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Field Notes:
October 16, 2003:
OK, some updates on Pine --- "off line" says it all.
Her tag stopped working towards the end of last week. James was able to go out and find the tag, tether and belt. The belt's webbing ripped at the buckle (odd spot) and all the equipment was extremely rapped up in hydrilla vegetation. So right now, she has no equipment and will be very difficult to find even with identifiable scars (due to St. Johns' black water). We will explore Lake Monroe over the next couple of weeks, try and find animals. I will get in and see if with luck she will venture by to be rebelted. We will not put a tag on her this time, just a VHF belt. Due to her repeat entanglements and the method that it occurred the last two times, I think it would be safer for her to not have a tag on. By having a belt on, we can at least monitor her for warm water site fidelity. Keep in mind this whole suggestion of getting her back is a long shot, but we will try.
September 19, 2003:
Tether broke at the weak link again (and this was a stronger tether this time). Appears tag came off due to vegetation entanglement--hydrilla two feet deep. Pine was very cooperative during the retagging process and two other animals made it very difficult. One manatee in particular (very large male) kept putting his body between Pine and myself. He even head butted me one good time and knocked my mask and snorkel off. I keep telling them I am not a manatee toy but they don't seem to understand!
September 18, 2003:
Pine has remained in the Lake Monroe area. She was observed for several days early in August along the East side of Lake Monroe approaching boats anchored. She was alone during these visuals and we were a bit concerned with this behavior. But since then, she has been with other animals and focusing her attention on her own kind. Pine was observed cavorting on 8/19 and 9/2 with up to six animals and has been documented feeding on hydrilla along the east side of Lake Monroe on 8/11 and 9/2. She lost her second tag on 8/30 but was retagged on 9/2 and was quit cooperative during the process. Pine also responses nicely to fast moving boats by moving off the shallows to deeper waters quickly. As of yesterday, Pine's tag stopped transmitting. We will try and locate her to figure out what has happened to her tag.
September 2, 2003:
Pine was located today in the eastern portion of Lake Monroe with five other animals. It was a bit difficult to determine which animal was her but after multiple back and forth approaches to any animal I could get to, two wild animals decided to investigate me by chewing on my fins and tag and then they preceded to start body slamming me (that would be rubbing to a manatee). The third animal that joined in was Pine and easily let me clip a new sailing clip to her 1st broken joiner and eventually let me take the old sailing clip off (from the second retagging). I was able to assess with an up close "mask to manatee back" technique that her two scars are healing nicely. She has a lot of mass to her body and her belt is fitting nicely. She would not let me touch her belly this time and flinched when I tried to touch behind her flippers (last time she did not move). Once I was out of the water, she began to cavort with the other animals and she did a nice ventral roll for us. Her genital area is definitely cone shaped! She was later observed feeding on hydrilla with some of the other animals. Go Pine, Go Pine!
August 31, 2003:
Pine is currently not tagged. She still has her belt and the tether broke at the weak link early yesterday or late Friday evening. Tag activity dropped to nothing yesterday and James was able to recovery the tag today. We will try to find Pine and retag her this week.
July 28, 2003
Pine traveled north to Lake Woodruff the day after she was retagged on 7/17. She remained in the area until 7/23 when she made a move to Shell Creek and had ARGOS locations almost identical to Stormy's. On 7/18, she began another move south and is currently in Lake Monroe again. She is definitely a mover but is usually with other animals throughout the river.
April 24, 2003:
Pine has traveled over 130 miles back and forth along the St. Johns: Shell Creek to Lake Woodruff and then to Muddy Cove north of Lake George; south of Blue Springs; north to Lake Dexter and then south past the mouth Wekiva River.
Pine was observed feeding at Hontoon State Park’s boat basin with two other animals on 3/23. She traveled north into Lake Woodruff on 3/28 and then continued further north into Lake George on 4/3. She eventually settled into an area just north of Lake George called Muddy Cove. She was observed with three animals resting on 4/9. A public visual reported that Pine was up Salt Springs Run off Lake George on 4/12 with three other animals.
Pine began a fast move south on 4/15. She traveled from the NW side of Lake George to Lake Dexter on 4/16. A public visual reported that Pine was observed traveling alone along the St. Johns River south of Lake Dexter during the late morning of 4/16. By late evening on 4/17, Pine had traveled south of Blue Springs. Wayne Hartley reported that a public visual placed her in Trader Cove south of High Bank around 1930 that evening. She quickly traveled north and was back to Lake Dexter on 4/19 (approximately 23 miles). But wait…she is still moving. She traveled south again and was seen at Hontoon State Park’s boat basin on 4/22. She was alone a bit more skittish of people on the docks this time. She has continued south and is currently plotting out just past the mouth of Wekiva River.
March 21, 2003:
Pine has traveled over 36 miles back and forth along the St. Johns from Lake George to Shell Creek in the past few weeks. Pine was observed on 3/10 feeding alone on hydrilla just west of Lake Dexter. On 3/11, she was observed socializing, milling and feeding with five other manatees west of Lake Dexter with four other manatees in the area surface resting. On 3/18, Pine was observed slowly traveling south along the bank of the St. Johns River alone. She was observed approaching slow moving or stationary boats but would submerge for the faster passing boats that would go through the area. She was later observed bottom resting under floating vegetation close to the bank. Pine was observed socializing with Stormy on 3/20 in Shell Creek. She did travel out of the immediate area prior to Stormy’s capture. She returned to the area before Stormy could be caught so we had to run a little interference between her and the capture boat to keep her from being captured. Stormy was later released in the vicinity of Pine. Both animals responded quickly to each other and began to slowly travel down the creek together. Pine was observed on 3/21 with Stormy bottom resting in a cove off of Shell Creek.
March 5, 2003:
On Monday 3/3, Pine moved further north along the St. John's River into an area called Little Lake George. For those wondering how far that is from Blue Springs -- approximately 48 miles. She has been noted socializing and traveling with a mother/calf pair during her travels north. The river temperature dropped to 68 degrees over the past few days and Pine appears to have reacted to it. She has traveled south approximately 15 miles and is now located by ARGOS in an area just before you reach Lake George.
February 28, 2003:
Pine has moved north and is now plotting out in the southern portion of Lake George.
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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