Rita and Georgie are adapting well to their new home

This blog was created to allow the public to follow two manatees, Rita and her calf Georgie, as scientists track them after their release back into the wild. Please return for weekly updates.

NOTES FROM THE FIELD – WEEK 2:

26-April-2012

At 10 am GPS locations showed that both tagged animals were north of Great Harbour Cay, near Royal Caribbean’s Coco Cay (Little Stirrup Cay). The tracking team set out by boat and was able to locate Rita and Georgie as they traveled around the western end of Coco Cay. For the next two hours, the tracking team directed the passenger transport boats of Coco Cay to ensure that both tagged animals were able to safely explore the area. Seeing the tagged manatees explore the harbour was both a treat for the tourists visiting the island and the staff of Coco Cay! Once Rita and Georgie were both safely out of the harbour, the tracking team then went to survey the area for seagrass beds, manatee food. We found extensive seagrass coverage on southeast end of Coco Cay. It is in this area that the other four manatees of Great Harbour Cay are occasionally seen. From Coco Cay, Rita and Georgie continued to travel towards Great Stirrup Cay and remained in that area for the next two days.

A special thank you to Coco Cay site manager, Michelle McGregor, the boat captains, crew, and the ground staff of Coco Cay for their cooperation in ensuring the safety of these animals!

Rita and Georgie explore Coco Cay harbour; the floating tag housings just visible at the surface, shown by the circle.

After spending the first week after the release in Great Harbour assisting with the tracking, Indira Brown from the Department of Marine Resources headed back to Nassau today. Indira's role has focused on getting the support of local government officials and the police in enforcing existing slow speed laws for boats in Bullock's Harbour. This is critical to reduce the risk of manatees being hit and injured by boat propellors.

27-April-2012

The tracking team set off to track the tagged animals up north. At noon, both tagged animals were found on the banks on the southern side of Great Stirrup Cay, owned by Norwegian Cruise Lines. Both animals remained very close together as they traveled around the western tip of the island and along its northern coast.

This was a great opportunity to meet the site manager of Great Stirrup Cay, Mr. Kent Albury, and inform him about both the tagged manatees and manatees in general. Mr. Albury told the tracking team that his staff saw Rita and Georgie the night before in their southern harbour. Educational brochures and posters provided by Save the Manatee Club were given to Mr. Albury to assist in educating both the local staff and visitors of Great Stirrup Cay.  

Rita and Georgie passing the beach at Great Stirrup Cay.

28-April-2012

In the early morning, GPS locations showed that both tagged animals were on the west side of Petit Cay (just east of Great Harbour Cay). Rita and Georgie then traveled back north towards Great Stirrup Cay. Severe weather associated with a low pressure system to our south prevented the tracking team from traveling up north to locate them.

At 11:30 am, Kendria received a call from Michelle McGreogor (site manager of Coco Cay) informing the tracking team that both Rita and Georgie were in their harbour. We would like to thank Ms. McGregor and her staff for reporting their sightings! Although the tags provide near real-time satellite locations via CLS/Argos, it is always good to hear of local sightings to know they the public is familiar with our project, and manatee activities in general.

29-April-2012

GPS locations showed that Rita and Georgie remained near Coco Cay. The severe weather continued all day keeping the tracking team in port but they monitored the manatees’ locations via the satellite data they receive from the tags. During the night Rita and Georgie began traveling south back towards Great Harbour Cay.

30-April-2012

Today was crew change day for the tracking team. Jim Reid, manatee biologist and project leader (Sirenia Project, US Geological Survey) headed back to Florida and Russell Morgan (Dolphin Cay-Atlantis) returned to Nassau. They were replaced by Olivia Patterson from Abaco. Livi wears two hats: she is the Program Coordinator at Friends of the Environment in Marsh Harbour but also works as a field scientist with the Bahamas Marine Mammal Research Organisation for 1-2 months a year. Livi joins Kendria Ferguson (BMMRO, and now Field Leader) and Delano Springer (Dolphin Cay-Atlantis) who are remaining in Great Harbour Cay.

Despite continuing rain Kendria, Delano and Livi and headed out on the water to locate Rita and Georgie. Argos satellite locations received earlier showed that both animals were just north of the harbour entrance. By 10 am the tracking team was picking up good VHF signals from inside of the marina, suggesting Rita and Georgie were inside Bullock’s Harbour. Covered in their rain gear, they headed out of the marina and found Rita and Georgie traveling east into the harbour with another manatee close behind. This was the completion of their third extended travel away from Great Harbour. Each time they return we have greater confidence in their adaptation to the region.

01-May-2012

At 8 am, we were picking up strong close range VHF radio signals from the tags so we decided to track Rita and Georgie by land. After searching a few locations in the marina that Rita and Georgie frequently visited, they were soon located at the eastern end of the marina. Rita, Georgie and the juvenile male remained in the area for over an hour before traveling west under the condos and towards the marina exit. It was during this travel route that Rita’s tag detached at the weak link. Both Rita and Georgie’s tag have a weak link that will automatically break if the tags get caught or tangled. The tracking team quickly retrieved Rita’s floating tag. Within an hour Rita had a temporary tag attached to her belt. With help from Jim Reid (thank goodness for internet communications!), Kendria downloaded the data from Rita’s tag in preparation for reattaching it to her belt later. The team headed back out into the harbour and found Rita, Georgie, the juvenile male and the adult male all in the same area. The four manatees were very interested in us and Rita’s original tag was successfully reattached.

Hats off to Delano, Olivia and Kendria!

02-May-12

As of 6:30 am Argos location data showed that Rita and Georgie were still in the harbour. As the tracking team ate breakfast, Kendria took a quick walk onto the balcony and saw both tagged animals just opposite the house. Immediately she started to record their vocalizations using an underwater microphone hanging from the dock, just 100 feet away from Rita, Georgie, and the juvenile male. All three animals remained in the same area for over two hours.

Shortly after 10, as the tracking team started to head back to the house they noticed that Gina, JJ and the adult male were resting at the eastern end of the marina with the adult male. This is the first time that all six manatees have been seen in the same area. Up to this moment, we were uncertain if the resident cow/calf Gina and JJ have meet their new neighbors, Rita and Georgie but today it all happened right before our eyes!

All six manatees socialized and introduced themselves! Acoustic recordings, photos and videos were all collected from another successful manatee tracking day in Bullock’s Harbour! More on the manatees and details on our data collection soon.

Elorn, owner of Happy People Rentals, watches Georgie drinking from a leaking water pipe under the dock. Although artificial, these sources are a benign method for manatees to obtain the freshwater needed to survive in fully marine environments.

Olivia and Great Harbour Cay Police Officer observe Georgie and the juvenile male interacting with Gina. Local interest and protection are critical for manatees surviving at Great Harbour Cay.

Manatee gathering!

Gina’s calf, JJ nursing. Manatees’ teats are located under the female’s “armpit”. Manatees calves are dependent on their mother and nurse for nearly two years.

A plot of the locations of Rita and Georgie via Argos satellite show their second weeks' movement around Great Harbour Cay; arrows indicate direction of travel from and returning to Great Harbour Cay harbour. 55168 is Rita's satellite transmitter Identification number, although Georgie followed her for the entire trip.