Georgetown, Ascension Island 2009-05-08
This morning I saw many turtle eggs washed out of the sand on Long beach. The high water and rough sea has opened up the nests closest to the shore. The introduced myna starlings and the endemic Ascension frigate birds were foraging on what was left after the night’s turtle activities on the beach. The frigate birds mainly feed on the late hatchlings, either picking them on the beach or in the surface waters close to the beach. The myna starlings seem to be mainly foraging on the eggs, the yolk and some of the unhatched eggs. There is always some food to find on the beach for the birds.
Last night there were relatively few female green turtles nesting on the beach, and only one left covering her eggs at daybreak. She slowly moved to the shore and seemed to be rather tired after her hard work on land.
/Susanne
This morning I saw many turtle eggs washed out of the sand on Long beach. The high water and rough sea has opened up the nests closest to the shore. The introduced myna starlings and the endemic Ascension frigate birds were foraging on what was left after the night’s turtle activities on the beach. The frigate birds mainly feed on the late hatchlings, either picking them on the beach or in the surface waters close to the beach. The myna starlings seem to be mainly foraging on the eggs, the yolk and some of the unhatched eggs. There is always some food to find on the beach for the birds.
Last night there were relatively few female green turtles nesting on the beach, and only one left covering her eggs at daybreak. She slowly moved to the shore and seemed to be rather tired after her hard work on land.
/Susanne
Cool!! Nice to see that Susanne have become a professional blogger...
SvaraRadera