Nesting Turtles in The Florida Keys

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Yesterday while spending some time snorkeling and hanging out with my two golden retrievers, I met some surveyors that were checking up on a turtle nest. Every morning some volunteers will cruise the beach and look for turtle tracks left behind by the females coming on shore to dig a hole and deposit 80 to 120 golf-ball size eggs. The nests will be marked and registered and 50 days later the hatch-lings will dig themselves out in a group effort and head out in the ocean. 3 days after the hatching the surveyors will come back and dig up the nest to count the empty shells, infertile eggs and maybe save some turtles that where left behind in the mass exodus. The nest we were checking out that day had 47 empty shells and 24 infertile eggs. There was only one dead little turtle in the nest so the possible survival rate that may have made it into the ocean was good. It was an unusual shallow nest and below average numbers of eggs in the nest. We still don't know what kind of turtle they are but the DNA test will determine it from the egg samples and cells of the dead baby. Just a few hundred yards down the beach is an other nest that will be ready for hatching by the first of august. I will be spending the next few nights on the beach and hopefully witness the turtle babies heading out for their big adventure.

There are lots of dangers out there for the little ones and not many of them reach adulthood. The surviving females that will reach maturity will return to their beach they where born on. They will dig the nest and lay the eggs just like their mothers they never met.

The turtle hospital ( http://www.turtlehospital.org/blog/ )has many sad stories of turtles that got injured by boats or natural shark attacks. They work hard on saving and rehabilitation of turtles in distress. Visit and support the turtle hospital located in 2396 Overseas Hwy, Marathon, FL

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Photos

Turtle Egg
the first egg we found

Turtle Egg
Pile of empty shells (47) and some infertile eggs (24) that did not develop.

Turtle baby
One Dead hatchling

Logger head
Skeleton of a adult loggerhead turtle. Head size 10 1/2 in

Logger head
Broken back plates indicates injury that caused dead. possible caused by boat prop