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.