found Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring Director Suzi Fox, who was impressed with Spencer. She arranged a visit to the Manatee County Marine Rescue headquarters, on Sunday, April 28, thanks to rescue chief Joe Westerman, and Spencer got a Turtle Watch ATV ride down the beach in addition to the Marine Rescue ride personnel Morgan Bakulski and A.J. Nelson gave him.

Fox took the money and applied it to AMITW’s education fund, and Spencer went home with a box of promotional and educational items.

“This is what is so right about our Manatee County,” Fox said.

Spencer said he learned a lot about sea turtles.

“I found out that the wrong lights at night are dangerous,” he said. “We have to use the right lights so the turtles don’t come to the shore instead of out to sea.”

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An even start to turtle season

Turtle season is here

An even start to turtle season

An even start to turtle season

Written by Tom Vaught on . Posted in Featured, Outdoors, Sea turtles.

At the start of turtle season, Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring Director Suzi Fox reported three turtle nests as of Sunday – one on each city’s beach.

The first nest was discovered on May 1, the first day of the turtle season, at Manatee Beach in Holmes Beach with the next one on Thursday, May 2 on Coquina Beach in Bradenton Beach and another nest later in the week at Bayfront Park in Anna Maria.

Fox reminds beachgoers to avoid nests, which are marked with yellow tape.

Fox has been patrolling the beaches with city code enforcement officials at night, looking for lights that might attract hatchlings away from the Gulf and onto dry land where they would likely die. When they hatch, sea turtles head for the Gulf, drawn by the light of the stars and moon. If Gulf-front buildings have lights that are visible to the turtles, they could go toward the lights and die from dehydration or be run over by cars.

It is illegal to touch a hatchling, so if you spot one in trouble, Fox said, call Turtle Watch at 941-778-5638.

Turtle Tips

During sea turtle season, May 1 – Oct. 31, follow these tips:

  • Turn off lights visible from the beach and close blinds from sundown to sunrise; lights confuse nesting sea turtles and may cause them to go back to sea and drop their eggs in the water, where they won’t hatch. Light can also attract hatchlings away from the water.
  • Don’t use flashlights, lanterns or camera flashes on the beach at night.
  • Remove all objects from the sand from sundown to sunrise; they can deter sea turtles from nesting and disorient hatchlings.
  • Fill in the holes you dig in the sand before leaving the beach; they can trap nesting and hatching sea turtles, which cannot live long out of the water.
  • Don’t use wish lanterns or fireworks; they litter the beach and Gulf.
  • Do not trim trees and plants that shield the beach from lights.
  • Never touch a sea turtle; it’s the law. If you see people disturbing turtles, call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Wildlife Alert hotline at 888-404-FWCC (3922).

Bird tips

During bird nesting season, March through August, follow these tips:

  • Never touch a shorebird chick, even if it’s wandering outside a staked nesting area.
  • Teach kids not to chase birds – bird parents may abandon nests if they’re disturbed.
  • Don’t feed birds – it encourages them to fly at people aggressively and is not good for their health.
  • If birds are screeching and flying at you, you’re too close.
  • Avoid posted bird nesting areas and use designated walkways to the beach.
  • Keep pets away from bird nesting areas.
  • Keep the beach clean; food scraps attract predators such as raccoons and crows to the beach, and litter can entangle birds and other wildlife.
  • If you see people disturbing nesting birds, call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Wildlife Alert hotline at 888-404-FWCC (3922).

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Green turtle swimming free after hospital stay

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Featured, Outdoors, Sea turtles.

ANNA MARIA – Shoshi, a juvenile green sea turtle, is swimming free in Tampa Bay after a successful rehabilitation and release Thursday morning, May 10 at Bayfront Park.

A fisherman found the turtle in March floating in yellow sludge 15 miles west of Bean Point, the northern tip of Anna Maria Island, according to Mote Marine Laboratory, which rehabilitated the turtle.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lWoNDPoVcU[/embedyt]

Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring volunteer Dave Ault brought the turtle to Mote, naming her after his puppy, Shoshi.

Mote Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Hospital staff discovered that Shoshi’s skin was covered in an unidentified orange material, and the plates on its shell were coming off. The turtle received antibiotic eye drops, was given dextrose intravenously, and received subcutaneous fluids until it fully recovered.

Green turtles rarely nest on Anna Maria Island; loggerheads are, by far, the more common local species. Both are on the federal threatened species list.

Turtle season began May 1. No turtles had nested on the Island as of Shoshi’s release date, but one turtle attempted to nest in a “false crawl” in Bradenton Beach earlier that morning, returning to sea without laying eggs, according to Turtle Watch.

If you see a stranded or dead sea turtle, dolphin or whale in Sarasota or Manatee county waters, please call Mote’s Stranding Investigations Program, a 24-hour response service, at 941-988-0212.

If you see a stranded or dead sea turtle, dolphin or whale outside of Sarasota and Manatee counties, or a stranded or dead manatee anywhere in state waters, please call the FWC Wildlife Alert hotline at 888-404-FWCC (3922).

Mote Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Hospital staff bring a green sea turtle to Bayfront Park for release on Thursday, May 10. - Cindy Lane | Sun

Mote Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Hospital staff bring a green sea turtle to Bayfront Park for release on Thursday, May 10. - Cindy Lane | Sun

A juvenile green sea turtle, a threatened species, was released off Anna Maria on Thursday, May 10. - Cindy Lane | Sun

A juvenile green sea turtle, a threatened species, was released off Anna Maria on Thursday, May 10. - Cindy Lane | Sun

Shoshi is ready to go. - Cindy Lane | Sun

Shoshi is ready to go. - Cindy Lane | Sun

Going...

Going...

... going...

... going...

... gone. - Cindy Lane | Sun

... gone. - Cindy Lane | Sun

Turtle Watch notecards

Students paint environmental watercolors for cause

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Outdoors, Sea turtles.

HOLMES BEACH – Anna Maria Elementary School students are picking up their paint brushes to help support a nonprofit and protect the local environment.

In conjunction with Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring, students spent a few days with Executive Director Suzi Fox and artist Lucinda Hathaway working on original notecard-sized watercolor paintings.

amitw ame notecards
Students in Mrs. Constanzo’s fifth grade class work on designs for their watercolor artwork. – Kristin Swain | Sun

Once completed, several of the paintings will be selected as notecards to be sold at the school, benefiting Turtle Watch. Designs that are not chosen as notecards will be used to decorate dune information signs to be placed on beaches around the Island.

Hathaway, an artist and instructor from Longboat Key, did a detailed demonstration for students before guiding them through developing and painting their own creations. Watercolor paintings feature local wildlife including sea turtles and the Island’s several species of shorebirds.

Turtle Watch notecards
Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring Executive Director Suzi Fox shows off her sea turtle artwork. – Kristin Swain | Sun

While funding for the notecard project is already set by Turtle Watch, Fox said the nonprofit is still seeking funding for the dune sign project. She said that while Manatee County has approved the project to replace the standardized signs located near some Island dunes, no government funding is currently approved for the project. As funding is found, Fox said new signs outlining the “dos and don’ts” of interacting with dunes featuring the student artwork will be printed to replace the outdated signs.

“All of these cards are winners,” Fox said.

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