First Nest Excavation

My first nest, found June 12 near 53rd Street in Holmes Beach, was scheduled to hatch August 6, so Mr. Masferrer and I sat by the nest the entire week ... Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday... Friday night we stayed past midnight. Still--nothing. So after I walked Saturday, August 7, and there STILL were NO signs of hatching, we decided to see a movie for a change. That's when they HATCHED!

They hatched Saturday night around 11 p.m. Several AMI Turtle Watch volunteers, including my coordinators Pete and Emily, made it to the big show. One head popped up, then two, then they came boiling out of the nest.

Sadly, they all headed south--toward lights on Bradenton Beach. The city has even raised the wattage in their street bulbs, causing more disorientations this year than ever before. Between street lights and beach dwellers who forget (or refuse) to turn out their lights, we've lost more than 400 babies. By the first week of August, 11 out of 18 nests on the island had hatchlings traveling in a direction other than the water. Luckily for my little ones, the volunteers were there to redirect them toward the water.

We waited three days to make sure all the hatchlings that could had made it out of the nest. Then, we excavate. We pull up the protective stakes--They let me keep one from my first nest.

Then it was time to dig.

As I knelt down to excavate my first nest, I was so afraid of not knowing if I was "doing it right," tearing up the shells, or finding babies that didn't make it. Fear turned to amazement when I saw how the nest was perfectly formed. I didn't have to worry about where to dig.

Momma turtle packed the sand so tightly it was like concrete. The soft sand in the middle told me exactly where I would find the shells or any turtles that didn't make it out. As I found the shells and unfertilized eggs, Emily carefully counted them in groups of ten.







I kept digging until I again hit packed sand.



Luckily, all 67 eggs hatched, with 8 that were never fertilized.

One of the best experiences of being a part of Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch is every walker I've met really wants others, especially children, to know how everyone can help to save the sea turtles. When they meet people who ask what they're doing, they immediately hand them our cards and temporary tattoos for the little ones (paid for by sea turtle tags) and start sharing what we know. Just admit it, we all know they're cool! :D

Here is Glen, a retired teacher (I'm very envious), doing just that with Pete looking on:

And his latest pupils:

Especially today, people are asking: "How can we make our world better? How are we going to solve all our problems?"

Once again, education is the answer!

Tears of Joy!

I can't believe I held a baby turtle! As I tell people about turtles, I always talk about "hatchlings," but today, they are "baby turtles." Words can't describe the feeling, so I'm just going to post these first...

The last time I can remember being so overwhelmed by the beauty in this world was holding my friend's first-born, Jackson. If you have never stopped to look around you at every miracle happening in our world, please stop and consider: consider the gifts we are given every day; the gifts that are right before our eyes. Trust me, when you take time to think about how and why things happen--or don't happen--you appreciate everything, and everyone, around you so much more. Even better than my reaction was the reaction of the children surrounding the nest as we excavated. Some didn't realize what they were seeing was rare, while others did. I just love these pictures:




















Do you think they're close enough? :D

That night, a crowd gathered as we released them into the water. We walkers were crowd control to make sure no one stepped on a baby (especially me!) or interfered with their trek down the beach and into the gulf. There aren't many pictures because even the camera "red eye" can disorient the hatchlings.

Suzi, our director, always educating.

Waiting for darkness, the best cover.

The crowd gives the babies room to crawl.

Mr. Masferrer captures a turtle, sans flash.

For everyone who came to see, I hope this is a day they never forget.

I know I won't!

Here They Come!

This week it happened. We had our first little hatchlings bursting from the sand. Some have said their tracks look like a mad spider's web. Hopefully, I can bring you pictures of the spewing chaos soon. Although none of the hatched nests are in my section, we have five clutches of eggs that hatched on Anna Maria Island this week.

Since we can't capture this miracle without disorienting the hatchlings, I found this National Geographic video from their recently aired Sea Turtle Odyssey that shows how a sea turtle's journey begins.



As we begin to track this year's nests, we are seeing a trend in shorter incubation periods. The later the nests are laid, the faster they are hatching. We're not yet sure what this means, but hotter nests yield a greater number of female turtles. The sex of a turtle is determined by the temperature in the nest. I tell students "cool dudes and hot chicks" to help them remember cool nests (and areas of the nest) create male turtles, while hotter nests and nesting areas produce female turtles.

Next week, all walkers will begin to check the nests for signs of hatching: indentations in the sand and ghost crab holes near the nests. If we see signs of movement in and around the nest, we will mark it with a blue ribbon to alert fellow walkers to check the nest closely each day.

Caught in the Act!

This week an AMI Turtle Watcher had a thrill. She saw a little momma heading back to the water after her hard work. When Turtle Watch Director Suzi Fox sent the picture to Marc, she was right when she said, "This will make your wife squeal!!!!!"

I'm embarrassed to say -- it did.

When I was about the age of my students, every summer my mom would let me keep a box turtle in a shoebox from last year's school shoes. I usually found a specimen in an empty lot two doors down, opposite "the preacher's house," or what Methodists call the parsonage. I would feed him or her (I never knew) iceberg lettuce for two weeks before letting it go back to its mysterious life. I still remember how excited I was when I was quiet enough for long enough for the scared little turtle to open its shell just long enough for me to see his (or her) little legs and head. I even remember trying to pry its shell open but stopping because I was so afraid of injuring my new friend.

Now living in Florida, I have the privilege to help these amazing creatures. What's even more exciting is I have come to realize that because turtles must reach the age of 35 before they reproduce, the young turtles nesting this year on Anna Maria Island were hatching and crawling onto the sand for the first time just as I was begging my mom for my first shoebox.

Happy Independence Day, Mate!

As we watched "Mate" released into Sarasota Bay, I couldn't help but think "FREEDOM!" Mate is a juvenile green turtle that was hit by a boat in Longboat Key Pass. He spent 3 1/2 months at MOTE Marine in Sarasota, recovering from a skull fracture. This little guy was barely more than a foot long, but he was more than eager to gain his independence into the big wide world. I couldn't help but cry more tears of joy as his flippers began smacking his shell when he saw the water. I said a little prayer that he (or she) would grow to be a HUGE turtle, enjoying many more years of freedom in the vast ocean. Here's my amateur video of the release:



For a great story and pictures, visit The Bradenton Herald.com.

Momma said there'd be (weeks) like this

Nesting in our section of beach seems to be at a standstill. Since my nest on June 19, we have had one false crawl on June 21. Section 3 has increased to 13 nests, and Section 6 is growing also, but in Section 4/5 the turtles are avoiding our busy stretch of beach. The most excitement came last week in the form of a lightning storm as I was beginning my walk and a nest during my visit to Key West on June 30.

The Saddest Nest

I am ecstatic! Two nests in two weeks is just too much! I was even more excited when my section coordinator Emily said they had nests Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of last week, then nothing until my walk this morning. But this nest would change from euphoria to fear very quickly. The strange thing was there wasn't an out track. At first I thought, "Oh, no! She didn't make it out!" As I followed the path, I was hopeful, remembering an earlier story of a false crawl on the north end of the island. We had a turtle earlier this year wander up and down the beach for no apparent reason before returning to the water. However, thankfully, my turtle eventually made it back. Also, thankfully, she was successful...

So why "the saddest nest"? This mom made the usual turn back to the water, but because of our ignorance, she had to drag her 200-300 lb. body at least 100 yd. more than she had to. If an island resident had taken the time to remove his tarp, and if an island business owner would turn out his light -- or at least use a turtle-friendly (red) bulb -- this federally protected species wouldn't have had to work so hard to do what comes naturally. Click the picture below for an idea of how hard this beautiful creature had to work just to make it back to the sea.

A cool sight was in the exit track of the nest. Sometimes, as the turtle leaves the nest, her cloaca (the egg-laying parts) hasn't contracted back into her body cavity, and you can see an imprint on the sand.

SO COOL!

Of course, happiness prevails when you see those little eggs. Also, the unusual track lured several island visitors, including a very nice family from Oklahoma who stayed to the very last measurement and staking of the nest. If nothing else, the ignorance of others gave Emily, Pete, and I a chance to educate a few more reptile-loving people.

I have a nest!

My nest. My name on a nest. It still seems surreal that as I walked the beach today, there it was. A crawl in, a crawl out, and a little lump of sand right at the apex of the two. About 100 feet south I found a false crawl--a pretty cool one because you could see the flipper marks in the wet sand. I was so excited. As an early-morning walker approached, I pointed it out "It's a turtle crawl." He said, "Then you have another up there." I hurried up the beach, expecting another false crawl, but there -- in the middle of the in and out tracks -- was a mound of sand that told me I had a nest. Because loggerhead turtles crawl with an alternating gait, the comma-shaped tracks told me it was a loggerhead nest, which are the most common turtles to nest on Anna Maria Island.
I called the coordinators of my section. "What now," Emily said, since I had just called with the false crawl. "I think I have a nest in front of Martinique North." She could see me from the window of her condo. I had to finish my walk down the beach before I would be able to inspect the nest. She and Pete headed out to the false crawl as I finished my walk.
With nothing else to report, I quickly headed back to the nest. Pete took GPS readings, then we recorded the physical address. Next, I helped Emily measure from the nest site to the dunes, and from the nest to the hide tide mark. All our readings will be added to the Florida Fish and Wildlife database, which is used to track the health of turtles and for decisions, such as development and beach renourishment, that would affect the turtles. Then we had to verify there were eggs in the nest. Emily was excited because she has just started verifying nests. She carefully dug directly above the center of the two tracks.

After digging to hard sand, she started scooping sand to the left. There they were. "You're a momma!" Tears filled my eyes. I don't know why. I just knew I was witnessing something amazing. Ever since last July, when I was fortunate enough to see a turtle nesting--in total darkness for more than an hour--I came to respect the work it takes for a 300 lb. reptile to haul herself up the sand, dig a hole, and try her best to ensure her species continues. And with our help, they just might make it.














After we verified the eggs, Pete brought out the stakes to record the section (4) and nest (#2), the date the eggs were laid (6/12), and the estimated hatch date (8/6), a "V" indicating the nest was verified, and the name of the walker-- ME!
As we were staking the nest, Suzi, AMITW director, came zooming up the beach on her ATV. We were all smiles, as we talked about first nests and amazing people who can locate the eggs with one hand and one try.


Pete staked the nest for protection, and we covered the eggs with sand. Our work was done.










There have been few times in my life I can remember and say "my life will never be the same." Today, I know this is one.

Sand, Trash, and Crabs...

...and in that order. The ghost crabs were out in force today, but they could not outnumber the grains of sand or the armfuls of trash I hauled off the beach. Why would you leave trash less than 5 footsteps from the trash? And why dig a hole big enough for a 300 lb. turtle to be trapped? This is me trying to fill the hole. As Jaime Escalante would say "A negative times a negative equals a positive."

The good news? Three groups of people stopped to ask me about the turtle counts and to express concern for the oil spill. There may be many people who treat the beach as their trash can, but there are even more who love it just as much as I do.

Quiet Sunday

This week I was in Wakulla County for my nephew Jud's graduation. I wouldn't have missed it, not even for the turtles.

Luckily, I didn't miss much. Emily sent a text at 7:10 with an "all clear." After our nest last week, we received news that a Kemp's ridley nest was found on Manasota Key in Sarasota County. Below is a picture of a Kemp's ridley we saw at the turtle hospital in Marathon, Florida.

Turtle Time!

Friday morning: False crawl. AMI Turtle Watch volunteers are using the buckets ORB students painted to carry their gear when they document a crawl or nest.




Saturday morning: False crawl
















Sunday morning: TURTLE NEST!!
We have a nest! Sadly, it isn't in my section, but it's as if we're all mommas this morning. We can tell it's a loggerhead nest because of the comma-shaped tracks.





When I went to take pictures, fellow walkers told me the snowy plovers also made us mommas. We have three hatchlings (below right), and a second nest has daddy keeping guard (below left). Male snowy plovers stay on the nest, while momma finds food.

"The turtles are waiting for you."

"No turtles. I guess they're waiting for you." Emily texted me this message when she walked for me this week, letting me know she was done. I was off to a technology symposium hosted by Florida Society for Technology in Education. However, I was prepared. I started the morning in my turtle watch gear, with plans to turn my car around if a turtle arrived. Luckily, Emily sent me an "all clear"text before I left the house, so I enjoyed the full day with my tekkies in teacher-appropriate attire.

On Sunday, I put on my educator hat for some teenagers running through the nesting shorebirds. We have hundreds of nesting Royal Terns, Least Terns, and Black Skimmers on the north end of Anna Maria Island. The teens thought it was a riot to run through the flocks and watch them fly. Mr. Masferrer said, "You're going to say something, aren't you." Of course, I'm an educator. It's what I do. With surprised looks from the boys, I politely explained the birds were protected, and they need to be left alone to rest and nest. With a grunt from the three, I replied, "thank you." Hopefully it sank in on some level.

Birdwatching

Today the birds were the attraction. I spotted a night heron, right, and a great blue heron, left. What amazing birds! They must make the other birds jealous.

Pete and Emily Gross, the coordinators for my section, joined me for my walk, and they taught be even more, especially that human digging and turtle signs can be similar, so you have to search for turtle tracks. Also, turtles can nest anywhere, even low on the shoreline.

Mr. Masferrer also joined us, and he took the pictures this time. With no signs of turtles, we focused on obstructions and trash on the beach. Luckily, we saw all lights off as the sun peaked over the horizon. Sadly, the same resort is still leaving beach chairs on the beach overnight. Pete promised to send another e-mail. Also, someone found pieces of the recently destroyed pier and piled them up on the beach. It seems such as small, innocent thing, but this pile could easily prevent a turtle from nesting and result in a false crawl.

The most exciting event was after the walk. Mr. Masferrer and I went to our favorite spot on the north end of the island to see the endangered snowy plover. We once had five nesting pairs on the island. This year we only have one. This tiny bird is so precious, bobbing across the sand. They nest in the center of the beach, so their nesting area is roped off for protection.

Next week, I'm not walking, so let's hope the turtles wait as well.

Turtle Season: Day 1

And we're off! Turtle season officially begins today, and I do NOT want to roll out of bed at 5 am. Why is it that waking up at the same time on Saturday as you do on a Monday just seems illegal?

But I made it! I'm on the beach in my AMI Turtle Watch T-shirt, my sparkling new permit in my hand. I can feel the anticipation. It's a little dark when I arrive, so I sit on a bench next to the Manatee Beach cafe, waiting for the sun to reach as far as my side of the island.

As soon as the sunrise ekes into the western reaches of the sky, I hit the beach. Scanning, scanning. Up and down the beach. Eureka! I found a track...nope just the trail of a lonesome cooler with human prints behind it.

I continue about 100 feet, picking up plastic shovels, beer cans (and bottles), plastic everything--including a package from a pair of infant swimmy wings.

Before I'm done, I've found more than 20 beach chairs left overnight, filled in 8-10 holes, and lugged a grocery bag full of trash to the end of my designated mile. But it's all worth it. I even made some friends along the way. First were the shorebirds--an oystercatcher and several terns. I love the Wilson's plovers that dot the shoreline. They "cheep. cheep. cheep." when others walk (or run) too closely. Next, I spoke with a spring visitor who proudly declared "We know all about the turtles," and he promised to alert his fellow condo dwellers that the season had arrived.

Finally, I make my way back. As I attempt to fill in what I will forever call a "human body pit,"** another beachcomber asks to take a picture of my shirt. Sure. As she walks away, she promises to help fill in holes, too.

I'm reassured by the kindness of those on the beach with me. People don't mean to be insensitive or ignorant of the needs of sea turtles and other creatures. They just need to be educated. When people see the beauty of Anna Maria Island, of course, they can't resist its charms. But they also want to protect it, so it will stay this way forever.

All we need is a little help.

**In a pre-nesting ritual, turtles will make a pit that conforms to their body size and shape. At times, they will pit and leave. At other times, the pit is the first stage of nesting. The "human body pit" is a massive hole people dig (for who knows what reason) to sit in and throw soda cans, cigarette butts and packages, and potato chip bags around. Left uncovered, it is the perfect size to capture a mother or hatchling and result in death in the hot Florida sun.