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The art of protecting nesting sea turtles

15 mins read
Kara Moody

Editor’s note: The author, Kara Moody is a graduate of Mt. Blue High School and received her bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Maine at Farmington. In 2009, Kara received her master’s degree in Conservation Biology from Antioch University in Keene, N.H. She currently works as a biologist for the National Park Service at Cape Lookout National Seashore in Harkers Island, N.C., where she continues to monitor nesting sea turtles. Here is her report:

I began my workday on the beach as usual on a hot June day in coastal Alabama. I arrived on the beach around 7 in the morning and was en route to the work site when my coworker informed me that a sea turtle had just finished laying her nest. I rushed down the beach to marvel over this natural wonder. By the time I reached the nest, the female had already returned to the water and two turtle patrol volunteers were in the process of excavating the nest. The female had laid her eggs too close to the water, so the nest was to be relocated further up on the beach. When nest proximity is too near the water, nests can become inundated, washed out by high tides, or buried by sand. Inundated nests can cause developing turtles to drown, and nests with excessive sand build-up can prevent hatchlings from being able to escape from the nest and may result in suffocation.

Crawl marks in the sand from a female Loggerhead sea turtle.

The volunteers uncovered the top layer of eggs from the nest and removed the eggs, gently placing them into a bucket for relocation. One by one, 152 eggs were carefully extracted from the nest. The volunteers worked swiftly but precisely, with the goal of relocating the nest as quickly and safely as possible. The five-gallon bucket of turtle eggs was moved away from the water as far as practicable before reaching the sand dunes. The volunteers excavated a new nest for these precious eggs.

Measurements of the original nest had been recorded so the volunteers knew exactly how deep to dig and how wide to make the new nest. Once the nest site was ready, they placed all the eggs back into the sand. When all 152 eggs were secure within the nest, it was covered with sand, and a wire grate was placed over the top in effort to prevent nest predation. The nest was marked with wooden stakes providing a 10-foot buffer around the nest to keep beach-goers from disturbing the nest.

The beginning of nest excavation and relocation.

The dedicated and hard-working volunteers that relocated the nest were members of an organization known as “Share the Beach“, which is a sea turtle volunteer program in Alabama. Volunteers perform various duties such as searching for nests and assisting in hatchling success, providing public education, and delivering talks to school groups. During my time on the beach, I witnessed numerous volunteers from Share the Beach working passionately to serve as protectors for Alabama’s nesting sea turtles.

All sea turtles possess similar nesting behaviors. Females lay eggs at intervals of 12–17 days during the nesting season on or near the beach where they hatched. Females leave the water and crawl onto the beach where they scrape away the surface of the sand to form a body pit. Using their hind limbs, the turtles excavate an egg chamber in which the eggs are deposited. After an hour or two, the egg chamber and body pit are covered with sand and the female returns to the sea.

Three species of endangered sea turtles nest along the shores of Alabama: green, Kemp’s ridley, and loggerhead. Loggerheads are the most common nesting species in the southeastern United States and were the only species I observed nesting during the 2011 season, while I worked as a biologist for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in Coastal Alabama.

Several threats contribute to the listing of loggerheads as an endangered species. These threats include loss or degradation of nesting habitat from coastal development and beach armoring; disorientation of hatchlings by beachfront lighting; excessive nest predation by native and non-native predators; degradation of foraging habitat; marine pollution and debris; watercraft strikes; disease and incidental take from channel dredging and commercial trawling, longline, and gill net fisheries. The extensive incidental take of juvenile loggerheads in the eastern Atlantic by longline fishing vessels is of particular concern.

Loggerheads are 200- to 300-pound sea turtles that occur all around the world. These turtles spend most of their life in the sea, with females briefly coming ashore to lay eggs. The nesting season for loggerheads in the United States extends from May through August with nesting occurring primarily at night. Loggerheads are known to nest from one to seven times within a nesting season, with an average of approximately four nests per season. After a female loggerhead finishes her nesting season, she will not nest again for another two to three years.

Nests are typically laid at intervals of around 14 days, and the average clutch size can range from 100 to 150 eggs in the southeastern region of the country. Incubation averages between 55 to 60 days for nests in Alabama, though the duration can range from about 45 to 95 days depending on incubation temperatures.

When incubation is complete, hatchlings generally emerge at night, when darkness increases the chance of escaping predation and damage from extreme sand surface temperatures is reduced. Hatchlings navigate to the ocean using a variety of environmental cues such as shapes, silhouettes, and lighting. Once hatchlings enter the water, they spend several days swimming offshore until they reach the safety offered by protective mats of floating seaweed. Here the newborn turtles feed, sleep, and grow for up to 10 years before returning to coastal waters. As adults, female sea turtles return to the same beach where they hatched to lay their own eggs.

Over a month passed from the time I observed my first sea turtle nest, during which I anxiously awaited my first viewing of a turtle hatchling. Also during that month, I became a volunteer for Share the Beach so I could assist in the effort to monitor turtle nests and guide hatchlings to the sea. I arrived at the turtle nest at seven o’clock on the evening of July 27, 2011. On the previous night, 30 sea turtles hatched from this nest. I placed my stethoscope in the sand over the top of the nest and listened in an attempt to detect turtle hatchling activity. When a sea turtle nest is close to hatching, there is often subtle crunching or waterfall-like noises that can be heard by listening with a stethoscope or an amplifier. I heard waterfall sounds coming from the nest, which was a good indication that more turtles would hatch soon.

After an hour-and-a-half of patiently watching the nest, a tiny head emerged from the sand ever so slightly. Then we waited for more movement- a miniature flipper popped up out of the sand. It was finally time! The baby loggerhead sea turtle continued working its way out of the nest where it had been developing for the past two months. Once the turtle emerged completely, it was time to enter the Gulf of Mexico. Dozens of people gathered around as the turtle, only a few inches in size, crawled toward the water. The nest was probably 150 feet from the water, which was quite a trek for the baby sea turtle. Fortunately, the hatchlings were oriented in the appropriate direction due to a trench that was excavated from the nest to the edge of the water to guide the hatchlings to the sea. After several minutes of propelling itself forward with its flippers, the turtle entered the water and was gone. Off into the vast Gulf of Mexico in the darkness of the night. Good luck, turtle.

A hatchling working its way down the trench from the nest to the ocean.

On July 29, three days after the first eggs hatched, I returned for the excavation of the nest. The first hatch night resulted in 30 baby turtles fleeing to the Gulf of Mexico. Only eight turtles escaped from the nest the following night; no hatchlings emerged on the third night. After three nights of hatching, nests are excavated to determine whether there are any live turtles remaining and to count the number of infertile eggs and dead embryos. At 6:30 in the evening, the excavation commenced. Two volunteers carefully removed sand from the nest, while a large crowd of people hovered around the nest anxiously waiting. After digging down a couple of inches, the first live turtle was revealed. The spectators exclaimed in excitement as the baby turtle was placed in a bucket with some sand. The volunteers continued digging and discovered a total of 10 live turtles. Unfortunately, along with the live turtles, numerous eggs did not hatch. Once all eggs and turtles were removed, the volunteers began breaking open all of the unhatched eggs to determine the number of fertile and infertile eggs and dead embryos. The majority of unhatched eggs were infertile, with a couple of fertile eggs that never developed and a couple of dead embryos that never completed development.

Unhatched eggs.

It is a long season of hard work for the volunteers, with surveys beginning at dawn at the start of nesting and monitoring nests late into the night when it is time for hatching. Morning patrols for sea turtle crawls begin in May, and turtle work continues until September or October after the last nest has hatched or when the incubation period has passed by several days, which is when a nest is assumed to have failed. I was lucky enough to witness all stages of sea turtle nesting: from the moment a nest was first discovered, to relocating the nest, to watching a nest hatch and seeing baby turtles enter the ocean, to observing excavations of both hatched and unhatched nests. I was unable to witness an adult female laying a nest since this usually occurs at night; however, I did see an adult Kemp’s ridley sea turtle. An injured turtle washed up on the beach and was rehabilitated, and I was present when the turtle was released back to the sea.

Kemp’s ridley sea turtle being released after undergoing rehabilitation for an injured flipper.

As I am originally from Maine, I had never observed a sea turtle until my time spent working on the Gulf Coast. To watch these baby turtles enter the world from deep beneath the surface of the beach and begin their journey in the sea is an unforgettable and magical moment. A moment that cannot be described or imagined. A moment that reminds me why I am a biologist. A moment that defines why I care about all creatures inhabiting this incredible and delicate planet.

Loggerhead sea turtle hatchling being washed into the sea.
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11 Comments

  1. Very good comprehensive story. Also, nice to read about a successful Mt. Blue Grad.

  2. Cool article Kara! When I was young by dad and I were fishing…Chesuncook I think, and as we pulled up to a beach we stumbled upon a huge snapper right in the middle of laying eggs, we were able to witness the whole thing, she didn’t budge when we approached, just kept popping out the eggs.

  3. For more than thirty years, my husband and I spent time in the summer on Seabrook Island, in South Carolina, another nesting location for the turtles. Our timing was perfect a couple of seasons, and our vacation time coincided with the hatch. We were able to protect and direct morning hatchlings across a stretch of beach to the Edisto River, with other Turtle Watch volunteers and participants in the Barrier Island conservation center. It’s a thrilling event, and just remembering it sends shivers down my arms. The hatchlings are so tiny, and we know that very few of them survive to maturity. Barrier Island makes a powerful effort to educate and inform its neighbors and visitors to Seabrook Island. The forces of development on the Carolina coast make this a very important work, even as it is in Alabama.
    If Kara has made Bull Dog readers wish to see for themselves, they may Google ” St. Christopher’s Camp and Conference Center”. Reservations there are open to the public on many weeks, and are remarkably affordable.
    Rescuing a bucket of living sea stars from a thoughtless man on the beach who thought they were “just shells” remains one of our family’s priceless memories, along of course with watching turtle nests and on those two lucky occasions, watching the baby turtles begin their dangerous journey to survival.
    Kara, thank you for this article. You shared your experience so vividly. I hope it inspires other Mainers to appreciate this very difference beach experience.

  4. Awesome, Kara! Thanks for sharing this amazing work! As a SCUBA diver who loves seeing turtles, thank you for doing this work!!!!

  5. Excellent! This young lady, Ms. Moody, is obviously an intelligent scientist as well as a writer. I shall recommend this work to my colleagues on the beaches of Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina. Thank you to the Daily Bulldog for continuing to publish such well written articles about our relationship with the environment and problem solving.

  6. Beautifully written informative story along with yerrific pictures. Best wishes for your future biologic journies! Share with us whenever possible on your experiences and discoveries.

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