First sea turtle nests hatch on Beach
Turtle Time, Inc. volunteers recently documented the first hatched sea turtle nests of the 2010 season on Fort Myers Beach. Of the 22 Beach nests so far, two nests have hatched successfully -both in Little Estero Critical Wildlife Area- after being found by local volunteers in the past week and a half.
A hatched sea turtle nest is evident by the cavity it forms in the sand dunes and the hatchling tracks leaving it, according to Turtle Time founder Eve Haverfield. When a nest is found, the protection of the expected sea turtle hatchlings begins with a simple staking with post and strings around the nest followed by a shielding of the nest to protect it and an excavation process after the nest has been hatched.
“We identify the nest and then stake it so that we can keep track of it,” said Haverfield. “We check them every morning until they hatch, and then we wait three days to excavate. Once a nest is hatched, the hatchlings crawl over each other in a frenzy to the surface. As they crawl over each other, they scrape at the sand as they break through to the top while sand and their eggs collapse to form the cavity.”
Haverfield says the excavating process determines the statistics of a hatched nest (i.e. how many eggs hatched; how many didn’t hatch; and how many eggs did not develop). If there any hatchlings trapped in there, an imprinting process would take place before they are let go into the Gulf.
While Haverfield excavated the second found hatched nest last Thursday, volunteer Malinda Carlson, visiting from Oregon, took down the protective shielding that was placed around the nest to guide the hatchlings to the Gulf.
“Sometimes the hatchlings will smell the water behind them if there is a lagoon in the area, like in this area,” said Haverfield. Or, sometimes someone on shore left their window drapes open and we have a lighting problem that is visible from here. Unfortunately, we have some major disorientations here last year. Our purpose is to get as many hatchlings into the water. It’s part of the survival plan.”
In all, 91 hatchlings from 105 eggs made it out of the nest, 12 were found to be infertile and one dead pipped (a hatchling which was alive enough to begin the surfacing but died in the process) was discovered during the excavation. Haverfield then placed the egg shells and infertile eggs into the larger cavity she created during the excavating and filled the hole.
“The egg shells are part of the environment to provide nourishment for other plants,” she said. The first nest produced 90 hatchlings out of 107 eggs.
Due to the unseasonably cold winter in Southwest Florida and the cooler-than-normal Gulf temperatures earlier this year, the 2010 sea turtle season had a later start which factored into a later nesting and hatching process.
“It’s a group effort,” said Haverfield about the human ear-sized hatchlings being born. “They all hatch at the same time, and they know what to do. It’s a wonderful species survival mechanism.”
The Turtle Lady pointed out how important it is to shield all lights that are visible so that the hatchlings get a chance to make it into the Gulf, swim as fast as possible to make it into the Sargasso seaweed, get jettisoned into the Gulf stream and go south to the Caribbean. From there, one to four out of a thousand may return to the same beach area after 30 to 50 years later.
“Even lights that are across the street from the shoreline should be shielded,” said Haverfield. “Drapes should be pulled. If someone goes fishing at night, do not bring a lantern. If someone comes across a hatchling, never use flash photography because the hatchlings’ eyes are so sensitive to light.”
It is no surprise why the Little Estero Critical Wildlife Area plays hosts to so many nest hatchings.
“The Critical Wildlife Area is a beautiful beach,” said Haverfield. “It is elevated. It has seaweed mixed in with the sand so it drains well, even with the heavy rains we’ve had. It hasn’t been flattened through raking. It has some lovely dunes. This makes for a healthy beach and a very healthy nesting area.”