Our next to last day started with an injured manatee report from Hyattville Basin. We went to investigate, but after about 45 minutes we saw no evidence of a manatee. This location did not seem a likely location for manatees; it was literally in a city! It would be as if manatees were to swim at Waterplace Park in Providence. Look at the pictures below. You will see high rise apartment buildings side by side with "manatee zone" signs. We were glad that the rescue call had been a false alarm.
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Next we headed into City Island Grass Flats, one of our favorite haunts this week. We had a very successful morning sighting a number of known, catalogued animals. The chart below indicates some of the data which is recorded for each sighting:
| Sighting | Date | Location | Weather | Conditions | Hindrance | Wind | Start | End | Total animals | Animals ID'ed |
| 1 | 09May02 | CIGF-S | Clear | Good | Glare | SW 0-5 | 10:31 | 10:36 | 1 | Clyde |
| 2 | 09May02 | CIGF- W | Clear | Good | Glare, ripples | SW 0-5 | 10:39 | 10:55 | 3 | Victoria w/c, 509A |
| 3 | 09May02 | CIGF-W | Clear | Good | Glare | SW 0-5 | 11:02 | 11:07 | 1 | Tan Man w/o calf |
We also recorded the air and water temperatures for each sighting as well as the salinity. The three sightings were of known animals. Teresa was happy to see them. Each was well known to her and "summers" in the CIGF area. The second sighting had, as you can see, three animals. Teresa recognized Victoria by her scars. Unfortunately they were quite extensive making her quite recognizable. Her calf has not been sufficiently identified to have a name. The third animal photographed in this sighting was labeled 509A, meaning she was the first (A) unknown animal sighted today (509 - May 9th). It is possible that when the slides are developed and 509A's photographs are entered into the scar catalogue she will be identified. In the field, however, Teresa did not know just from a visual inspection who this animal was. The third sighting was of another known manatee, Tan Man. This was the first time Teresa has seen her this season. Last season she had a calf with her; it was noteworthy that she was traveling without a calf this year. The calf has probably "grown up" and is on her own this season
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| Our fourth sighting of the day came in response to a call to Mote from a resident of Grand Canal located in Siesta Key near Palm Island. See if you can locate Siesta Key on the map of the area. In which relative location is it from Mote? Can you calculate the distance? The call indicated that a very young calf along with its mother had been sighted in this area. The opportunity to view and photograph a newborn is always exciting. Since Siesta Key was not in the immediate vicinity we had to stop and pick up a map (there's that geography again!) to help us navigate to Grand Canal. |  |
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When we got into the area, a woman and her young daughter, Meg, were standing on the dock. They asked if we were looking for the manatee and volunteered that they had made the call. We invited them to join us as we looked for the newborn. Meg is quite fond of manatees and let us know that she would like to be a veterinarian when she grows up. We navigated the canal for about a half hour. Meg and her Mom were afraid the newborn had slipped away and we were all a little disappointed. |
Just as we got almost to the end of the canal we sighted Mom and baby. Once again the manatee was a "familiar face"; her name is EEE .Teresa was able to get a number of good photographs of both EEE and her calf. The calf was about 2 feet long and a dark gray color. She lacked fetal folds which would have identified her as a newborn. Teresa estimated the calf's age at about 2 weeks. It was exciting to see such a young manatee! With the information provided, try to fill out sighting 4. What additional information would you need? Is there some information about which you could make an "educated guess"?
All in all it was a successful day. We saw lots of manatees, got lots of photos and saw a young calf - something which is not all that common. It is hard to believe that my time here is almost over. I have seen and learned so much. It is an experience that I will never forget.
