|
On
and Off the Beach
by
Dianne Faucette, Master Naturalist
September 2010 Palmetto
Perspective
As
I write this article beside our beautiful lagoon system, I’m
seeing several natural elements: a deer crossing a neighbor’s
yard, being approached by a Great Blue Heron…a beautiful Belted
Kingfisher flying over looking for something to eat…a Snowy Egret
with its bright yellow feet wading in the lowered lagoon in hopes of
some nibbles…Carolina Chickadees chirping all around the
yard…and an Anhinga on a dead fallen limb soaking in the sun. A
hummingbird is flying from flower to flower sampling the different
nectars.
Odd
Beach Creature
On
the evening of May 22, a large object washed up onto the Palmetto
Dunes beach near the Marriott. Upon arriving at the scene, we
noticed some French writing on the 20’ hull-shaped object that we
were told was from some type of aircraft. The FAA arrived the next
day to inspect the object. We returned to the site to take better
photographs. Upon close observation, we noticed a lack of barnacles,
which we thought indicated it had not been in the salt water very
long. The initial report was that
it was the casing of a satellite in an Ariane rocket that had been
launched the day before at French Guiana, South America. But it
later turned out to be a classified project developed by the US Air
Force and coordinated by the United Launch Alliance. The object was
then identified as part of a payload fairing from the Atlas V 501
Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), launched from Cape Canaveral on April
22, one month before washing up on our beach. This fairing is the
casing that protects the OTV and was jettisoned four minutes 24
seconds after liftoff. It landed 95 miles northeast of San Salvador
Island in the Bahamas. It was designed to break into pieces and
sink, but instead washed up 575 miles away—on our beach. I asked a
United Launch Alliance official why there were no barnacles after a
month in the salt water. He said the fairing was most likely caught
up in turbulent waves.
This
is the first time an object of this type has come ashore on Hilton
Head Island. The decision was made to place this piece of space
history on display at the Coastal Discovery Museum at Honey Horn. If
you missed seeing it on the beach, you should visit Honey Horn! You
can also see a video of the launch of this rocket as well as a
simulation of the fairing jettison about four minutes into the
video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdCpuv9RCwE
or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAQ179awrcU
Barnacle—every
boat owner’s best friend
You
just don’t see salt or brackish water without barnacles attached
to something—natural or manmade. In the larval stage, they cement
themselves to docks, pilings, boats, sea turtles, whelk shells,
anything that stays still long enough. Barnacles are crustaceans
whose cement glands produce an extremely strong adhesive to provide
a permanent attachment to its subject. We have two common types of
barnacles here—gooseneck and acorn barnacle. Both kinds have
feathery legs that extend out of its carapace and wave in the water,
searching for microscopic plankton to eat. A collection of barnacles
on a boat bottom will cause drag and additional fuel consumption.
Symbiosis
Barnacles
are examples of animals that live in a symbiotic relationship with
other animals such as sea turtles and whales, or inanimate objects
such as pilings, docks and boats. An animal in a symbiotic
relationship depends on its partner from another species (or
non-species) for food, shelter, or survival.
I’ve
observed many examples of symbiosis:
…praying
mantis eggcase hidden in a long-leaf pine cone…
…menhaden and small crabs tucked into a cannonball jellyfish for
protection from predators…
…epiphytes like Spanish moss and resurrection fern harmlessly
living on live oak trees…
…parasites like mistletoe living on and taking nutrients from
trees…
…plants pollinated by bees…
…woodpeckers carving their homes in dead trees…
…cattle egrets feasting on insects that cows stir up in the
field…
…butterflies laying eggs on plants that the caterpillars will
eat…
…finches grooming Galapagos tortoises by pulling parasites from
their nostrils and underparts…
…Sally Lightfoot crabs eating dead skin, algae & parasites off
marine iguanas…
Miscellaneous
Sightings in PD
…7
deer heading toward Highwater…
…feisty blue crabs being caught in the lagoon
…injured juvenile anhinga on Fazio course—rescued, treated and
released…
…juvenile bluebirds leaving the nest…
…a pair of bluebirds using the same bluebird house nest for 3
broods in one season…
…green herons flying over the lagoon to and from their nest…
…deer drinking from a birdbath…
…juvenile cardinals growing into maturity, learning to eat from
bird feeder and clumsily practicing short flights
…ospreys plunge-diving into the lagoon and returning to flight
with a nice fish…
And
just a short distance away from PD…a Coopers hawk standing on a
yield sign in Hargray’s parking lot as we drove past.
Loggerhead
Turtle Update
As
of 8/30/2010, 235 nests had been laid—a new record for Hilton Head
Island. One of the nests is that of a leatherback turtle. This has
been an extraordinary year for our loggerheads. The Coastal
Discovery Museum reports their ongoing turtle activity to the
following website, and you can check it for the up-to-date
count:
http://www.seaturtle.org/nestdb/index.shtml?view_beach=73
|
