sea turtles Archives - Page 14 of 19 -

NEEDED!!: More Time In Nature

By Simone Lipscomb | June 17, 2013

Last week began the transfer of my blog to self-hosting and my website to my blog so a marriage could take place between the two. It was time to merge my writing and Turtle Island Adventures and make one website that united it all.

Once the blog was transferred to my hosting company’s servers, I rebuilt the blog website and added in pages from my Turtle Island Adventures site. Over eight hours of merging information, updating, revising, changing the theme. It was a very mental day with my brain working overtime in an area that it really isn’t fond of lingering.

Then came the end of the day and I called my hosting company to ask about backing up my site. The nice guy said, sure but let’s look at your hosting. And then came a barrage of glitches with their hosting. He was trying to fix an issue another guy there had created and he couldn’t resolve it. We spent over…way over…an hour trying to resolve this so I could save money. We never got it worked out so I was left paying twice as much for hosting as I should be because of a mistake another guy at this particular hosting company made that couldn’t be resolved.

But never mind all that….the constant left-brain activity and 90 minutes on the phone dealing with files, codes, IP addresses…I felt fried. I had missed a photo shoot I wanted to do and felt like I needed to stick my head in a bucket of ice water. I was supposed to awaken at 4.30am, do my sea turtle nest patrol, clean up and drive to Atlanta for a gathering and an over-night visit with a friend. After a week out of the country and a four day trip to Michigan over the past two weeks I felt as if I was imploding.So I cleared everything off my weekend schedule except the sea turtle nest patrol and watched an old movie while eating popcorn.

The eastern glow of the rising sun was just warming the night sky as I stepped barefoot onto the beach. As soon as I took my flip-flops off and felt the sand my entire body breathed a sigh of relief. It was in that moment that I realized I had Nature Deficit. The walk was a blissful reminder that I simply cannot be healthy and balanced without a daily connection to nature.

This morning found me sitting in my hammock chair on my back porch watching dawn arrive. My two cat companions were intently listening to songbirds and I was watching clouds move above the massive branches of the live oak tree that lives in the courtyard.

Then another morning of polishing the new web/blog site but I’m grooving. Patience for tedious adjustments has been with me and I remember to glance out the large window and observe the oak trees, sky and squirrels scurrying around brown branches.

It’s my guess that we can all use more time in nature….and less time in front of computer screens.

Welcome Home Sweetheart

By Simone Lipscomb | May 20, 2013

She drew the story of her dance of love and left it for us to witness the beauty–of life and birth. She is a wild artist, with a flair for the dramatic, this siren of the deep, this lovely mother.

In the dark of night, with starlight lighting her way, she heaved herself out of the water and crawled ashore. Dragging her body, filled with eggs–with hope, did she pull her way up the beach.

Digging with her back flippers, she made a nest where 131 moist, fat eggs were slowly dropped, then covered.

Off she slid, down the steep, sand bank and crawled along the water’s edge creating a lovely portrait of her journey, left behind for those lucky enough to witness it and see.

This southern sweetheart is welcomed home to the beach where she was born over twenty years ago. Join with me in celebrating our first sea turtle nest of the year in Alabama.

Service, Gratitude, Beauty

By Simone Lipscomb | May 19, 2013

Sunday at dawn finds me on the beach these days. It is my day to cover a stretch of shoreline looking for sea turtle tracks and nests. I go a little early to play with the light, the wind and water. It sets the intention of the week for me–service, gratitude and beauty.

I awakened at 4am with a dream of turtle tracks. So real was it my senses were activated…touch and smell especially. After checking email I dressed in my green turtle shirt, shorts and flip flops and headed to the beach. But even with such a vivid dream there were only human tracks, no turtle tracks, in any of our team’s assigned area.

Surprised was I that no tracks or nests were found, but so happy to be present to witness the beauty and commune with the sea. And then share breakfast with three other women who share the same love of the ocean and sea turtles as me.

We’re still waiting mama turtles and we’ll be here whenever you bless our sand once more with your babes. Until then, happy turtle dancing with your turtle ‘mans.’

Feeling Helpless? Here’s an Idea

By Simone Lipscomb | May 7, 2013

It has been a rough 24 hours with really disastrous news for wildlife coming in from near and far. It is difficult to know how to stay informed and stay sane. But turning away and refusing to be informed isn’t an option. If everyone did that we would be in a bigger mess.

Of special concern is the large number of manatee and pelican deaths happening in the south. Over 600 manatees have died in the first four months of this year. The Gulf-side manatee deaths are being blamed on red tide, an algae bloom that is toxic to fish, marine mammals and sometimes humans. The cause is generally fertilizers being washed into the waterways after heavy rains and causing this toxic bloom. It is a neurotoxin and deadly to manatees and other wildlife who ingest it. Humans who eat shellfish or fish contaminated with it can also become seriously ill. Manatee deaths on the east coast of Florida in Indian River Lagoon have reached over 100 and there is no known cause for their deaths.

Brown pelican deaths in the Indian River Lagoon have reached high numbers and now they are reported on the North Carolina Coast as well. Lots of sad news indeed.

I have researched these events today and explored deaths of dolphins and other species during the past year. In Peru last year nearly 900 dolphins washed ashore with apparent sonar injuries. Sonar injuries occur in marine mammals from LFA sonar like the US Navy uses and sonar blasts used by oil companies in off-shore oil exploration.

It felt like a puzzle being pieced together. Everything pointed back to human-created environmental issues. Over-fertilizing lawns and golf courses, using technology that kills, boat strikes. As a member of the human species–sometimes with deep shame for our collective treatment of wildlife and wild places–I decided to take action and made a donation to Save the Manatee. This club helps manatees recover from injuries and is a clearing house for information on manatees. I joined and gave an extra donation for emergency treatment of manatees.

I needed to feel as if I was doing something besides sitting at my desk, researching, reading and sharing about these tragedies. So I took action. And every time I volunteer for Share the Beach, or the Sea Turtle Stranding Network, or the Alabama Marine Mammal Stranding Network I take action to help.

Likewise, I refrain from using chemical fertilizers on my lawn and garden. I don’t use pesticides inside or outside my home and support local and organic farmers. There are many practices that make a direct difference in our world. The effort required isn’t that much and the pay-off is positive change and community-building. TOGETHER we can create a safer, healthier planet.

Sunrise on the Shore

By Simone Lipscomb | May 5, 2013

I awakened just before 5am and hurriedly dressed for 46 degree, windy weather. I couldn’t imagine a sea turtle mama crawling ashore in this cold May weather to dig a nest and lay eggs but regardless, the dedicated sea-turtle-loving members of Share the Beach excitedly began nesting season patrol this week. No complaints about the early hour, wind or cold.

I arrived to pick up a team member twenty minutes early so walked over to a marshy area, set up my tripod and enjoyed a few minutes of creative flow as the canvas spread out before me. Ahhhh…..my favorite time of day.

Just before the sun peeked out from the eastern horizon, when the essence of life felt so full, so pregnant with possibilities, I listened as bird song urged the birth of another day. Wind whipped around me and the marsh grass whoosed and shusssshed in answer.

Then on to the Gulf and my walk began after I was dropped at the section I walk. Alone except for a few sanderlings and willets wandering the foam-whipped shoreline for tidbits of breakfast. Blowing sand made a hazy layer of air and earth as the tiny quartz bits blasted my protected legs. Good morning Mother Ocean, I whispered.

I walked in a graveyard of shells, the host animals were killed when dredges pumped sand back on the beachfront. It isn’t often such whole shells wash ashore here and the thought of such loss of life, even for such small creatures, hung heavy in the wild air.

While I celebrated the beauty around me, I grieved the multitude of ways humans have negatively impacted our beautiful planet. Walk softly, dear friends. Walk gently upon this place.