Listen to a Turtle Talk
About 20 visitors got a close up look at what Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring's 92 volunteers do out on the beach every morning at a Turtle Talk on Wednesday night.
Each takes a one-mile stretch of beach once or twice a week and walks it up and down, checking for tracks that look like commas in the sand, if a loggerhead sea turtle made them, or hyphens, if a green turtle made them, Turtle Watch Education Director Karen Anderson said.
Looking for nests where between 80 and 100 eggs were laid the night before, volunteers are trained to identify the fluffy sand hills that indicate a mother turtle has buried her eggs and covered them up, trying to camouflage them.
When they identify a nest, volunteers dig until they find one egg, then re-cover it and stake it off to protect it from beachgoers.
When no nest is found, it's a false crawl, when sea turtles come ashore without nesting. That happens about twice as often as they lay eggs, she said.
Some false crawls are due to beach renourishment, said volunteer Denise Gardner, because the turtle doesn't recognize the new contours of the beach, which have changed since she imprinted on it when she hatched. Turtles nest in the same general area they hatch, with Florida west coast turtles staying west of the peninsula, east coast turtles staying to the east and panhandle turtles staying north.
Once so far this year, a volunteer was privileged to see a rare daytime nesting, which probably happened because the turtle had tried to nest a few times before, but had been deterred by lights or beach furniture or people or predators, and she couldn't wait to lay her eggs until the following night. Sometimes, when turtles are disoriented by lights or obstacles, they can't get back out to the Gulf and back ashore farther down the beach in time to nest, so they drop their eggs in the water, where they die.
A turtle's preferred nesting time is between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m., and they take about two hours to nest, Anderson said.
One daytime nesting happened last year on the bay side of Anna Maria Island, the only place in the country where sea turtles nest on the bay side of the Island as well as the Gulf side, Anderson said.
The eggs at the cool bottom of the nests develop as males, while the eggs at the warmer top of the nest develop as females, or, as Anderson calls them, "cool dudes and hot chicks." Turtle Watch no longer relocates nests that are close to the water's edge to keep them from flooding, as it changes the gender of the turtles.
Turtles adapt to flooded nests, Gardner said, noting that after Tropical Storm Colin in June, which killed many nests on the Island, turtles nested higher and drier on the beach.
Nests hatch 40 to 90 days after they are laid, also usually at night, and all at once, in what is called a boil. A few stragglers are sometimes unearthed three days later, when volunteers dig up the nest to count the eggshells and determine how many hatchlings were in the nest. Only one in 1,000 survives.
Right now on the Island, hatchings are common, and mothers are still nesting, so beachgoers are asked to fill in holes that can trap them, remove furniture, tents and other objects from the beaches at night, stay clear of turtles you may encounter on the beach, don't use any lights on the beach at night, turn off lights or close drapes and blinds on beach-facing windows and rent only from accommodations that have turtle-friendly outdoor lighting.
Also, Gardner said, Turtle Watch requests that no wish lanterns be set off on the Island, as even the biodegradable frames can strangle turtles and other marine life.
Turtle Talks will continue on Tuesdays, Aug. 2, 9 and 16, at 10 a.m., at CrossPointe Fellowship, 8605 Gulf Drive, Holmes Beach.
Turtle Tips
During sea turtle season, May 1 – Oct. 31, please follow these tips:
• Turn off lights visible from the beach and close blinds from sundown to sunrise; lights confuse nesting sea turtles and may cause them to go back to sea and drop their eggs in the water, where they won't hatch. Light can also attract hatchlings away from the water.
• Don't use flashlights, light sticks, or cell phone or camera flashes on the beach at night.
• Remove all objects from the sand from sundown to sunrise; they can deter sea turtles from nesting and disorient hatchlings.
• Fill in the holes you dig in the sand before leaving the beach; they can trap nesting and hatching sea turtles, which cannot live long out of the water.
• Don't use sky lanterns or fireworks; they litter the beach and Gulf.
• Do not trim trees and plants that shield the beach from lights.
• Never touch a sea turtle; it's the law. If you see people disturbing turtles, call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's Wildlife Alert hotline at 888-404-FWCC (3922).
Manatee Tips
• Obey posted signs for manatee slow-speed zones.
• Wear polarized sunglasses to see manatees in your path.
• If you observe a manatee mating herd - several manatees gathered as males vie to mate with a female - watch from at least 100 feet away. Coming any closer might disrupt the mating or endanger you; adult manatees typically weigh more than 1,000 pounds.
• Never feed or water manatees as they will become habituated to people, which could put them at risk of injury.
• Stow trash and line when underway. Marine debris that blows overboard can become ingested by or entangled around manatees.
• Report stranded or dead manatees to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) Wildlife Alert hotline at 1-888-404-FWCC (3922).
Bird tips
During bird nesting season, March through August, please follow these tips:
• Never touch a shorebird chick, even if it's wandering outside a staked nesting area.
• Teach kids not to chase birds – bird parents may abandon nests if they're disturbed.
• Don't feed birds – it encourages them to fly at people aggressively and is not good for their health.
• If birds are screeching and flying at you, you're too close.
• Avoid posted bird nesting areas and use designated walkways to the beach.
• Keep pets away from bird nesting areas.
• Keep the beach clean; food scraps attract predators such as raccoons and crows to the beach, and litter can entangle birds and other wildlife.
• If you see people disturbing nesting birds, call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's Wildlife Alert hotline at 888-404-FWCC (3922).
Dolphin Tips
DO
• Stay at least 50 yards away from dolphins when viewing from a vessel or watercraft.
• Limit time spent observing dolphins to 30 minutes or less.
• Avoid making loud or sudden noises near dolphins.
• Move away slowly if a dolphin's behavior indicates the animal is stressed or disturbed.
• Look Before You Book! Book wild dolphin viewing tours with businesses that responsibly view dolphins in the wild and help dolphin conservation. See Facebook "Don't Feed Wild Dolphins" and "Dolphin SMART."
• Put your vessel's engine in neutral if in the close vicinity of dolphins.
• Call for help if you hook a dolphin on a fishing line or see a stranded or injured dolphin - Mote Marine's Stranding Investigations Program, 941-988-0212.
DON'T
• Pursue, swim with, pet or touch wild dolphins, even if they approach you.
• Feed or attempt to feed wild dolphins.
• Encircle or entrap dolphins with vessels.
• Direct a vessel or accelerate toward dolphins with the intent of creating a pressure wake to bow or wake-ride.
• Separate mother/calf pairs.
• Drive watercraft through or over groups of dolphins.
