On my way to Grand Isle early this morning, I noticed the tide was extremely high. The locks at Golden Meadow bayou were closed to marine traffic. The birds were more plentiful further inland too; egrets, herons and more pelicans. I'm not sure if that was a good sign or a sign of something bad happening out there. As I crossed the Grand Isle bridge, immediately, I felt a sense of quietness...a stillness in the air; almost like a ghost town - but not with the people...I'm talking about the wildlife. No more were there snowy egrets or reddish egrets fishing from the boom or the sand bar on the side of the bridge. No more were there pelicans perched on the nonbearing pylons along the bridge side. Not even gulls were flying around. The only bird life I saw were a few least terns flying high overhead. Hmmmm.....
So, I continued down to the State Park where I met up with Leanne Sarco, Interpretive Ranger, who has spearheaded the Hermit Crab Survival Project all on her own. I was there to bring some donations and help rescue and clean the hermit crabs.
Since June, she, with many volunteers along the way and many donations, has rescued, cleaned and released over 8,000 hermit crabs! Some were drenched in oil, some did not survive, and some I'm sure came back for a second oiling before a screen was placed between the bay and the beach to prevent re-oiling. The project is completely funded by individual donations. No funds are received from the State or BP. You can find a list of needed items on Leanne's Hermit Crab Survival Project face book page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=103547556365106&ref=ts Please donate if you can...this is a legit operation - ONE GREAT WOMAN MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN OUR WORLD - ONE HERMIT CRAB AT A TIME!
Since the tide was so high, we had to wait until the afternoon for the hermit crabs to be exposed before rescuing them. In the meantime, I decided to walk onto the pier overlooking the beach area. And lo-and-behold, what do I find, but the USGS taking water samples. I was able to speak to them and found out that on May 15th they took 14 samples from different areas along the coast prior to the oil hitting the shore. However, post oil, this was just the second sample taken. One in Barataria Bay and this one in Grand Isle. I asked why more wasn't being taken and the answer was no funding for it. They weren't even sure if the sample being taken today would be analyzed. So they were going to freeze it until the funding was there. What that tells me is two things. One - BP doesn't want to know what's in the water nor do they want YOU to know what's in the water; and Two - the seafood is definitely NOT safe to eat! They continued to take samples and I went for a walk down the beach to see what else I could find....
Once we were able to get onto the non-public, oiled beach area, Leanne and Frazer (a dedicated volunteer), started to dig into the sand to show how the oil was just beneath the surface. First shovel - sand; second shovel - more sand; third shovel - black sand; fourth shovel - black gold! - gooey yucky oil mixed into the sand and water. Frazer began to dig into the sand with a bucket and revealed the same gooey, oil soaked sand just beneath the surface. This area (furthest east on the island) is not in public view and therefore is not being cleaned up by BP. The sand bar that once was sand, is now a weathered oil tar bar. Leanne stooped down and grabbed a hand full of sand just beneath the surf and came up with nothing but black oily substance mixed with the sand.
Joining me in Grand Isle were Rachel and Craig from the World Animal Awareness Society. They wanted to interview myself and Leanne. After conducting the interviews, we headed out to release about 800 hermit crabs into the bay across from the tower. Drew Wheelan with the American Bird Association also joined us. After releasing the hermit crabs we walked onto the pier on the bay side and I noticed a juvenile laughing gull perched on the hand railing. As I approached, he did not fly like a normal bird would. I was able to get 3 feet from him and he did not fly. He looked weak and was buckling at the ankles every now and then. I took a few photographs of him as I observed his movements. Then, all of a sudden, it started to rain. While we ran for cover, the bird stayed in the rain, perched on the hand railing. As the rain began to get heavier, the bird jumped down onto the walkway and hopped across our path to the left. I thought definitely, something was wrong. After the rain shower, I went get some food from my car (my peanut butter lunch) and threw a few pieces out to him. He picked it up and put it back down. He came to the second piece and did the same...picked it up and put it back down without eating it. Hmmmmm.... I thought about it. Maybe he wasn't feeling good enough to eat. I know when I'm ill, I don't feel like eating either. I watched the bird for a while. He flew off once, but came right back. It was good to see him fly, but something was wrong. So, I decided to call him in anyway.
I called the Grand Isle Wildlife and Fisheries and they gave me the number to the command center in Houma. In the past, when I called the GI W&F, they came right away without having to go through Houma. So, I called Houma and reported the bird's location and behavior. They said they would inform the GI W&F. Soon, I received a call from them...they were looking for me. They were sent to the wrong pier! But, then they found the correct one. They took out their net and cage and set out to catch the gull. But, just before being able to catch him, he flew off again. The agents were very nice and told me how these birds have become so use to people that they are beginning to be unafraid. He also told me a story of a rescue he made a few months ago. He was out on a rescue mission and saw a white butterball sized object floating in the water. As he got closer he realized it was a baby pelican with no feathers (probably just a week old). He must have fallen out the nest somehow. After rescuing it, he really didn't think it would survive. But, against all odds, the pelican did survive. Since he had to have so much human intervention, he was placed at the Audubon Zoo for life. They call him the Super Baby and there is a plaque with the agent's name recognizing his actions. So, a rescue of the juvenile laughing was not to be today. I'll pray for that little one to survive.
Calling it a day, we all said our goodbyes and I headed back home. The sun was setting in the western sky and the beauty caught my eye. Of course, I stopped to watch and photograph it. I felt good about releasing 800 hermit crabs. But, I wondered as the sun set, how many more birds were out there that were too weak and wouldn't make it through the night...My prayers were all I could offer...until tomorrow.
~Darlene Eschete~