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.

Yes - that's why some of the photos on this blog have not had as much clarity as we would have desired (see the small camera being used). We are working to improve our photography skills. You can also see the handheld GPS unit used to exactly locate the nests to help keep track of specific nests as they are laid and as they hatch. And yes, again, there really is a little hatchling in the photo who is on his/her way to the ocean.

Identified Turtle Nests

The top photo shows how the EAI (environmental group hired to monitor sea turtle nests in our county) "ropes off" the nest and identifies the nest with the date located, the type of sea turtle that they believe has laid the eggs, and initials of the person who "posted" the nest.

The bottom photo shows how the EAI protects the nests that are ready to "hatch" from distracting lights from the road and buildings near the shore. Such lights disorient the new hatchlings and can "steer" them in the wrong direction - toward the buildings and road.

Here's a big hint as to where "our beach" is! This is the stretch of Atlantic beach where we recorded 83 turtle nest last summer. We're still waiting to find the first official sea turtle nest of the season.

Hatchlings Hatching!

This was one of last year's hatchlings hatching! It's rare that we see this happening, since most of the hatchlings come out in the dark of night and we only find their tracks to the ocean in the morning light.

Here's one of last summer's telltale sea turtle tracks leading to, and from, the nest which is seen in the foreground. Usually, within a day, the nests are "staked out" by the environmental group that is hired each year to record and protect each nest. The nests are protected by stakes and bright plastic warning ribbon surrounding the nest. It's against the law to disturb these nests, just as it is against the law to disturb a sea turtle that is in the process of going to and from the nest, or while laying eggs. During our beach walk the other day, one of the environmental group employees, just finishing up for the night, told us that she had finished a night of checking out the entire beach in our area on the hour, each hour. They have been patrolling the beach each hour of the night since the beginning of March (beginning of the turtle nesting season on our beaches) because, she indicated, in mid-March a beach renourishment project will get under way on our beach area. Because of that project, they need to check the beach more frequently in case there is a need to relocate any new nests that might be destroyed during the beach renourishment.

Here's an "action video" for you of one of our favorite distance runs! This hatchling was making a "bee line" for the ocean one morning last summer. We have tracked some "runs" by a few hatchlings that get disoriented, however, which we calculate to be several hundred yards - parallel to the ocean shore!

This hatchling (probably a Loggerhead?) was headed for the ocean last fall. We hope to have some more (and better photos) for posting during this season.

Turtle Dads

To occupy our time while walking the Atlantic beach near us, my friend (Phil) and I started keeping track of the various sea turtle nests that appear on our beach during the turtle nesting season (usually from about April - September on our beach). We neither disturb the nesting female turtles, since most of them are finished laying their eggs by daylight, nor do we obstruct any new hatchlings from reaching the ocean once the nest hatches. However, we do have lots of interesting times plotting the location of the nests with our handheld GPS and keeping an Excel listing of the lattitude, longitude, date nest was laid, date the nest hatched (or was destroyed by storms), the number of days that the eggs had incubated and the type of turtle (Leatherback, Kemp's Ridley, Green, Loggerhead) that laid the eggs. We cheat and use the official designations that are written on the stakes surrounding the nests by the environmental group that is hired each year to officially track and mark the nests for that last bit of data. In any case, we enjoyed tracking 83 nests on our section of beach last year and determined that the average incubation period was 55 days. The generally accepted average for egg incubation is 45 - 60 days. This blog will share our sea turtle nest tracking efforts this year.