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Field Notes:
July 8, 2003:
Forest's tag, tether and belt were recovered by a commercial fisherman on Sat 7/5. The tether was twisted but the belt was what broke at it's weak link. At this point, there is not much we can do to relocate Forest. She has no real identifiable scars but her freeze brands took very well (number 13 between shoulder blades and just above peduncle). So hopefully we can identify her at one of the winter sites this upcoming year.
June 29, 2003:
Forest's tag stopped functioning today.
April 24, 2003:
Forest has traveled around 100 miles from Lake Dexter north to Colee Cove just south of Green Cove Springs and then back south to multiple areas around Palatka.
Forest remained in the Lake Dexter area from 3/19-3/24 and then began to travel north quickly. She plotted in Muddy Cove just north of Lake George on 3/28 and then thirty miles north on 3/31 in Wilson Cove around the Palatka area. She continued north and was at Colee Cove just south of Green Cove Springs on 4/1. She was observed with one animal on 4/3 feeding along the bank. Forest was observed on 4/9 north of Palatka milling around in very rough waters with two other animals. Residence said they had seen Forest earlier in the week but were unclear exactly when. She was with other animals at that time as well. Forest was observed with two animals on 4/16 about eight miles north of Palatka at the mouth of Deep Creek. She was observed feeding and milling along the bank. She also was observed approaching a fishing boat but only hung around the fishermen for a brief amount of time.
March 21, 2003:
Forest has traveled between Lake Woodruff, Lake Dexter and a short distance north along the St. Johns River over the past few weeks. Forest was observed on 3/10 feeding on hydrilla with three other manatees in Lake Woodruff. She was observed feeding and socializing with four animals on 3/11 in Lake Dexter. Forest was traveling south along the bank of the St. Johns River on 3/18 with one other large manatee. They did stop to feed along the bank for approximately 10 minutes but were spooked out of the area by a large gator that approached them from behind.
March 5, 2003:
Forest remained in the Lake Dexter - Lake Woodruff area over the past week. She has been accompanied by one to four manatees. Based on the weather over the past week, observation time has been limited for her.
February 28, 2003:
Forest is still located via ARGOS in Lake Dexter.
February 19, 2003:
It looks like the two of them calmed down in their travels. They plotted out on the east side of Lake Beresford this afternoon (good ARGOS locations). It appears they are still in close proximity to each other.
February 18, 2003:
Pine and Forest were released yesterday at Blue Springs around 1130am. They were outfitted with VHF belts and PTT tags. Both animals went pass the springs and into the St. Johns River and began to travel north. By 330pm they were spotted near Lake Beresford still traveling together. The report came to light only because someone had reported an entangled manatee that they tried to cut free. The animals were verified to not be entangled but unfortunately this means someone has already tried to remove one of the tags.
This morning the ARGOS locations are not very good in quality. Locations might place them in Lake Beresford or north of Hontoon Island (category 0 and B).
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