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The Kemp’s Ridley turtle, the rarest sea turtle in the world, found stranded at Inlet Pond County Park by students from Jennifer Murray’s North Fork Audubon outdoor program. (Courtesy photo)
Students in Jennifer Murray’s North Fork Audubon Society outdoor program spent Dec. 15 at Inlet Pond County Park in Greenport, searching for stranded sea turtles.
It was a cold, windy day, with water temperatures in Long Island Sound below 50 degrees the temperature that stuns sea turtles and can lead to death.
A group of ten 7- to 13-year-olds followed the trail through the woods to the pebbly Sound beach. “Our purpose was to look for cold-stunned turtles,” said Ms. Murray. “We had been learning about them and how to look for them and save them.”
Julia Weisenberg drawing a bead on a turkey practice target. (Credit: Courtesy photo)
It started as a friendship among three women who shared a passion for hunting and fishing. In less than a year, despite the interruption of a worldwide pandemic, it has become an organization of 100 members and continues to grow. They call themselves “Long Island Babes and Bucks.”
Shelter Islander Julia Weisenberg, who is a member of the town’s Deer & Tick Committee, met Jacqueline Molina of Smithtown while at an archery site at Smith Point.
The two were in adjoining lanes practicing their skills and were the only two women there that day. They began chatting, became friends and were joined by Marissa Estatio of Smithtown in forming the organization last January just two months before the world closed down to deal with COVID-19.