Turtle Tracker Lessons

First enjoy the natural beauty around you - these pictures came after the summer thunder-storms Florida is famous for!

Then for local weird animal stories try iguana-creates-monster-toilet-clog.

see tracks narrowly skirting hole?

And for sea turtles:
Keep the beach clean, keep it flat.  Here's why - a turtle who narrowly missed falling in a hole on her way to nest - turtles cannot back up and cannot get out of these holes.  So fill up your digging adventures before you leave the beach!



To be a sea turtle tracker on the beach, start 1/2 hour before sunrise (currently 6:00 am) and patrol the beach looking for tracks - below is a sample:

tracks leading to nest N9

following the tracks
we will discover Nest N8
in the dunes

Two false starts - N8
finally she settled on a site in the dunes

Sometimes the mama turtle has a few attempts before making the nest as in this example; maybe she doesn't like the sand or sees something or whatever - here she stopped twice before selecting the dunes for her nest.

Eventually, the tracks will lead you to a nest - there are inbound tracks (on left) and outbound tracks (right)

Nest N8

once the mama turtle selects a location, she makes a body pit and within that pit an egg chamber. When done laying, she tries to camouflage the nest by throwing around lots of sand.

It's a rough life finding the nest, staking it off . . .

Can't beat this as a work location!
See the sunrise reflecting in the clouds?

then locating the eggs, and taking measurements - all to report into the State of Florida so they can track sea turtle statistics.

Locating the top of the egg lay is sometimes easy
and other times takes two - this can ONLY BE DONE
by the permit holder.  DO NOT EVER dig into a nest yourself!!

They will hatch in 50-60 days - circa 100 eggs with bottom cooler eggs being male and the top warmer eggs producing females (hot babes says the permit holder Bruno!).

the egg chamber:  look closely and you will see the top egg
(bottom left of hole in picture)

perfect nest location just at the edge of the dunes
out of harm's way from a storm
well done to this mama

This nest in the dunes is OK, but susceptible to fire ants and
babies getting tangled in root growth

Next blog:  Relocating a clutch of eggs to a new nest.