{"id":1635,"date":"2008-11-17T23:28:22","date_gmt":"2008-11-18T03:28:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=1635"},"modified":"2008-11-18T09:04:48","modified_gmt":"2008-11-18T13:04:48","slug":"leapfrogging-sea-turtle-patrol-yields-surprise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=1635","title":{"rendered":"Leapfrogging Sea Turtle Patrol Yields Surprise"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Saving the World One Toad at a Time<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Winds howled across the bay Saturday into Sunday, blowing first at 30 knots from the south southwest and then 25 knots from the west southwest.\u00c2\u00a0 Air and water temperatures still lingered too close to 50 for any real expectation of cold-stunned sea turtle strandings, but with a high tide at 1:30 pm on Sunday, the temptation was too great to resist for a beach patrol.\u00c2\u00a0 Something like a road trip … only without the road, and without the trip, too.<\/p>\n

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Cape Cod Bay:\u00c2\u00a0Place a Pin in the Center<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

To plan where to focus your search, you need to understand that\u00c2\u00a0cold-stunned sea turtles\u00c2\u00a0are helplessly in stupor, and are tossed about like flotsam and jetsam.\u00c2\u00a0 Look at the map above and place a compass or a pin in the center.\u00c2\u00a0 Plot the reciprocal direction of the wind and use where it hits the coastline as the mid-point for your search.\u00c2\u00a0 So, with winds out of the west southwest, the Turtle Journal team leapfrogged from Bound Brook in north Wellfleet through Ryder Beach in south Truro to Fisher Beach and the Pamet River.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Leapfrogged?\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, leapfrogged.\u00c2\u00a0 When patrolling high tide beaches for sea turtles, you’re out in the worst (or best, depending on your perspective) wind conditions and often the worst weather conditions with freezing rain or icy snow pelting the ground and everything and everybody between sky and ground.\u00c2\u00a0 The best approach is always to walk with your back to the wind.\u00c2\u00a0 Easier said than done?\u00c2\u00a0 Not if you leapfrog.\u00c2\u00a0 With a single vehicle and two sets of keys, someone is dropped at the first beach and walks with back to the wind.\u00c2\u00a0 The second person drives to the next beach, usually about two miles away, leaves the vehicle and begins walking with back to wind to the next beach.\u00c2\u00a0 The first person picks up the car and leapfrogs, and the process continues until the end of the patrol.<\/p>\n

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Click Here to View Video in High Quality<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Sea Turtle Patrol at High Tide on Ryder Beach, Truro<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It was sensational … in the literal meaning of the word.\u00c2\u00a0 Screeching winds, crashing waves, rumbling breakers overwhelmed hearing.\u00c2\u00a0 Blistering sand and ricocheting spray assaulted unprotected skin.\u00c2\u00a0 Sunny warmth battled with chilly gusts.\u00c2\u00a0 Brilliant blues, blinding whites competed with darkening clouds and then\u00c2\u00a0premature sunset.\u00c2\u00a0 It was an afternoon that defied description and won.<\/p>\n

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Click Here to View Video in High Quality<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Cold-Stunned American Toad\u00c2\u00a0on Bound Brook Dunes<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

While the beauty of the afternoon exceeded expectation, the lack of sea turtles met expectations.\u00c2\u00a0 Still, leapfrogging must have given us an edge to find another cold-stunned critter in the dunes between the parking lot at Bound Brook and the beach.\u00c2\u00a0 Movement caught Sue’s eye as she climbed the dune and she spotted an animal in a depression that had been filled with water by the weekend rains, but was now only damp.\u00c2\u00a0 She approached and found a toad that was clearly having difficulties in the cold blast.<\/p>\n

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Click Here to View Video in High Quality<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Examining Cold-Stunnded American Toad (Bufo americanus)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Although rare, we would have expected to find perhaps a spadefoot toad or a Fowler’s toad in this dune habitat.\u00c2\u00a0 Yet, the specimen appeared for all the world to be an American toad (Bufo americanus<\/em>).\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, well.\u00c2\u00a0 That will teach us to leapfrog!<\/p>\n

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American Toad (Bufo americanus) Weighs 246 Grams<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

We examined the animal in detail on the beach, and perhaps because we had no turtles to bedevil, we\u00c2\u00a0recorded weight and measurements.<\/p>\n

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American Toad on Freezing Cape Cod Beach at Sunset<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The sun had fallen low on the horizon when we encountered this toad and temperatures were dropping faster than the Dow Jones\u00c2\u00a0Index on Wall Street.\u00c2\u00a0 Its behavior was unusual and it wasn’t responding well to the deepening cold.\u00c2\u00a0 So, we filled a bucket with sand and brought\u00c2\u00a0it to the Turtle Journal lab for a couple of days of rest, recuperation and warmth.\u00c2\u00a0 This\u00c2\u00a0critter may not be a turtle, but if you don’t have one around, perhaps you can save the world with a toad in a pinch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saving the World One Toad at a Time Winds howled across the bay Saturday into Sunday, blowing first at 30 knots from the south southwest and then 25 knots from the west southwest.\u00c2\u00a0 Air and water temperatures still lingered too close to 50 for any real expectation of cold-stunned sea turtle strandings, but with a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[826],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1635"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1635"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1647,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1635\/revisions\/1647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}