Turtle Patrol
At dawn Nana joined Dee on her turtle patrol duties--we walked over three miles on the Gulf side of the peninsula and inspected turtle nests to see if there had been any exoduses of hatchlings overnight. Afterwards, Dee met up with Leslie, a fellow patrol person, and they dug up a nest which had already hatched. The purpose is to get an idea of how many of the eggs actually hatched and how many were "duds". These nests were Loggerhead Turtle nests. The hatchlings race to the sea upon leaving the nests--IF they aren't drawn to lights on the shore. Apparently two batches of hatchlings this season ended up (deceased) in a residential swimming pool as the residents had not turned out their lights.
This little guy (about 8 inches wide) is a frequent denizen of the beach. One of them actually gave Nana a good toe pinch as she walked. They also view hatchlings as a delicacy, and are one of the predators.
Leslie and Dee digging out turtle nest
Nana didn't get to see this--it's one of Dee's photos of a hatchling making "race tracks" to get to sea.
They hit the water--yahoo!!
Exhibit of a turtle nest in the St Vincent Island Wildlife Refuge Center, Apalachicola. The only time a female Loggerhead exits the water is to lay her eggs--around 100 of them. She does this several times a season.
