Archive for Sea turtle
Sea Turtle Nesting Season Begins
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SEA TURTLE nesting season begins today! I normally enjoy seeing beautiful beach art but it can be disastrous for a female turtle in nesting season. On our island summer nights from May through October, female loggerhead turtles (and occasionally green turtles, leatherbacks and Kemps Ridley turtles) lay their eggs on the same beach where they were hatched decades earlier. Obstructions like sand castles, beach chairs, coolers or even deep sand pits can distract or injure the mother turtle or her babies after they hatch. Did you know that lights on the beach after dark can disorient adult and baby turtles? Yes, they go towards the light instead of heading to the water so they might end up in the street or parking lot. So we wont be doing any night shelling without red filters on our flashlights until fall. Not a bad price to pay for keeping baby turtles safe, huh?
Sea Turtle hatchling Photo by Susie Holly
This is information provided by the City Of Sanibel as a reminder of what you can do to protect SEA TURTLES…
By following these simple guidelines, you can do your part to ensure the survival of these magnificent creatures:
- Turn off or shield lights near the beaches. Artificial beach lighting can inhibit female sea turtles from nesting and disorient hatchlings. Most beachfront lighting issues can be addressed by turning off all unnecessary lights, repositioning or modifying light fixtures, or closing blinds and drapes.
- Remove furniture and other items from the beach and dune area, when not in use, between the hours of 9:00 P.M. and 7:00 A.M. Items left on the beach including beach furniture, toys and trash may provide barriers to nesting or result in entanglement and predation of hatchlings.
- Level all sandcastles and fill any holes dug during play. These are fine during the day but may pose additional hazards at night. Please leave the beach as you found it, so that sea turtles and hatchlings are not hindered on their way to nest or to the water.
- Pick up all trash. Sea turtles mistakenly eat debris, especially plastic, which results in death.
- Honor the leash law. All dogs on the beach must be on a leash and not allowed to disturb nesting turtles or hatchlings.
Sea turtle running for the water photo by Susie Holly
First Day Of Turtle Season
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Turtle nesting season begins today! I normally enjoy seeing beautiful beach art but it can be disastrous for a female turtle in nesting season. On our island summer nights from May through October, female loggerhead turtles (and occasionally green turtles, leatherbacks and Kemps Ridley turtles) lay their eggs on the same beach where they were hatched decades earlier. Obstructions like sand castles, beach chairs, coolers or even deep sand pits can distract or injure the mother turtle or her babies after they hatch. Did you know that lights on the beach after dark can disorient adult and baby turtles? Yes, they go towards the light instead of heading to the water so they might end up in the street or parking lot. So we wont be doing any night shelling until fall. Not a bad price to pay for keeping baby turtles safe, huh?
A few years ago, I was a turtle tracker with my friend Lisa. This is a photo of our first turtle track we found that lead to a nest. A few months later that same season, we rescued a baby turtle after he dropped into a deep sand pit on his way to the water.
I love SEA TURTLES so much, I even painted one for my Write From The Beach sea life notecard fun fact pack.
Speaking of hatching eggs….. Remember the day I got the video of the Octopus Eggs Hatching? We’re in the news! This story by Anne Mitchell made it into the Island Sun newspaper this week!
Click on the pictures to enlarge.
and continued…..
Thank you Island Sun and Anne for such a nice article. It really was an amazing day.
Video of Sea Turtles Hatching!
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Sea Turtle Hatchling. photo by Kaybe
Our blog friend Kaybe witnessed SEA TURTLES hatching! And …. she captured this magical event on video at Blind Pass Beach (not Captiva’s Blind Pass) in Englewood, FL!
Sea turtle running for the water! photo by Kaybe
Kaybe was giving tips for her blog post on finding SHARK’S TEETH on video (she’s the go-to girl for learning about finding shark’s teeth!) when she realized these baby sea turtles were coming out of their nest to run to the water and she still had the camera rolling. Isn’t that soooo cool??? Check out her blog (just click) The Essential Beachcomber! The video is at the end of her post.
Sea Turtle Hatchlings!
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Sea Turtle hatchling photo by Susie Holly
My friend Susie who owns MacIntosh Books saw baby SEA TURTLES hatching! She got to share the experience with her best friend Gail who was visiting from Maryland. Lucky girls! You can see that little guy sliding on his back trying to get his balance- awwww, so cute! Thanks for sharing this Sooz!
She sent me a note with the pictures…
“The absolutely coolest thing ever happened on the beach. Gail and I were taking a walk near access # 7 on Wednesday about 6 p.m. (on her last night here) and we came upon a loggerhead nest in the midst of hatching! We saw five little turtles break out of their shells and run to the water–and off they went. I hope you can see from the pictures what’s happening. It was awesome.”
Sea turtle running to the water photo by Susie Holly
Sea Turtle Nesting
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Richard and Anne France (GA), Laura and Paul (MI)
To see a SEA TURTLE coming ashore and laying her eggs is a rare sight. This is what Richard, Anne France, Laura and Paul got to see last week on June 2 at 11 p.m. on the beach at Junonia of Sanibel condos. Richard had his cell phone with him at the time and snapped this photo hoping not to disturb the mamma turtle. Just a reminder- Do not shine flash lights at any sea turtle, especially while nesting. It’s against the law.
Sea turtle laying eggs photo by Richard Amy
She continued to drop her ping pong size eggs and they all marveled at the magic of this creature. Richard was kind enough to share this picture with us- I hope you can make out that this is the back end of her shell.
Laura's Paper Fig Shell
Laura was also lucky enough to find this PAPER FIG on the lighthouse beach on Sanibel. They are very thin so they get cracked very easily. It’s not as easy to find them in perfect shape like this one. It’s beauty.
