__________________________B-1____B-2
1, Escaped from nest__________98____87
2. Alive in nest & released______15____7
3. Hatched but dead in nest______2____2
A. Hatched eggs____________115____103
4. Dead pipped eggs___________5____5
5. Live pipped eggs released_____0____7
B. Total Pipped eggs___________5____0
6. Infertile____________________4____0
7. Dead embryos______________1____0
8. Depredated________________0____0
C. Total unhatched____________10____0
D. Total eggs_______________125____110
E. Estimated to water_________113____96
F. Survival %___________113/125___96/110
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
"Share The Beach" Teams
There are 7 "Share The Beach" teams along the Alabama coast. To see them go here
http://www.alabamaseaturtles.com/blog/.
Moving west to east the first team *was* "Ft. Morgan". Fort Morgan has a longer stretch of beach that we, and is currently at 36 nests! WOW! The nest numbers are preceded by an "A".
Laguna Key nests are preceded by a "B". We have 11 nests to date 07/25/2011.
And so on, EXCEPT Dauphin Island signed on late and are out of alphabetical order, their nests are preceded by "J".
http://www.alabamaseaturtles.com/blog/.
Moving west to east the first team *was* "Ft. Morgan". Fort Morgan has a longer stretch of beach that we, and is currently at 36 nests! WOW! The nest numbers are preceded by an "A".
Laguna Key nests are preceded by a "B". We have 11 nests to date 07/25/2011.
And so on, EXCEPT Dauphin Island signed on late and are out of alphabetical order, their nests are preceded by "J".
Thursday, June 30, 2011
STSOS
Think about that.
It stands for *Sea Turtles in Distress*. Although sea turtles are only... "threatened" or "Endangered"
...This is SERIOUS! It is a terrible thing to witness the losses.
Many of the losses are caused by man, by humankind, by accident or on purpose.
Some of the ways we lose turtles are;
.boating accidents
.fishing
.shrimping
.garbage that they swallow, for instance plastic bags that when floating look like jellyfish.
.bright lights drawing babies away from the beach
Can you name more?
How can we help?
It stands for *Sea Turtles in Distress*. Although sea turtles are only... "threatened" or "Endangered"
...This is SERIOUS! It is a terrible thing to witness the losses.
Many of the losses are caused by man, by humankind, by accident or on purpose.
Some of the ways we lose turtles are;
.boating accidents
.fishing
.shrimping
.garbage that they swallow, for instance plastic bags that when floating look like jellyfish.
.bright lights drawing babies away from the beach
Can you name more?
How can we help?
Costa Rica Sea Turtle Farm
You might call it a farm, or a reserve or preserve. This is the fenced in area where hundreds of sea turtle "clutches" have been relocated (buried like Mama Turtle did) for their protection. In each row there are many nests which are circled with mesh. Once a nest begins to "boil" the mesh is removed and a wooden frame is set around the nest. All of the hatching baby sea turtles will now make it to the sea. This is a GOOD thing!
Olive Ridley Hatchlings in Costa Rica
While vacationing in Costa Rica we were lucky to meet some researchers from the U.S. who invited us to help release hundreds of "Olive Ridley" sea turtles. In this area poachers still capture nesting turtles and take all the eggs to eat or sell so these young people would patrol at night and immediately move the nests. On this afternoon several nests were hatching in an enclosed area where all the nests were moved for safe keeping. As each nest hatched the researchers put the hatchlings in buckets to be carried closer to the sea. There was no problem releasing the hatchlings in daylight for there were no seagulls or other predators on land.
Leatherback Sea Turtle Tracks
Mike and Katie Wiley from Texas discovered these amazing tracks on a remote beach on Anagada in the British Virgin Islands. They sent us to verify that they were actually made by a sea turtle. The tracks were made by a HUGE Leatherback Sea Turtle. Flipper tip to flipper tip measured 6 feet wide! I dream of someday seeing a turtle this large!
Meet Howard
Howard is our favorite "trench" digger. He has dug more trenches for the sea turtle hatchlings than all the rest of us put together. Howard has been on Laguna Key Team for 9 great years.
Locating Sea Turtle Eggs
WE dig very gently with the sides of our hands or with the pads of our fingers to locate the eggs. Our sand is soft and perfect for hand digging.
Looking for eggs to confirm the nest.
Sometimes...not too often Mama Turtle hides her eggs so well that we have to dig a HUGE pit to find them. It's like digging for Pirate Treasure, it's FUN! Here is a big secret..even grown-ups like to play in the sand.
Loggerhead Sea Turtle Nest
Once we come across the sea turtle tracks we simply follow them. In this photo notice the circular area at the base of the photo. See how Mama Sea Turtle has spread sand about to disguise where she had buried her eggs. This gets us very excited! Under this fluffy sand there may be eggs! Mama Sea Turtle is very careful after laying her "clutch" of eggs. She uses her hind flippers like hands to mold and push and pat down the sand over the eggs. Sometimes this takes a very long time until she is satisfied. Then Mama Sea Turtle whips her flippers about creating a literal sand storm, which even covers herself. Finally finished she lumbers towards the sea, but not always in a bee-line, sometimes when she is so tired she gets a little mixed up and takes an exhausting stroll to the east or west. But she never returns to this nest.
First Things First
At the break of dawn team members are already starting their beach patrols. THIS is what we are searching for! Turtle Tracks! Here they are! These are small tracks measuring only 29 inches from flipper tip to flipper tip. The flipper prints are "alternating" or staggered. If they were "even" we could guess they were the tracks of a Green Sea Turtle, but these tracks belong to a Loggerhead Sea Turtle.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Rick
This is Rick's 5th year with Alabama's Laguna Key "Share the Beach" team, and we have spent many nights together waiting for hatchings.
Meet our Team
This is ME 2 years ago on a boat in the Christmas Boat Parade.
I live here. I am a turtle volunteer. I am the leader of a "Share the Beach" team. Laguna Key Team. Follow us on alabamseaturtles.com Our area is from Calloway Pass On Gulf Shores West Beach to the end of thew road at The Refuge Boundry. It is less than 4 mile stretch of Alabama's Sugar Sand Beach
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Introduction by Sherry/ A Bit of History
Alabama has less than 50 miles of coastline. Our beaches are pristine sugar white sands compiled of ancient alluvial sands, limestone and sandstone from the Appalachians 10,000 to 1.6 million years ago. Crushed shell from the great Gulf of Mexico only adds to the beautiful texture of our sands. Our sand barks. Sea turtles have been nesting here since the forming of beach (I imagine). Sea Turtles have kept that prehistoric look despite adaptations. And, they are smart. I KNOW this. (Discussion later.)
People who live on this tiny island by Gulf Shores Alabama have been trying to help sea turtles since the 60's. Except sometimes one needed a few eggs for cake. In the 80's there was a small explosion of cottages built along this shore mostly for retirees and second homes after a hurricane annihilated the area. (The erroneous thought here on our coast is that there is ONE major hurricane every 100 years. I myself bought into this idea in 1992 as told me by my real estate salesman, BLESS his heart.) More local people became concerned as neighborhoods grew. Our homes were filling in the dark nesting areas and our bright lights would lead the hatchlings in the wrong direction where they would perish on the road or under houses across the street. Neighbors got together. People asked for help from different entities. I know I did. I called everybody office and agency I could think of. While in those few years in the 90's there was no help from any agencies,so we helped the turtles as best we could. Yes, even to digging up nests and holding eggs in sand in a bucket in the attic while storms raged and the beach flooded, then quickly placing eggs back in the sand to hatch days later. I heard once, years ago that eggs were placed in a cooler and evacuated miles away and then returned after the hurricane, again with great survival rates. Old days. Cant do that now. Now we are governed much more strictly. For the group that was original to our area, we find protocol is no longer about strictly "SAVING THE TURTLES". To quote an early protocol "Our primary purpose is to protect the turtles". At the start up of this season 2011, during our meeting with USFWS (which BTW gratefully "permit" us to handle eggs and work these nests as volunteers) it was stated "this is NOT about saving turtles, THIS is about collecting data" But I have hopes it will get back to our original mission after everyone gets what they feel they need from BP due to the Horizon Deep Water Oil Disaster.(discussion later)
In the meantime, man continues to encroach on the nesting territory. Now in 2011 there are condos and many rentals 3 stories tall all brightly lit saying RENT ME! RENT ME! And the masses come.
People laugh and say, "what did THEY do before YOU came along to "help". The fact is that everywhere man builds he ousts some creature from it's natural habitat. Sea Turtles don't require much from us. Their needs are simple, a quiet dark beach on which to dig their nests.
Sea Turtles tend to return to the place of their birth when it is time to nest. I would guess within 50 miles, given the same kind of sand, which almost all of the Northern Gulf of Mexico has.
There are several theories on HOW they do this. Is it in their genes?, is there some magnetic homing device in their brains? Is it the smell and taste of the particular sand upon which they "bonded" on their trek to the sea? The sudden swell in scientific interest (in part due to the Horizon Incident) may soon reveal the answers to many questions. At this time opinions vary, even on lifespan. Do they live 50 years? I would think that the actual lifespan is more like 150 years, but I am no scientist. Because of this, the varying theories...we simply use "common sensitivity" (coined by me).
I refer only to mamas after this paragraph because the males never return to land. Here, the huge loggerhead males bask offshore feed on the wealth and variety of food in the Gulf while waiting to mate with the females in the sea. They are easy to spy on any sunny calm day and don't seem afraid when you float up beside them. Huge? Yes 4, 5 feet across the mid carapace, possibly 300 to 400 lbs. AWESOME!
Once the mama's eggs are fertilized and time passes and the mamas feel ripe they come onshore, deposit their eggs and return to the sea to make a new batch. The hatchlings are left on their own. In a more natural world, as in decades past,the babies would climb from the nest, see the brightest line on the horizon and scoot straight to the water. Crabs and herons, perhaps a fox might have picked off some of the hundred (give or take) hatchlings but the majority would have made (relatively) safe water. Loggerheads generally hatch in the dark. In our area this is good because we have thousands of seagulls all looking for a little bite to eat. Seagulls head west to their slumber island at dusk.
This is where a little common sense came in years back. Hold the wayward hatchlings until dark, otherwise seagulls would snatch them up like potato chips. Common sense. Try to keep them from tiring while keeping them moist. So don't let them swim around in circles. This was my thinking. A little sand pail with a bit of sand and a bit of salt water and keep them in the dark until nightfall. The kids and I would celebrate in the dark as we released survivor babies who had been found in mornings across the road. We could do this in the 90's.
These days it takes a team. "Share the Beach" a strictly volunteer organization was born in 2000. This was a group instigated by Retired COL. Barney Gass and other folks from the private community "Laguna Key" of West Beach, Gulf Shores, Alabama. With help from a lady (I'll get her name) working with USFWS and with Kelly Reetz at Gulf State Park it gelled. In 2002 or maybe 2003 a Biologist from USFWS came onto our scene, Jereme helped develop the early protocol which stated that "OUR PRIMARY PURPOSE IS TO PROTECT THE TURTLES". This was the "feel good" goal of the Original Volunteers.
Much much more to come!
People who live on this tiny island by Gulf Shores Alabama have been trying to help sea turtles since the 60's. Except sometimes one needed a few eggs for cake. In the 80's there was a small explosion of cottages built along this shore mostly for retirees and second homes after a hurricane annihilated the area. (The erroneous thought here on our coast is that there is ONE major hurricane every 100 years. I myself bought into this idea in 1992 as told me by my real estate salesman, BLESS his heart.) More local people became concerned as neighborhoods grew. Our homes were filling in the dark nesting areas and our bright lights would lead the hatchlings in the wrong direction where they would perish on the road or under houses across the street. Neighbors got together. People asked for help from different entities. I know I did. I called everybody office and agency I could think of. While in those few years in the 90's there was no help from any agencies,so we helped the turtles as best we could. Yes, even to digging up nests and holding eggs in sand in a bucket in the attic while storms raged and the beach flooded, then quickly placing eggs back in the sand to hatch days later. I heard once, years ago that eggs were placed in a cooler and evacuated miles away and then returned after the hurricane, again with great survival rates. Old days. Cant do that now. Now we are governed much more strictly. For the group that was original to our area, we find protocol is no longer about strictly "SAVING THE TURTLES". To quote an early protocol "Our primary purpose is to protect the turtles". At the start up of this season 2011, during our meeting with USFWS (which BTW gratefully "permit" us to handle eggs and work these nests as volunteers) it was stated "this is NOT about saving turtles, THIS is about collecting data" But I have hopes it will get back to our original mission after everyone gets what they feel they need from BP due to the Horizon Deep Water Oil Disaster.(discussion later)
In the meantime, man continues to encroach on the nesting territory. Now in 2011 there are condos and many rentals 3 stories tall all brightly lit saying RENT ME! RENT ME! And the masses come.
People laugh and say, "what did THEY do before YOU came along to "help". The fact is that everywhere man builds he ousts some creature from it's natural habitat. Sea Turtles don't require much from us. Their needs are simple, a quiet dark beach on which to dig their nests.
Sea Turtles tend to return to the place of their birth when it is time to nest. I would guess within 50 miles, given the same kind of sand, which almost all of the Northern Gulf of Mexico has.
There are several theories on HOW they do this. Is it in their genes?, is there some magnetic homing device in their brains? Is it the smell and taste of the particular sand upon which they "bonded" on their trek to the sea? The sudden swell in scientific interest (in part due to the Horizon Incident) may soon reveal the answers to many questions. At this time opinions vary, even on lifespan. Do they live 50 years? I would think that the actual lifespan is more like 150 years, but I am no scientist. Because of this, the varying theories...we simply use "common sensitivity" (coined by me).
I refer only to mamas after this paragraph because the males never return to land. Here, the huge loggerhead males bask offshore feed on the wealth and variety of food in the Gulf while waiting to mate with the females in the sea. They are easy to spy on any sunny calm day and don't seem afraid when you float up beside them. Huge? Yes 4, 5 feet across the mid carapace, possibly 300 to 400 lbs. AWESOME!
Once the mama's eggs are fertilized and time passes and the mamas feel ripe they come onshore, deposit their eggs and return to the sea to make a new batch. The hatchlings are left on their own. In a more natural world, as in decades past,the babies would climb from the nest, see the brightest line on the horizon and scoot straight to the water. Crabs and herons, perhaps a fox might have picked off some of the hundred (give or take) hatchlings but the majority would have made (relatively) safe water. Loggerheads generally hatch in the dark. In our area this is good because we have thousands of seagulls all looking for a little bite to eat. Seagulls head west to their slumber island at dusk.
This is where a little common sense came in years back. Hold the wayward hatchlings until dark, otherwise seagulls would snatch them up like potato chips. Common sense. Try to keep them from tiring while keeping them moist. So don't let them swim around in circles. This was my thinking. A little sand pail with a bit of sand and a bit of salt water and keep them in the dark until nightfall. The kids and I would celebrate in the dark as we released survivor babies who had been found in mornings across the road. We could do this in the 90's.
These days it takes a team. "Share the Beach" a strictly volunteer organization was born in 2000. This was a group instigated by Retired COL. Barney Gass and other folks from the private community "Laguna Key" of West Beach, Gulf Shores, Alabama. With help from a lady (I'll get her name) working with USFWS and with Kelly Reetz at Gulf State Park it gelled. In 2002 or maybe 2003 a Biologist from USFWS came onto our scene, Jereme helped develop the early protocol which stated that "OUR PRIMARY PURPOSE IS TO PROTECT THE TURTLES". This was the "feel good" goal of the Original Volunteers.
Much much more to come!
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