Infrequently we see baby turtles, aka
hatchlings, during our morning patrol. If you happen across any, please call Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission on
888-404-FWCC (3922) or *FWC from your cell/mobile phone. Do not rescue the hatchlings on your own, you may well just make them fish food!
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| nest hole from which hatchlings emerge |
More often we just see evidence of a nest hatching overnight, like the hole in the picture to the right.
Sometimes the nest hatches whilst a nest sitter was present before midnight, but not always. This year we have had a number of hatches well after midnight when the beach goers have left.
This leaves us detecting what happened with the hatchlings by the marks in the sand the next morning (a bit like finding the momma loggerheads tracks leading us to a nest laid overnight).
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| disoriented hatchling tracks going everywhere! |
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hatchling & bird tracks
birds eat hatchlings |
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| close-up of hatchling tracks |
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| our local Great Blue Heron greeting us on the beach |
those bird prints remind me of the t-rex prints in jurassic park......Run away!!!!!
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