At sunrise today, it was time to assess PK7201, a loggerhead nest that has been hatching over the last several days. We had to count eggshells, live hatchlings and embryos that didn't hatch, for one reason or another. There were three stragglers in the nest, ready to greet the world.
Since this was a nest we relocated about 100 feet north of where it was laid, we gave the turtles a lift to the approximate site of the original nest (though the area was reclaimed by the sea about 5 weeks ago... talk about erosion!), and set them out for their first swim.
Two of the three seemed to stick together...
one crawled in circles because it had sand in it's eyes!
Eventually, they all greeted the huge sea (which came complete with it's own shadow),
and took their first swim. How overwhelming that must be for a one ounce turtle-ette!
25 September 2008
Little Loggerheads at Perdido
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Hello World!
Which way to the sea?
2 comments:
thanks for sharing these photos. I read Carl Safina's Voyage of the Turtle and was just enthralled. thanks for doing such great work!!
Hey Summer -
Carl does great work, and he really gets involved with scientists and interested parties on every level when he writes a book. He spent a lot of time with sea turtle biologists when writing that book! If you liked "Voyage of the Turtle", try "Song for a Blue Ocean" -- it's difficult to absorb all he says, but very thorough and well written.
Glad you enjoyed the photos. These little guys were troopers - one had eyes so full of sand that s/he crawled in circles, getting closer and closer to the Gulf, for twenty minutes!
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