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.