Bill Tuckers Field Journal

With the great weather we have been having lately I decided to make a last minute trip out to the Dry Tortugas to check out the fall migration. The drive to Key West was uneventville except for the traffic, I had forgotten how bad traffic in the Keys is on a weekend and some hunting season (probably alligator) was in progress so there were a lot of people on the road through Big Cypress. Despite this I arrived at the marina in Key West only an hour later than I had planned. After getting on the water we reached the Marquesas by sunset. After stopping for a few sunset photos it was onward to the Tortugas arriving around 10pm.

The first morning we were greeted with 15+ mph winds from the east. Despite the winds not being ideal I headed out to photograph Boobys. During the last visit I found them all to be roosting on Middle Key. I now found Middle Key underwater which is not abnormal for it. The Boobys were now residing on Hospital Key. It was obvious that the number of both species of Boobys were higher than a few months ago. The Brown Boobys soon departed to feed and perch on pilings for the day. The Masked Booby’s remained on Hospital Key and were cooperative. Over the three days this ended up being the target subject of the morning.

Hawks – there were a large number (estimated at around 75) on Loggerhead Key and Fort Jefferson. For whatever reason they were the most skittish hawks I have ever seen. The first day I thought maybe the stronger winds may be disturbing them as any animal has more difficulty hearing predators when it’s windy out. The winds were much better the next two days and the hawks still would have nothing to do being approached. They were hunting all day long and some would relentlessly harass the Kingfishers. I am not sure if they were looking to just chase them off or if they actually wanted to take them as prey. As I never saw them kill or even strike a Kingfisher I guess they wanting to chase them off.

Songbirds – there were many species of warblers around the grounds of the Fort Jefferson. They were extremely approachable, mostly wanting to be on the ground and around any person. While sitting one of the benches under a tree one afternoon I had one hop up and perch on my shoe. It seemed they were preferring to stay on the ground under trees and near people to avoid being picked off by one of the hawks.

One of the biggest surprises was spotting a pair of Saltwater Crocodiles up in the cove of Bush Key & Long Key. Apparently these guys have been living in this tidal pool for the last five years. And to think I waded in this very area last trip! They appeared to be stalking some of the wading birds and feeding on the huge amounts of small baitfish that were present. At other times they would stay under some of the mangrove trees where the Frigatebirds nest. Some of the young Frigatebirds seemed quite concerned and/or curious of these guys in the water below them.

Magnificent Frigatebirds were present in their normal area. The little fluff balls that I saw on my last visit have all grown up but are still being cared for by their mother. They now cry for food around the clock and it appears the mother will hunt and feed them even during the night. There were fewer males present then I would have expected. A few were mating and bringing sticks in to build nests. While male Frigatebirds mate every year females only mate every other year as it takes almost a year to fledge a Frigatebird.

A few other changes have taken place since my last visit. Most noticeably the park serive dredged the mote to remove the sandbar that was obstructing the natural flow of water. The areas that were closed for brick repairs before are again open. Many new picnic tables have been added and they have installed an underwater camera under the main dock to view the aquatic life. It can be viewed at: http://floridakeyswebcams.tv/teens4oceans/teens4oceans2.asx

Saw more turtles during this trip both around the Tortugas and in the open waters returning to Key West. Also more Pelicans, Herons & Egrets were spotted along with Royal Terns, Laughing Gulls and some very tame Ruddy Turnstones around the beach and docks of Fort Jefferson. During the visit I only saw one other boat outside of the daily ferries. It was a dive boat that spent one night in the harbor. Weather was hot, no signs of fall in the Tortugas!  Only saw rain once, a light drizzle late morning on the first day. Weather forecast remained allowing for us to leave as planned. Return trip was a little rough but not too bad.

Looking forward to returning next month. Hoping the weather will cool down by then and possibly the hawks will calm down some too.