The number of leatherback nests recorded along our entire survey area is now over 170 with more than 107 nests on Juno Beach alone! This season looks to be a record year.
We have been spotting around 5 turtles a night for the past week or so and it has been a lot of fun out there. Many of the turtles we are encountering are new to our beach, but we are seeing a lot of our "old friends" One of the older girls is "Ikeya". She first nested during the 2002 season and she is pretty big - 168 centimeters long!
Ikeya is interesting because she is tends to nest on the same nights each season (May 24th). She also has a wild habit of switching beaches between the south end of Juno Beach and Boca Raton which is more than 50 kilometers to the south. She has been spotted twice on Boca Raton beaches and three times along our beach. She is also one of the few turtles that has nested two years in a row.
We should be coming up on the peak part of the season pretty soon, and I expect we will be very busy this coming week.
Stay tuned!
