Hi everyone! We’re back to discuss our Turtle Dig experiences and what to do if you find a sea turtle. Sea turtle nesting season along the Treasure Coast runs from March 1 through October 31 each year. The months of June, July, and August are the busiest of the season, with both nesting and hatching hitting their peaks. People travel far and wide to see sea turtles along the Treasure Coast.
Coastal Connections Inc. offers Turtle Dig experiences, which are public nest success evaluations with the chance of seeing sea turtle hatchlings, starting mid- July, through the end of August. During our Turtle Digs, the Turtle Team excavates a hatched sea turtle nest to determine its success rate. The team records the number of hatched and unhatched eggs, damage to eggs, and any dead or alive hatchlings.
These data allow us to create a success ratio for each nest, which can then be compared to other factors observed during the incubation period of 50-60 days, such as washovers, predation, human disturbances, and more. Heat is one of the most important environmental factors influencing a nest. Temperature not only affects the speed at which the eggs develop, but the average temperature also determines a hatchling’s gender, where female hatchlings develop when temperatures are over 81.86ºF (29° C) and males develop when the temperature is lower. In the sea turtle community, we remember this with the phrase “hot chicks, and cool dudes.”
Once a nest emerges, the hatchlings crawl to the ocean and engage in a swimming frenzy once they make it to the crashing waves. Energy provided by their absorbed yolk sac gives them the boost they need to swim vigorously out into floating sargassum patches found in the Gulf Stream. This critical habitat provides food and shelter for years as hatchlings grow to become oceanic juveniles. However, not all turtles make it to the water or out of the nest on their own. In about 50% of our nest success evaluations, one or two hatchlings are found stuck or left behind. If a hatchling is found during a Turtle Dig experience or nest success evaluation, the hatchling will either be released, or taken to the closest rehabilitation facility based on the turtle’s body condition.
Want to help save sea turtles? Here are a few important reminders to ensure turtles are able to survive and thrive:
1. Please turn off any unused lights and make the switch to red/amber bulbs over white ones. Hatchlings can become easily distracted by and attracted to bright lights, especially white lights, causing these little turtles to use up their energy reserves by crawling towards buildings, pools, roads, and storm drains.
2. Call Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) at 1-888-404-3922 if you find a sea turtle that is sick, injured, dead, or in a place it shouldn’t be. When you call this number, the closest permitted team will be dispatched to respond to the turtle.
3. You can follow Coastal Connections on Facebook, Instagram, or check our website event calendar https://coastal-connections.org/connect-with-us/#calendar, for the dates of our Turtle Digs. All Turtle Digs will be scheduled as nests hatch.
FB – @coastalconnectionsinc
IG – @coastalconnections_inc
For more information, visit www.coastal-connections.org, like and follow the socials listed above, or visit our gift shop at 3321 Bridge Plaza Dr, Vero Beach, FL 32963
- Photo by: Joe Rimkus Jr. – Two loggerhead sea turtle hatchlings make their way to the ocean after being found during a Coastal Connections Turtle Dig. The turtles are given the opportunity to reach the water on their own in order to imprint on the beach, as they will come back to lay their own eggs along this coastline in about 20 years. ↩︎
- Photo by: Joe Rimkus Jr. – Coastal Connections volunteers, Mari Shiel and Chris Consi, sort through and count sea turtle eggs after excavating a sea turtle nest. Once the data is collected and recorded, it is used to calculate the hatch success rate of the nest.
↩︎ - Photo by: Joe Rimkus Jr – Coastal Connections Volunteer Stacy Setzer, holding a loggerhead sea turtle hatchling. The hatchling was found during a Turtle Dig, a seasonal event run by CCinc, which allows visitors to get a first-hand look at a sea turtle nest excavation 3 days after it has hatched. Any stragglers are released at the conclusion of the program. ↩︎
- Photos by: Olivia Redding and Kathy Lehnhardt – These two images show the comparison between two recently emerged nests. In the first photo crawls from the hatchlings have a clear distinct path to the ocean. In the second photo crawls disperse in all directions, making this an accurate example of hatchling disorientation. ↩︎
- Photo by: Tyler Call – Rescue and Research Coordinator, Olivia Redding, holding a juvenile green sea turtle that was rescued after receiving a call from a community member. The sea turtle was found struggling at the ocean surface due to having “bubble butt” syndrome. Following its rescue, the turtle was transferred to Loggerhead Marinelife Center, where it received treatment. ↩︎
