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| This is the sign marking a nest |
The sign is how it all started - a turtle watch volunteer saw evidence that a several hundred pound turtle crawled up near the dunes and laid her eggs. Average loggerhead turtles bury between eighty and 120 eggs. The volunteers "mark" the nest, and watch for signs of hatchlings. This happened several days ago, so tonight the post-operation evaluation was scheduled.
They publish information by the Turtle Watch people (volunteers), and tonight a very large crowd turned out to witness this procedure. It starts with a careful excavation of the nest, which had been marked several months earlier. This time the volunteers will log next depth, how large the chamber was at the bottom (think of a chemistry beaker round at the bottom), and how many hatched eggs are found. The baby turtles (whose tracks were spotted by early morning "watchers") are gone - well, all but one live survivor - and now its time to record the statistics. That one lone survivor, who apparently missed the voting and was still on the island, will go to Mote Marine for rehab, to strengthen his little flippers and be given a ride out to the seaweed beds his brothers and sisters were headed for a few nights earlier. Oh, from the count about 77 got out of the nest and went toward the moonlight on the water. Another nine eggs, which resemble rubbery pingpong balls, never fertilized and were intact, as opposed to those shown below.
They publish information by the Turtle Watch people (volunteers), and tonight a very large crowd turned out to witness this procedure. It starts with a careful excavation of the nest, which had been marked several months earlier. This time the volunteers will log next depth, how large the chamber was at the bottom (think of a chemistry beaker round at the bottom), and how many hatched eggs are found. The baby turtles (whose tracks were spotted by early morning "watchers") are gone - well, all but one live survivor - and now its time to record the statistics. That one lone survivor, who apparently missed the voting and was still on the island, will go to Mote Marine for rehab, to strengthen his little flippers and be given a ride out to the seaweed beds his brothers and sisters were headed for a few nights earlier. Oh, from the count about 77 got out of the nest and went toward the moonlight on the water. Another nine eggs, which resemble rubbery pingpong balls, never fertilized and were intact, as opposed to those shown below.
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| empty shells |
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