Turtle chaos: terrapins delay flights at JFK
By Alexandra Topping, Guardian UK
Air traffic at America’s busiest international airport has been disrupted after turtles wandered on to the runway in search of a sandy beach to lay their eggs.
The turtles began their stately passage across John F Kennedy airport in New York on Wednesday morning, undeterred by the potentially lethal obstacles between their seasonal breeding grounds.
The creatures delayed flights, shut down a runway and forced staff outside to hurry the slow-moving animals to safer ground. Runway 4L was shut down for an hour as Port Authority teams worked to move the animals, the New York Post reported.
Continue reading Guardian story here.
Carol Van Strum included the lyrics to “Terrapin Station” by the Grateful Dead when she sent this story along:
Terrapin station
Inspiration, move me brightly. Light the song with sense and color;
Hold away despair, more than this I will not ask.
Faced with mysteries dark and vast, statements just seem vain at last.
Some rise, some fall, some climb, to get to terrapin.
Counting stars by candlelight, all are dim but one is bright;
The spiral light of Venus, rising first and shining best,
On, from the northwest corner, of a brand new crescent moon,
While crickets and cicadas sing, a rare and different tune,
Terrapin station.
In the shadow of the moon, terrapin station.
And i know we’ll get there soon, terrapin station.
I can’t figure out, terrapin, if it’s the end or beginning, terrapin,
But the train’s put it’s brakes on, terrapin,
And the whistle is screaming, terrapin.
Terrapin station – at the siding
While you were gone, these faces filled with darkness.
The obvious was hidden. with nothing to believe in,
Sullen wings of fortune beat like rain.
You’re back in terrapin for good or ill again, for good or ill again.
Here are the annotated lyrics to Terrapin Suite
http://artsites.ucsc.edu/GDead/agdl/terr.html