Dundee's Field  Notes

2/25/07:

Has not moved out of Blue Spring during our visual observations or according to the GPS readings.  But he was very social during our observation periods.

3/1/07:

Dundee made his move out of Blue Spring late on Monday 2/26/07.  He moved south and was at the entrance to Wekiva River today 3/1/07.

4/12/07:

James recovered Dundee ’s tag at 1952 hours on April 11 -- the tether was broken at the belt.   He found it at the home of an Altamonte Springs resident, in the back of the resident’s car, wrapped in a blanket and towel and under 2 heavy jackets.  The man told James that he had not had a chance to call --- and turned the tag over with a smile.  He and a friend had found the tag in Lake Monroe , east of the marina, along the river walk on April 9 at about 1800 hours.  He e-mailed a map of the area to James. 

 

5/07/07:

On April 5, Dundee was found approximately 1/2 mile into the Lower Wekiva River off Marker 96 of the St. John 's River .  He was observed from 12:05 to 1:35 -- he was with one other adult and mostly milled, fed for almost 15 minutes on what looked like gator weed, and then bottom rested for approx. 20 minutes until he and his companion began traveling to the St. John 's River.  They traveled for approx. 20 minutes until they reached the SJR and headed north.   A visual of Dundee while socializing at the boat for a short time showed that he appeared to be in good shape, w/ no new scars or marks detected. 

On April 11, James recovered Dundee ’s tag w/ the tether broken at the belt.   It was at the home of an Altamonte Springs resident, in the back of the resident’s car -- the man told James that he had not had a chance to call.  He and a friend had found the tag in Lake Monroe , east of the marina.

On April 13—At Lake Monroe, under the I-4 bridge and north along the shore line, about 500 yards north of the bridge in a small un-named cove with 5 feet of water on the left, James found Dundee with 8 and 1 inside the cove by the second island strip--the entire area is about 1 acre--they were milling with one short time of feeding.  The closest James was able to approach him was approximately 15 to 20 feet.  He spent over an hour trying to wait him out / approach him.  All the animals were active and steady moving with several large gators were within 75 feet but none ever approached.

On April 14, James went to the same area as Friday and found Dundee still milling and cavorting with 8 + 1.  He tried to pick Dundee out of the group to attempt a re-tag – unfortunately, there was 1 fishing boat moving around the area with a trolling motor.  Then an airboat with a driver and 4 bow hunters came into the area and continued running around the edge of the banks and thru the grasses where the manatees were milling.  He waited another 30 minutes for the boater to leave but he was still churning the water so he left with the idea to return later in the afternoon when it was quieter but as thunder storms formed about 6pm, he wasn’t able to go back out.

We are presently attempting to locate this individual for re-tag.  

6/14/07:

On May 25, a park ranger at Blue Spring State Park said a park guest reported a manatee with no tag and something yellow around the tail.  After checking, she called James Wilkinson , reporting that Dundee was in the spring run.  Two park rangers went into the water to keep Dundee from leaving the springs.  James called WT volunteer Adella Squires, who headed for home, gathered tracking gear, tag and tether and went to the park.  By the time James arrived, Adella was getting the tag turned on, and by the time he had changed into swim gear she had the tag ready.  They James went into the water with 2 Park Rangers and the tag. Diane said she had a good chance of re-tagging him, he was hanging around her.  James gave her the tag and she had him tagged within 3 minutes.  Thanks to all, Dundee is back on line.  The tag is clipped onto the belt–and we have had trouble w/ this type of clip holding for long durations of time when clipped to a belt with more than three inches of webbing exposed.  A capture in the near future to put a more permanent tether on would be advised if personnel are available.  exchange w/ a proper type of tether on him. When we left Dundee , he was milling in the swim area.

On May 26, received a report from the park ranger at Blue Springs that Dundee came into the spring run about 0845.  When James Wilkinson arrived, he was gone.  The ranger reported he was with one other animal when he came into the spring that morning.  

7/3/07:

Dundee's tag, tether and clip were recovered entangled in a mass of hydrilla in Lake Woodruff on 7/3/07.  The mass was approximately 6 x 8 feet wide and about 5 feet deep.  Lake Woodruff is known for having large growths of underwater vegetation this time of year so this event was not surprising.  We have had tag loss in this area due to vegetation entanglement for Dundee (1st time), Snorty and Turtle.  We actually were watching satellite locations closely in fear this was going to happen again when we noticed he had moved into Lake Woodruff on Sunday morning.  By Monday, his tag had not updated for 24 hours which was very unusual for Dundee's tag, so we were suspicious the tag was underwater or had been damaged. 
 
I was very shocked we did not find the belt attached to the tether since in our experience, this type of large entanglement has resulted in belts breaking.  We were not able to find Dundee in the area which was odd.  We found a very large group of manatees in the south portion of the lake, and a few of these animals had been seen with Dundee last week.  We were suspicious that maybe his belt did come off and was in the mud not allowing us to relocate it. This would explain how the clip came off the webbing in the mass of vegetation. Unfortunately when an animal is in the mud in Lake Woodruff, we usually cannot pick up the VHF belt signal until the animal comes up for air and is near the surface or when we are extremely close to the animal.  We plan to do some thorough transect searches around the last GPS locations and where the tag was recovered.  But until we have investigated further, we will go with Dundee's clip to the belt worked its way off and he still has his belt....thus we will continue our search efforts to relocate him. 

9/18/07:

6/15/07 – 9/17/07

Dundee ranged from Lake Woodruff to Blue Spring and then back up to Lake Dexter .   On  6/15/07 , Dundee was seen fast traveling with a gator following his tag.  He continued with the gator about 20 feet behind him, but stopped and bottom rested once the gator broke off pursuit.  Dundee had accumulated approximately 100 lbs.of hydrilla/coontail vegetation on his tag and tether on 6/19/07.  Some of the vegetation was removed from his tether before he left the area. 

On 7/3/07 , Dundee's tag, tether and clip were recovered entangled in a 6’ x 8’ x 5’ mass of hydrilla in Lake Woodruff .  There are large growths of underwater vegetation at this time of year, and there’s been tag loss in the area before due to vegetation entanglement for Dundee (1st time), Snorty and Turtle.  We did not find the belt attached to the tether, nor were we able to find Dundee in the area.  We found a very large group of manatees in the south portion of the lake -- a few of these animals had been seen with Dundee the previous week.  Dundee was retagged in Blue Spring on 8/6/07 .  Diane Schwartz from Blue Spring State Park had called confirming that the manatee in their swim area was Dundee .  Dundee swam right by Diane and she clipped onto his belt with tether and tag.  He then swam by Monica Ross, turned and began to rest on the bottom.  Such a good boy!   A snap shackle clip was attached to the small joiner of the old tether and then the belt clip tether and tag was removed.  Dundee is permanently tagged again but the belt was low on his tail.  His body condition looked good but he did have fresh cuts on his tail.  Dundee traveled north into Lake George soon after his retagging and then settled down in Lake Dexter on 8/29/07 .  He was observed multiple times gorging out on hydrilla with other animals and was very responsive to boats.  Dundee's tag was recovered on 9/10/07 in Lake Dexter .  The tether broke at the weak link and the tag was entangled in a 4x5x3ft wad of hydrilla.  We were able to find Dundee about 1/4 mile away from the tag recovery location and he was feeding and socializing with three other animals.  Lake Dexter currently is overgrown with hydrilla and over 1/2 of the waterway is impossible to navigate through with a boat.  Under these conditions it makes for a great feeding site for manatees with reduced boat traffic.  But the chance for tag loss in hydrilla beds of these types are very high.  Thus, we suggest to not retag Dundee and attempt to monitor him once a week until he moves out of the area.  He has been noted during the past three visuals gorging out on food and has been with many other manatees with a fair amount of socialization observed.  We feel pretty confident he is on a great track this go around.