Turtle nesting season begins today! I normally enjoy seeing beautiful beach art but it can be disastrous for a female turtle in nesting season. On our island summer nights from May through October, female loggerhead turtles (and occasionally green turtles, leatherbacks and Kemps Ridley turtles) lay their eggs on the same beach where they were hatched decades earlier. Obstructions like sand castles, beach chairs, coolers or even deep sand pits can distract or injure the mother turtle or her babies after they hatch. Did you know that lights on the beach after dark can disorient adult and baby turtles? Yes, they go towards the light instead of heading to the water so they might end up in the street or parking lot. So we wont be doing any night shelling until fall. Not a bad price to pay for keeping baby turtles safe, huh?
A few years ago, I was a turtle tracker with my friend Lisa. This is a photo of our first turtle track we found that lead to a nest. A few months later that same season, we rescued a baby turtle after he dropped into a deep sand pit on his way to the water.
I love SEA TURTLES so much, I even painted one for my Write From The Beach sea life notecard fun fact pack.
Speaking of hatching eggs….. Remember the day I got the video of the Octopus Eggs Hatching? We’re in the news! This story by Anne Mitchell made it into the Island Sun newspaper this week!
Click on the pictures to enlarge.
and continued…..
Thank you Island Sun and Anne for such a nice article. It really was an amazing day.
Yay!
Hi Pam! We are here!! Jean, Linda and I would love to take you out for breakfast, lunch or dinner! Hope to see you soon! Anna Lemons
Wah! No more night-shelling until November. I’m going to try a red night vision flashlight. I know a junonia will show up with that light. I hope you get to see some hatchlings this season. It is just amazing.
Take good care,
Karen
Pam! You are so amazing!!! Between the fun of the shelling and watching out for the turtles, you also make headlines in the paper. Nature is truly amazing and you help highlight that for us. Thank you for your blog and sharing nature with those of us not fortunate enough to live there at Sanibel!!!
Kudos to you and Karen for posting information that can help protect our beloved sea turtles!!!!!
AND congrats for making it in the paper with your octopus story, that was so amazing.
Just wondering… if Turtle season is now … can you use flashlights on the beach in March ? I know you can’t use them during turtle season, just wondered about the rest of the year. thanks for a great blog !!!
Hi Jen,
Oh yaya! You can use flashlights all other months- just not during turtle nesting months. I love night shelling in the “winter”.
But you can use a red light or night vision light available from just about any hardware store. I’ve never night shelled with one so I will be conducting some night vision shelling expeditions come the next full moon. I’ll let you know how it goes.
We’re coming back to Sanibel in March next year !!! Maybe I’ll meet you in person some night via flashlight :) THANKS !!
Great post Pam! I’m glad to see that so many people care for the safety of turtles.
another little nugget of beach life how fun thanks for sharing and yes no shelling at night where will we get our fix?
We’ll be there soon! Thanks for the great reminder!