MAP FINALE

It's a wrap! Yes, as far as our stretch of beach is concerned, the 2009 sea turtle nesting season is over. Final results (see map) show that we ended up with a total of 51 nests for the season - 48 Loggerhead nests and 3 Leatherback nests. Of those 51 nests, 41 hatched (green tags) and 10 were destroyed by wave or storm action (blue tags). The last one to hatch, by or records, was TC731 - a Loggerhead nest laid on July 31, 2009. It started to "hatch" on September 21. For comparison, we had 83 nests total during the 2008 nesting season, with 23 destroyed by storms and only 50 hatching. As a result, even though we started out the season with 32 fewer nests (51 vs. 83), only 9 fewer nests (41) actually survived to hatch this year than was the number that hatched last year (50).

It was a very interesting season and we'll hope that a high percentage of those hatchlings actually survive to adulthood and come back to visit our beaches in 20-30 years to lay new nests. Here's to the survival of our wonderful sea-faring friends!

GRAND TOTAL

This week's totals for sea turtle nests on our section of beach totals 38 hatched, 10 wave/storm destroyed, and 3 still unhatched nests. Two of those unhatched nests are due to hatch next week, while the last one should hatch in early October - based on our average of 55 days of incubation that was determined with last year's 83 nests.

Today, I found one nest (TCC729) that had several hatchling trails that were visible in the morning when I walked the beach. I made a special attempt to track the trails of those hatchlings who went in directions away from the ocean during their night travels. Several had traveled many yards parallel to the ocean shore, eventually either ending up in the sea oats and grasses on the dune line, or eventually finding their way back to the ocean. One trail of special interest had traveled 280 yards parallel to the ocean before ending up in the ocean! My guesstimate of yards was based on my beach stride on the beach which I calculate to be about 1 yard per stride. Unfortunately, I was unable to locate some of the hatchlings whose tracks ended up in the dune grasses. One track even followed one of the pedestrian trails leading from the road to the beach - another 100 yards, or so, journey. Hopefully, someone found him/her early in the morning and assisted him/her in returning to the ocean. And so it goes as we come to the end of this sea turtle nesting season!

ANOTHER INTERESTING WEBSITE

I came across a website that had some interesting photos and videos of a Loggerhead nest hatching at night. The site is at www.fla-keys.com/turtlecam . It's better footage than my cell phone video of the Leatherback nest hatching with the 64 hatchlings, but they are equally interesting. Several nests hatched along our stretch of beach in the past couple of weeks, but several were also destroyed by wave action and high tides. Our tally to date is 35 hatched, 8 wave/storm destroyed, and 8 remaining. The most recent nest hatched yesterday (9/4/09) and had been projected to hatch on 9/11/09, using last year's average of 55 days for all 83 nests (Loggerhead and Leatherback) documented last year. All remaining nests are identified as Loggerhead nests.

CAUGHT IN THE NESTING ACT

It was reported to me that these photos (sent to me anonymously) were of a Loggerhead mom on our stretch of beach back in July. Even though people are not supposed to "distract" the sea turtles when they come up on the beach to lay their eggs, someone obviously did - and got some great shots to share. Unfortunately, it was also reported by the photographers that the turtle was distracted by their presence and did not stop to lay a nest of eggs in that location on the beach. Told you so!

EGGS OVER! HATCHLINGS IN THE OCEAN

It's been a slow week, but there still is evidence that the sea turtle nests are hatching. This scene was probably the result of a crab that had pulled some of these egg shells up to the surface after the hatchlings had left the nest. The egg "shells" are soft and pliable when moist. Once they have dried out, they feel like crumbled paper. The most recent count is as follows: 33 our of 51 nests have hatched; 18 still unhatched, with possibly 1 that has been destroyed by wave action on the beach. It appears that there was also one undocumented nest on the north side of our beach area that hatched on August 13. I'm anxious for the remaining nests to hatch before any major storms destroy some of the remaining unhatched nests.

AN EVEN DOZEN

Another couple of dozen Loggerhead hatchlings from nest TC2616 made it to the ocean on 8/3/09. They were all in jeopardy because they started out of the nest after the sun was up and getting quite hot. Most hatchlings that are successful in making it to the water, do their traveling during the cool, and safer, night hours.

COMPRESSED VIDEO OF LOGGERHEAD HATCHLINGS

This isn't the caliber of video that I had wanted to provide on this blog, but it will have to do. My video cam takes HD video, but the blog site can't handle more than a couple MB in uploads, so.... you are seeing a very "compressed" version instead - just like my cell phone video a few entries ago. Sorry about that, but it's still interesting to see the Loggerhead hatchlings scurry to the ocean. By the way, did I mention that all three of the "tardy" hatchlings made it to the ocean that morning? Yes, they were successful in the first leg of their journey!

PHOTOS INSTEAD OF VIDEO

You just missed the opportunity to view a video of three Loggerhead hatchlings that were tardy in leaving the nest one morning last week. No, it wasn't your fault. I had even remembered to bring my video cam that day and the video was really quite good, if I do say so myself! Unfortunately, the blog service apparently wasn't able to handle that large a video "file", so I had to resort to several photos that I took that same morning. I'll continue working on getting the video on line for you on this blog, but it may take a few more days - if at all. In the mean time, I hope that you enjoy the photos of two of the three little guys who made it safely to the ocean.

First, my apologies for only having my cell phone camera with me for the video attachment that you see in this blog. Naturally, I left my video cam home and only had the phone camera available for use. The quality of the video leaves much to be desired, but you will get the "picture". The explanation for what you will see in the video was discussed in detail in the previous blog entry, so I will only add to that explanation by indicating that I did see one more "track" from the nest today (7/21/09) - one day after the mass exodus from the nest yesterday when 64 hatchlings were "assisted" in reaching the ocean. The one track today disappeared at water's edge, so it appears that a total of 65 Leatherback hatchlings have safely reached the ocean from that one nest in the past two days. That's more hatchlings than we normally see in a whole year of tracking the sea turtle nests. Hope that you enjoy the photos and video as much as I enjoyed watching the process live!

Bingo! It was a banner day for Leatherback hatchlings yesterday! As I was walking by the last of three Leatherback nests on our stretch of beach, I noticed about 10 hatchling noses sticking up just above the surface of the sand in the nest. I was concerned that these hatchlings were going to try to head for the ocean during the heat of the day (the sun was already up and it was getting hot!). Many times, if that happens, lots of the hatchlings get disoriented by the sun and may travel parallel to the water for many hundreds of yards, get turned over, or just plain tire out and die on the sand. As I was pondering what to do (it's illegal for anyone other than designated environmental scientists to touch or impede the progress of the hatchlings), I saw an EAI scientist on her 4-wheel beach cycle checking out nests to the south of my location. As she came nearer, I flagged her down and explained what I had seen in that particular nest. The EAI employee's name is Carrie and she agreed that these hatchlings weren't going to wait for nightfall before they treked to the water. She called her supervisor (I think that it may have been Nickie, who I introduced in a previous blog entry) to discuss the situation. They decided that it would be best for Carrie to dig up the hatchlings near the top of the nest and place them on the beach near the water so that they could crawl the last 10-20 yards to the water. By the time Carrie collected all of the hatchlings that she could find near the surface, she ended up with 64 Leatherback hatchlings in her bucket! She then released them one at a time on the beach and we watched them all successfully crawl to the ocean and disappear. Since the ocean was relatively calm, we were able to see many small heads popping up, from time to time, on the water's surface. It was probably one of the best "hatchling events" that I have experienced since we started tracking sea turtle nests on our stretch of beach!

It appears that three more sea turtle nests have hatched on our section of beach. One photo shows the hatchlings' tracks as they orient themselves after coming out of the nest and attempt to find the ocean. If they are distracted by lights on the beach from homes or the street, they can be disoriented and end up heading toward those lights, rather than toward the ocean. There were also several "dry runs" observed during the last few days where it appears the female sea turtles came up on the beach, but returned to the ocean without laying a nest. Sometimes that is because people or lights on the beach disturb them during the night and they return to the water without laying a nest.
In the photo of the nest, it appears that one of the EA employees had carefully "fingered" around the nest opening to be sure that all hatchlings near the surface were out and headed toward the ocean. Other hatchlings in that nest will wait until the next night's darkness to pop out of the nest and begin their journey to the sea.

Forty (40) sea turtle nests to date and still coming! You can double-click on the map photo to enlarge it and get a closer view.

In comparison to last year's list of turtle nests on our section of beach, the 39 sea turtle nests recorded to date are about 10 less than we had recorded as of July 10 last year. At the end of last year's tally in November, we had recorded about 83 nests, but about 23 of those had been destroyed by storms and beach erosion. If our guesstimate of 55 days for the average Loggerhead nest to hatch is on target again this year, we should have several Loggerhead nests ready to hatch next week. Check out the list to find those that are due to hatch in mid-July. You can enlarge the list by double clicking on it, I believe. Get ready for some photos!

Three hatched. Thirty-Five remaining. A couple of new nests since the last entry. No photos of hatchlings this year, but we hope to remedy that during this month. My Turtle Dad walking buddy is on vacation up north this month, so I will try to keep the list and blog up to date with some photos as the opportunities become available.

OK, if you look closely, you can see some tiny hatchling tracks from two of the three Leatherback nests that we have been watching on our section of beach. These two nests apparently hatched on or about Saturday of this last weekend. That means that the hatchlings probably began coming out after 84 days of incubation for the TDC328 nest that was laid on or about 3/28/09, and about 77 days for the nest laid on 4/4/09 (TDC404). My "Turtle Dad" colleague and his grandson checked on the nests during an early Saturday morning walk on the beach and said that they found a couple of hatchlings that had either gotten stuck in seaweed on the beach, or had gotten turned over and not able to make any progress toward the ocean. Both were "saved" and were able to reach the water on their own after being given a "helping hand" to restart their trek to the sea. The "hatching season" has begun for our stretch of beach!

Your photos for the week can be found on the front page of the Sunday (6/21/09) Father's Day edition of the "St. Lucie News Tribune". It shows two of the EA Inc. researchers, scientist Ernesto Calix and senior scientist/sea turtle biologist Niki Desjardin, counting the hatched and unhatched leatherback sea turtle eggs from a recent leatherback nest hatch. It was probably one of the Leatherback nests further down the beach from "our" section of the beach, but the three Leatherback nests within our section should be about ready to hatch, as well. The one scientist, "Niki", that is shown in the photo in the newspaper is the same Niki (with the correct spelling of her name this time, however) that we spoke to and logged in our blog a while back. These two scientists are checking some of these nests for their research. There is also some very detailed sea turtle nest information and statistics in the remainder of the article (page A4) that covers 5 counties along the east coast (Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River, Brevard & Palm Beach). Those 5 counties account for about 58,703 sea turtle nests (about 82%) of the 71,412 sea turtle nests found on all beaches in the state of Florida to date. The statistics also reflect an earlier "guesstimate" of ours in an earlier blog where we guessed that the vast majority of nests that we would find on our stretch of beach would be Loggerheads. The article reported that the number of Loggerhead nests found in the 5 county area ( 49,553) represent about 81% of all of the nests found to date in Florida (61,457). In a similar vein, Green turtle nests for the 5 county area number 8458, or almost 92% of the 9,228 green turtle nest total for the state. The statistics for the Leatherbacks show that our 5 county area had 692 (95%) of the state total of 727. Obviously, these statistics may change during the course of the turtle nest laying season (March - October), but our guess would be that the current statistics will accurately reflect the final percentages. Our own humble statistics show 24 total nests for our section of the beach, including 21 Loggerhead nests (88%), 3 Leatherback nests (12%) and no Green nests (0%). Not exactly in line with the 5 county area stats, but it's a start! Our thanks to the "St. Lucie News Tribune" for such an excellent and detailed article about sea turtle nests on our beaches. It was very informative an perfect timing for our Turtle Dads Father's Day celebration!

Twenty-four and counting! As you can see from the chart and Google Map photo, our little stretch of beach is starting to gain new sea turtle nests almost everyday. We're still anxiously awaiting the hatching of the two Leatherback nests that should be hatching any day now. We initially used last year's average number of days for all nests, but were informed by one of the EAI employees recently that the Leatherback nests may take up to 70 days, as opposed to an average of 45-60 days for the Loggerhead nests. So much for averages, but the 55 day average should hold true for most of the Loggerhead nests. It won't be long now!

As mentioned in a previous blog entry, the beach renourishment in our area (a $ 2 million project) is finished. The renourishment this year only covered a couple of hundred yards south of the jetty, but did bring the "beach" back almost out to the 2007 renourishment levels. The chart shows the relative lattitude of the beach (X axis) as it corresponds to the dates listed on the Y axis. The photo shows the renourished beach from the perspective of the jetty boardwalk looking out to the "spur jetty". This project was not as extensive as the renourishment project in 2007, but every little bit helps when it comes to saving the beach line.

Here's the revised sea turtle nest chart and map of the nest locations. We had a few additions during the weekend.

Twelve sea turtle nests to date! The map chart included with the blog entry today shows the location of each of those nests as we recorded them. The specific coordinates and dates laid can be found on the other chart found with this entry.

The party's over - at least for now! The beach renourishment project that was underway on our stretch of beach south of the jetty has now been completed. That was quick! However, unlike other years when they have done a "full" beach renourishment that covered approximately one mile south of the jetty (seen in the photo), they only did a few hundred yards south of the jetty this year. That was the most critical area to renourish, however, since the extent of the erosion was almost up to the jetty park boardwalk and had started to destroy the sea grass that was planted and growing near that boardwalk. The renourishment crew did level out the beach for about 1 mile south from the jetty, so it should make it easier for any sea turtles to climb up on the beach now and lay their eggs.

The photos show the area where an attached chart references coordinates that were taken "before" and "after" the current renourishment. It's only a few "degrees" of longitude on the chart, but it makes a world of difference in the real world!

Good news! We discovered that two new nests had been laid in the interim since our last visit to this stretch of beach. Both were Loggerhead nests ("CC"). A highlight of the beachwalk was that we got to meet Nicki (not sure of the spelling), an employee of the EAI group that we had previously indicated was the company that was hired to keep official track of all of the turtle nests on a number of beaches in our county. She came over on her 4-wheel beach vehicle to where we were recording the points of latitude and longitude of one of the new nests and started a conversation with us. I think that she was just making sure that we were not disturbing the nest in any way and wanted to know what we were doing. We explained that we never disturbed the nests, but were just recording the coordinates for our record sheet/chart - as we had done for the last couple of years. We then asked her about the two Leatherback nests that were near our location and appeared to be in danger of being washed away by the waves. Nicki indicated that they normally do not "transplant" the eggs of endangered nests, letting them fend for themselves with the weather. She said that she had already seen several Leatherback nests be washed away further south on the beach (beyond the stretch of beach that we cover). So, it appears that we may see the two nests in question be washed away in the near future if we have any strong storms and waves in the next couple of weeks. When we told her that we were projecting that the nests were due to hatch in the next week (refer to our chart in previous blog entries), she said that the 55 day average that we had from last year's chart would probably not apply to the Leatherback nests, since they may take anywhere up to 70 days to hatch. So much for our "average # of days incubation" from last year - but it does make sense, since the Leatherbacks are a much larger turtle with larger eggs to incubate. Hope that they hurry this year!

A big weekend (5/15 - 5 17) provided 5 new nests - our first four Loggerhead nests and 1 new Leatherback! The chart now contains a total of seven nests - 3 Leatherback and 4 Loggerhead. Also, the chart that you see here today will change again in future views - not only in the quantity of nests that it contains, but in the organization of the list. In the future, the chart will list the nests in order from the southern most point on our stretch of beach to the northern most point (Jetty), to make it easier for us as we re-check the nests on an almost daily basis. This is especially helpful to us once the nests start hatching and all evidence of the nest is removed from the beach. With the nests organized by longitide from south to north, we can then check them in sequence as we travel on the beach from south to north on our daily beach-walks.

The photo shows the type of chart that we are using again this turtle nesting season. It includes the following data: type of sea turtle nest (2nd & 3rd characters in column one), date nest was laid (4th, 5th & 6th characters in column one), latitude, longitude, date hatched or projected date to hatch and the number of days that the eggs incubated. Additionally, there are several "legends" that provide codes for the type of nest identified, and several beach points (latitude and longitude) to identify beach erosion before and after several beach renourishment efforts.

The beach renourishment project has officially begun on our beach (May 7. 2009)! The photos show some of barges and tugs that will be used to complete the process. A large ship (not shown) is used to go out a mile or two from shore to retrieve (suck up) the sand from offshore "sandbars" and store it in the holds of the ship. Then, this mixture of sand and water ("slurry") will be brought back to where the barges are anchored in the jetty and the slurry will be pumped through large 3' diameter pipes from the ship to the shoreline. The slurry can be pumped over a mile down our stretch of south beach.

It will probably be necessary for the EAI employees to now move some of the current nests that are in the way of this project, and watch out for any new nests that may be laid during the project. Currently, there are only the two nests on our stretch of beach (Leatherback nests) that may need to be moved if the renourishment process gets too close to them before they hatch in late May (if our guesstimate is accurate).

Here's a recent photo of the scarp that has been created on our beach (about 3/4 of a mile from the jetty) by northeast winds and waves during the winter. This deep of a scarp will make it difficult for sea turtles to get far enough up on the beach to nest and lay their eggs. Beach renourishment is needed and is on the way!

No new nests to report in our stretch of beach, so I cheated this morning and walked another 150 yards south to see the three nests that were there on the beach. Two of them were labeled as "DC", which indicates that these were Leatherback nests. It appears that they were laid in March (3/15 & 3/19, I believe). However, there was a surprise with the third nest. It is a Loggerhead nest and is the first one that I have seen this year (even though it is "outside" of our official stretch of beach!). It appears to have been laid on May 1, so it should hatch sometime mid-to end of June. It should have a good chance, since it is way up near the sea oats and the dune line, as you can see in the one photo. Also of interest was an article in the local newspaper this morning ("St. Lucie News Tribune", May 5, 2009) with a headline indicating that "sea turtles (are)drowning at (an)alarming rate". The article, written by Carl Safina, reported that many large sea turtles are caught by fishermen's long fishing lines and are drowned before they can be rescued by the commercial fishermen. His suggestion to resolve this problem is to have officials more closely monitor commercial fishermen (and more effectively enforce the laws already existing) so as to reduce the number of sea turtles that are killed this way each year.

No New Nests!

No new nests to report today! Guess I'll have to stick to sunrises until we get some more "action"!

Renourishment Update

No new turtle nests to report today, but one of our condo residents talked to one of the EAI employees and she indicated that they would probably need to move some of the turtle nests to keep them safe during the beach renourishment that appears to be starting soon. So far, the only signs that the beach renourishment is about to begin is the pile of pipes and equipment near the jetty. So.... it appears that the beach renourishment will begin soon - about a month late, but at least we may see them saving some of our stretch of beach this year, while the EAI is protecting the nests that have already been laid to date.

No new nests in our stretch of beach to report today, but.... the only two Leatherback nests have now come into some danger of being washed out because of their close proximity to the high tide level. The nest shown on top is in the most danger, since you can see that the high tide water and waves have already washed over the nest (see smooth sand leading up to top of photo). The 2nd nest is right on the edge of the high tide level (my footprints are on the incline leading down to the water). We'll keep a close watch on these two nests. Sometimes, the EAI workers will actually move endangered nests further inland on the beach from the water to preserve the nests until hatching time. Based on our guesstimates (average # of days in incubation) from last years hatchings, we might expect the 2nd nest to hatch (if undisturbed by the water) on or about 5/29/09. The nest in the top photo should hatch on or about 5/22/09, if the waves don't get to it before then.

Sea Turtle Drawings For Identification

This diagram shows the four types of sea turtles that we may find laying nests on our beaches. The source is the U.S. Governmnet Printing Office 1999-557-736. I found this in the publication "Turtle Tracks", published by the University of Florida, IFAS Extension. They probably have many other publications that would be of interest. Their phone number is 772-462-1660. As you may know if you have followed this blog (previous entries), we only have located two Leatherback nests so far this season, as identified by the environmental group (EAI) that is keeping track of all nests. I'm guessing that the other varieties of sea turtles in the drawing may lay their nests later on in the season. Keep this drawing handy for future reference!

Loggerhead Photo and Green Turtle Video

We've got another YouTube video for you - this time of a green turtle near the Hawaiian island called the Big Island (Hawaii). Click on the URL to see the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glZkfACM0Dg

These "green turtles" must be a near relative of the Green turtles that we find nesting on our beaches from time to time. The photo on this page, however, is believed to be of a Loggerhead.

Other Photo Ops!

The photo today shows two hatchlings from one of last year's nests. While we are waiting for some of our sea turtle nests to hatch and have our own "photo opportunities", you might enjoy watching some of the YouTube videos about sea turtles and hatchlings that I have found online. One showing a large Leatherback - just like the ones that laid their eggs in the nests that we have recorded so far, gives you a view of the size of the Leatherbacks (click on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-HK_Kqqxv0 ), and another shows hatchlings that make the sand look as though it is beginning to "boil up" before they actually hatch at night ( click on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNqKi2eUUi0 ).

Enjoy the videos - there are many more similar videos about sea turtles on YouTube.

2ND LEATHERBACK NEST OF 2009

Now we have two Leatherback sea turtle nests on our stretch of beach! As you can see from the Google map, the second nest was laid on April 4 just to the north of the first nest that we recorded. If you enlarge (or zoom in on) the photo map, you will see that the second nest may be in danger of being eroded by winds and waves. That's always a problem when we have strong winds and waves out of the northeast. "Northeasters" (strong storms with winds & waves out of the northeast) are common during the winter months here on our beaches and contributed to the destruction of about 26 nests on our beaches during the 2008 season.

Here's a map of our beach area that now has it's first turtle nest of the season (see previous entry). It is listed as "TDC328" which denotes that it is a "Turtle" nest (T), laid by a Leatherback turtle (DC) on March 28 (3/28). This designation is our own method of recording each nest on the GPS unit, but we use the same designation for the type of turtle (and date) as do the employees of the Environmental Associates, Inc. (EAI) when they "stake out" each of the new nests. Last year we recorded 83 nests laid on our stretch of beach. They averaged 55 days in incubation. We'll chart each nest's progress this year, as well, and compare our data at the end of the season.

Here is another photo from a poster found in the Florida Oceanographic Society in Stuart, FL. It describes the efforts that they, and others, take to educate the public about how to protect the local sea turtle nests during the season. There are laws that enforce these lighting rules along the beach, but the hatchlings sometimes get confused by a full moon shining out of the west and travel in that direction, rather than to the ocean to the east of them.

The chart shown is a photo (sorry about the glare!) of a poster at the Florida Oceanographic Society facility on A1A in Stuart, FL. As you can see, the "type" of turtle is identified with 2 letters ("CC") - in this case it would be a Loggerhead. Then the date the nest was laid (May 20). Next is the survey zone designation as per EAI and, finally, the identified stake's location relative to the nest (North). By the way, EAI stands for Ecological Associates, Inc., P.O. Box 405, Jensen Beach, FL 34958. They had educational materials concerning sea turtles that they shared last year. Their phone number is 772-334-3729. They are the organization that sends out employees each early morning to check the beaches for new nests. When they find new nests, they will stake them out (see photo) and post the pertinent data (see other photo) on one of the stakes to "rope off" the nest. They are also the only ones who can legally touch the nests, hatchlings, or other sea turtles that visit our beaches.

AND WE'RE OFF - for another turtle nesting season! We located the first nest of the season (at least on our part of the beach) this morning. The EAI employees had apparently located it and marked it with stakes and tape on March 28. The "DC" designation on the stake suggests that they believe the turtle to be a Leatherback. It's time to start taking my camera and handheld GPS unit out with me each morning for a few months (probably until September). We'll keep you posted!

The EAI employee took the hatchlings that she had saved from the old nest (remember the hatchlings in the yellow pail from the previous entry?) and placed them on the beach to allow them to find the water and travel to it on their own. When we asked her why not just place them in the water to begin with, she indicated that some scientists believe that the time it takes for them to crawl on the beach to the water may actually "orient" them (set their "internal GPS system) to this beach. Those that survive many years in the ocean throughout the world can then find their way back to the same beaches where they hatched and the females can then start the process all over again! Quite a GPS system. Quite an interesting ability/instinct. It's similar to migrating birds that can find their way great distances between their nesting grounds in the north and their "snowbird" destinations in the south during the winter.

One day last summer, a family group gathered around an "overdue" nest that an EAI employee was digging up so as to salvage any "late arrival" hatchlings. These hatchlings (and eggs) were still in the bottom of the nest after the majority of hatchlings had already hatched and left the nest. The nest was probably also in danger of being eroded by future storm waves. The "hatched" eggs can be seen on the left of the photo, and the live hatchlings that were saved were in the yellow pail. When finished, the EAI employee would place the hatchlings on the shore and allow them to crawl on the beach into the ocean.

Layered View of Nest

No - it's not just another one of our "out-of-focus" photos (well, maybe somewhat!) that you see here, but a vertical view of the scarp created by a bad "noreaster" storm (Fay) on, or about, 8/19/08 last summer. That storm destroyed 23 of the 83 turtle nests that we were tracking. The photo shows the nest approximately 15" below the surface (top of photo) with a piece of one egg shell showing in the lower left of the nest remains. These nests were destroyed because they were laid to close to the water and severe erosion during the storm(s) ended up destroying them.