Sea Turtle Nesting Surveys
Sea turtle nesting season in South Florida begins on March 1st and ends on October 31st each year. Every morning at sunrise, Dr. Kirt Rusenko and his staff of turtle specialists ride out onto the beach to look for turtle tracks that have been made the night before. Once they locate a track in the sand, the staff determines what species was responsible (loggerhead, leatherback, or green) and whether she actually nested or just made a “false crawl”. The female turtles are very sensitive to lights and activity on the beach at night. Sometimes one will emerge from the water but will be frightened back before she can begin to lay her eggs. This is a waste of much needed energy. When a nest has been laid, the turtle researchers record the location and mark the area off with flagging tape. The nest will be checked each morning for signs of predation. About two months later, the nest emerges and roughly one hundred tiny hatchling tracks lead down to the water. Three days after a nest has hatched, the staff excavate the nest and takes an inventory of what was inside. Hatched shells, infertile eggs, dead embryos, dead hatchlings and live hatchlings stuck in the sand are all counted and recorded to assist with the state-wide monitoring of the sea turtle population.
Live hatchlings retrieved from excavated nests are brought back to Gumbo Limbo and kept in a dark, moist bucket until evening, when they are released on the beach during one of our Hatchling Release Programs. These presentations, as well as our annual Turtle Walks, are a wonderful way for the public to learn more about these endangered animals. Walking the beach at night in hopes of spotting a nesting turtle is NOT a good way to experience this as you probably won’t find one, and it is illegal to disturb a nesting sea turtle. Just the sight of a person walking along the beach is enough to make a female change her mind about laying her eggs and will cause her to false crawl.
For the current nesting numbers for the 2011 Sea Turtle Nesting season, click here.