Walk #17

Today was our 17th and final turtle walk of the season. We only have 1 nest left in our zone that is due and should be hatched and dug by next week. I believe there are 10 nests left in the area from the eastern tip of Sanibel to the Tarpon Bay Beach. From there to the West end of Sanibel is monitored by SCCF, using their beach vehicle. There are nests still to hatch in that area. I will put the statistics for the 2009 turtle season on my Turtle Talk blog, as soon as it's available.

It was about 75 degrees this morning when we did our walk but it got up to 93 later in the day. We had afternoon thunder storms that brough us a little more than a half inch of rain. There is a 40 to 50 percent chance of rain each day for the rest of the week.

There was a pink glow in the east this morning as we walked out to the beach.

An osprey was standing watch at the top of a tree.

There was hardly anyone on the beach for a while.

Gradually people began coming out onto the beach to walk under the pink cotton candy clouds, waiting for the sunrise.

It was so quiet and peaceful out, even the birds seemed relaxed and in no hurry to fly away.

It took a while to see the sun, because it had to climb up from behind clouds.

The only shells were small ones.

This bird seemed to be taking a rest, and just sat there watching me as I took it's picture.



Just before leaving the beach, there was an area at the high tide line, where some sea weed was lying beside a little pool of water that had been left. I spied a Bubble shell and as I bent over to pick it up, I saw a couple more, then a few more. After picking them up, I moved a little more of the sea weed and saw two Top shells, some Apple Murex, a Nutmeg, Augers, Drills, a couple of Whelks, Shark's Eyes and Top shells. Then I saw four, tiny white Wentletraps. I got distracted for a moment and looked away. When I looked back, I could only find two of them. I looked and looked and never could spot the other two again. But, I was content with my handful of shells. :-)

I'm pleased to say that there was hardly any trash on the beach this morning, and no new sand holes. I will post the statistics for the 2009 nesting season as soon as it's available.

Best viewed in HD on YouTube by clicking on the screen below.

Will Sea Turtles Avoid Hurricane Bill

I find the sea turtle, satellite tracking very interesting. It is amazing how many miles the turtles travel. I have posted before about Tour de Turtles, which was started by the Caribbean Conservation Corp., an environmental group, with help from partners and sponsors. A 10 turtle marathon is done by releasing sea turtles that have satellite tracking devices placed on them and monitoring them to determine which turtle travels 1,628 miles first. The race is to study sea turtle migration and raise awareness about turtle conservation.

If you watched the Tour de Turtles, last year, you know that a Loggerhead, Bree Varda was one of the turtles in that marathon. Bree Varda was released last month from Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge. She has been closely monitored since that time.

It is not expected that storms would be harmful to sea turtles, but research is being done to see what impact they might have on the turtles' migrations and behavior.

With Hurricane Bill moving north-northwest with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph, on Thursday, Bree Varda, was paddling due south at a maximum sustained speed fast enough to put her in third place in the 10 turtle marathon. She swam well west of Hurricane Bill on Thursday. She had traveled about 314 miles in 19 days and was heading south toward Grand Bahama. It seems as though she is moving as fast as she can, to stay away from Bill. There are 2 Leatherbacks leading the marathon and those two seem to be heading toward the hurricane. I am curious to see how this plays out.

Help For A Diamondback Terrapin

The Diamondback Terrapin is a turtle that I knew very little about. I was reading an article about the National Marine Life Center, which is getting the addition of a new hospital. This will enable them to assist more animals and save more lives. In reading that, I read about Patty, a Diamondback Terrapin turtle, which is a species on the endangered list as threatened in Massachusetts and is considered a "species of concern" in Georgia, Delaware, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Virginia, but it holds no federal status. Patty isn't a saltwater turtle, but Diamondback Terrapins do live in brackish water, which has more salinity than fresh water, but not as much as seawater. Patty was found barely alive and was taken to the National Marine Life Center, where she is being treated and will hopefully, soon return to the wild.

Good News and Bad News About Leatherback Sea Turtles

More than 40 little Leatherback Sea Turtles were found still in a nest on South Ponte, Vedra Beach, Florida this morning. Leatherback nests may be on the increase. There is a heart warming article and a cute video about these little guys.


The bad news was also about a Leatherback turtle. A large 600 lb female was discovered wash­ed up on a Wainscott, Long Island beach.


On the Treasure Coast of Florida, Hurricane Bill could be bad news for sea turtles. This weekend, even if the hurricane is over 700 miles off shore, it could still send some, possibly, 8 foot waves that could cause a lot of erosion. Leatherbacks, loggerheads and green turtles , all have active nests on the beach. The heavy surf could wash out nests and also make it difficult for turtles that will come in to nest later.

Sea Turtle Tracking

I was just reading Two Turtle Trackers Blog today, which reminded me of something I posted a while back. A Loggerhead turtle had returned to Keewaydin Island for its 21st summer of nesting. Another came back for its 15th summer. Transmitters were put on them for tracking. I failed to follow through, and was happy for the reminder.

The Conservancy of Southwest Florida put transmitters on four Loggerhead turtles, all of which had nested on Keewaydin Island this summer. The transmitters are for collecting information as to where the turtles go when nesting season is over and if they return to the same places to nest. You can log on to follow their adventures. If you have never done this.......be sure to check it out. It's amazing!

Full story about this on News-Press.

By logging in at Seaturtle.org you can follow these and other turtles as they go on with their daily lives.