KA44

 I apologize for the lengthy delay since my last post. I have been lazy and writing stuff for other outlets. I also need help with the need to be original. This is a small island and we have explored most of it over the years. There is no need every post has to be completely original. I could probably cut and paste posts from a few years ago and no one would know the difference.

Cindy went to Poipu Beach yesterday. I went along and found an open picnic table in a shelter to protect me from the sun. We were all in our places with bright shiny faces. Cindy returned to show me the photo of turtles on the beach. This would have to be the place I would recommend for reliably photographing green sea turtles.

I noticed there was a transmitter on one turtle and also a visible identification number. Because I bring my digital devices to the beach and I am in constant contact with the world I wondered if something might be available online about this specific turtle. So, I did a search for KA44. Strangely what was returned was the NOAA site concerning turtles in Hawaii. You have to admit the search capabilities are pretty impressive. How did Google know KA44 was a turtle and I was in Hawaii? There was nothing specific to KA44 on the NOAA page, but finding the page did offer me some new options to explore.

The NOAA page was about citizen science and the annual Hona count (Hona = turtle). There was lots of interesting stuff about turtles and how NOAA gathers information about turtles from observers and relates the count to issues such as climate change. There was a link to submit new data and while I did not actually see the physical turtle and there were hundreds of other folks around taking the same photo I decided I shout fill out the form just to make certain KA44 was represented among the seen.

Here is the one thing that annoyed me about this experience. There was nothing available about "my specific" turtle. If NOAA has the data and there are folks now taking an interest in KA44, it would seem easy enough to do something with the data collected to offer some informative response, a map, last seen, anything about KA44. 

Just a suggestion in case the NOAA people read my blog.