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And Vida makes 400!

Kelly Martin — Tue, 11 May 2010 23:08:10 -0500

Last night we tagged our 400th turtle! As I've said, the project began ten seasons ago in 2001. In 2001, we tagged just 23 turtles. In 2002, we increased to 43 and the numbers have been increasing since. Last night, I tagged the 400th turtle! She was a beautiful turtle that Rebeccah found at the south end of Juno Beach. I went down to take over for her so she could continue down the beach. I decided to name the turtle "Vida" which is spanish for life. Last night we encountered seven turtles total. Rebeccah found Juliet, a turtle from ten days ago, on her first run. She missed another turtle just past Juliet who must have been on the beach at sunset because Rebeccah watched her slip into the water at around 9:20. As I worked on Juliet and Rebeccah continued, I got a call from her as she got to Singer Island. She had found a very special turtle - Venus! If you search through our blog, you will find Venus' story. Venus was one of our first turtles from 2001. She returned again in 2006 with horrific injuries from a boat strike. The team that watched her nesting thought there was no way she could survive such injuries but there was not much we could do but sit and watch her nest. After leaving the beach, we assumed we would not see Venus again. But we were wrong. In 2008, Sandy called to say that she had found Venus nesting again and she looked perfect! Venus healed from the injuries to everyone's amazement. The following image shows what Venus' injuries looked like when she nested in 2006. Her lungs were exposed and her carapace was split almost completely down.

After Venus, Rebeccah found another new turtle on Juno that she named Cayenne and then on her next run, she found Vida as she was heading south. She called me to come out and tag her while she continued to Singer Island. That was Rebeccah's last turtle of the night but just as I finished with her, Andrew called to say that he also had a new turtle on the north end. Since he hadn't been to Jupiter in a while, and his turtle was still digging, I went down to help him cover the beach. As I ran north of where Andrew was stopped, I found a turtle digging near the reef club. This was Lucille, a turtle that my mom got to see and name twenty days ago. I left Lucille and rounded the reef club to find yet another turtle! This was Morsel, a turtle from 2008 that also nested ten days ago. Andrew decided to name his new turtle Eilish after a family friend and turtle lover. What a busy night for us! Eight nests total and seven turtles seen.

On Sunday night we had four turtles. Kelly S was back in town for a couple days to catch up with her turtles! She ran the south end for a bit and found a new turtle in Juno. She named the turtle Mum (after Mumtaz Mahal - she just returned from the Sea Turtle Symposium in India). We also encountered Espina, Pumpkin and one additional turtle that Sonja named Mzazi (Swahili for mother since it was Mother's Day).

We have a total of 60 leatherback nests on Juno Beach and 13 on Jupiter. We also have 14 loggerhead nests on Juno and 4 on Jupiter. The loggerheads have just started to return in the past couple nights.

You know it's summer when...

Kelly Martin — Sat, 08 May 2010 05:36:16 -0500

you get your first beetle in the eye! It happened to me last night. I was driving along, enjoying some music on my IPod when "whack!" Right in the eye. Giant beetles (ok, not giant, but pretty big) that seem to fly right at eye level. Hazards of the job I guess. After being skunked for two nights in a row on Tuesday and Wednesday, the leatherbacks finally returned. Thursday night, the South Carolina crew (Kelly, Barb, Bev and Mary) assisted us in search of a leatherback. Lucky for them, Andrew found two. Unlucky for them, the first one was in MacArthur park, where nobody can reach them except by atv. That was Deema, a turtle from this year. The second one was slightly more accessible. This was Tempest, a turtle that we've seen once already this year as well as in 2005 and 2007. They were able to watch her finish up her nest and return to the water. Last night was a very productive night out there. Lots of loggerheads to start the evening - they seem to have finally shown up! We had 4 or 5 nests on Juno Beach. Just before midnight, Chris and I rode north and found Corey just north of the Juno pier. Corey is a leatherback from last year that has nested once already this year. Just as we found Corey, Sonja called to say that she had a turtle digging just north of Seminole Golf Course. This was a new turtle that Sonja and her parents named Barbie, after a family friend and turtle-lover in Michigan. She continued on a found yet another turtle at the south end of Seminole Golf Course at around 1:30. This time, it was Kathy again. Kathy was here in 2008 and was featured in a National Geographic article about light pollution. Finally, at around 4:00, Sonja found our last turtle of the night. I joined her to watch Prissy, who we've seen several times already this year. Overall, a great night and a beautiful sunrise to follow it up.

Sad News

Kelly Martin — Tue, 04 May 2010 07:40:30 -0500

We received a call from FWC yesterday that the police department in Hobe Sound had recovered a dead leatherback. She had been hit by a boat and had severe prop wounds over her carapace and front flipper. Our stranding team went to document the turtle and discovered that it was one of our tagged turtles, Nanelle. Nanelle was tagged by Rebeccah and I on April 19th on the beach in front of Seminole Golf Course. She was seen only once and had either just nested or was just returning to the beach to nest when she was found yesterday. There were eggs exposed in one of the prop wounds. Nanelle is the third turtle that we've tagged that has been encountered in a non-nesting event this year. As I previously mentioned, Piper was encountered in the intracoastal after being hit by a boat but she was released alive. Annie was captured in a trawl net from a dredging project at the Port Canaveral. Annie was released unharmed. A sad reminder of the dangers that boats pose to leatherbacks and all turtles.

Where are the loggerheads?

Kelly Martin — Tue, 04 May 2010 07:09:56 -0500

We are somewhat concerned by the fact that we do not have a single loggerhead nest on the Juno Beach survey area yet. We have recorded one nest in Jupiter and Sonja encountered a nesting turtle in MacArthur park but so far, we don't have a nest on Juno Beach. Over the past six years, which were the lowest on record, we've seen an average of 20-25 nests on Juno by this date. It is possible that the record cold winter pushed back the start of the season. We're still waiting.

Leatherback nesting continues. Saturday night we encountered two turtles. First we saw Michelle, who was here ten days ago. Shortly after that, Rebeccah found a new turtle near the reef club. She decided to name the turtle Kai, which is Hawaiian for ocean. Sunday night welcomed the return of an old friend - Ursa! Ursa was one of the first turtles encountered by our researchers when the project began in 2001. She nested again in 2003, 2005 and 2007. Curiously, she skipped 2009 but came back to nest this year. Rebeccah also encountered another turtle in the park. Last night we saw five turtles! Denise, Musca and Rosie returned. Andrew found a new turtle in Jupiter and named her Roma. Chris also found a new turtle false crawling just south of the center. He decided to name her Almond - since they look like almonds ;) We also got a call from Dean Bagley tonight from the UCF tagging crew in Melbourne. She found Salty! Salty was tagged here on April 18th, 2005 but hasn't been back since. I guess she prefers Melbourne! Salty nested in Melbourne in 2005, 5 times in 2007, once in 2009 and returned again this year!

And so it begins...

Kelly Martin — Sat, 01 May 2010 23:00:21 -0500

Chris has done it every year so he may be disappointed if I break tradition - cue up the chainsaw sound effects! Wednesday night, we heard the deep rumble of chainsaws coming from the beaches - the loggers have invaded! Andrew spotted our first set of loggerhead tracks in Jupiter. There was one tiny false crawl but we all know what that means - it begins! Thursday night we had our first nest. I spotted a set of tracks from a false crawl in MacArthur park last night and Sonja just called to say that she encountered a nesting loggerhead in the park tonight.

Updates

Kelly Martin — Sat, 01 May 2010 22:45:26 -0500

It slowed down after our 15 turtle night. Thursday night we had four turtles on our beaches. The night started off with Alice at around 9:00. Alice had false crawled the night before so we anticipated that she might show up early. Alice has a long history with our project. As I mentioned before, she was the first turtle spotted by our researchers when the project began in 2001. Alice has returned many times but never nested. She goes through the same routine as all of our other turtles but has never actually produced any eggs. She has done this every time that we’ve seen her and we are unable to determine what is wrong with her that would cause this behavior. Later in the evening, Andrew spotted Roomba near Seminole golf course. Just after that he found a new turtle in MacArthur Park. We rounded out the evening with Morsel around 2:00am. This was her first visit of the year. She was tagged in 2008 and observed four times that season. Last night was a bit slower. We only had one turtle. I spotted Belinda just after midnight at the southern boundary of MacArthur Park. Belinda was first spotted ten days ago by Chris near the Jupiter Inlet.

Wow!!

Kelly Martin — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 05:49:55 -0500

I am very happy to report that we had an insane night out there! 15 turtles in our survey area!!! It was the second busiest night in the history of the project (April 22nd, 2009 still wins with 17 turtles). The only down side to such a fantastic night - it seems that all of the turtles nested at the same time and it was EARLY so we missed several of them. Andrew found Eve at around 9:30 on the north end of Juno. Christy called at about 9:45 to say that she had a new turtle at the south end of Juno. Just after leaving that turtle, she found Espina nesting. As she continued down the beach after working up two turtles, she saw two nests in MacArthur Park that she hadn't made it to. Next was Prissy in MacArthur. Shocked that there had been three turtles in the park, she continued on. Amazingly, there were three more missed nests! 6 nests in MacArthur Park before 11:00!! Unfortunately we missed five of them. Next, Andrew found Alice just north of the pier. Alice was just here ten days ago but this time she didn't stay. She left after a quick false crawl. He called about an hour later to say that he had TWO turtles in front of him. Alice had returned but again, she didn't stay. As she left, he quickly checked on the other turtle. This turtle was Jupiter, a turtle that we originally tagged in 2002 and saw again in 2006 and 2008. She also false crawled. Both turtles came up on a very narrow stretch of beach without any good nesting sand. Jupiter emerged again about an hour later in the exact same spot but once again, didn't stay. Christy made it to Singer Island to find another missed nest and on her way back, found two new turtles on Juno Beach and MacArthur Park . I worked up a new turtle nesting in front of the marinelife center at around 3:30am. We rounded out the evening with 15 total turtles on our survey area, 9 that we saw.

Beautiful nights

Kelly Martin — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 05:30:17 -0500

We've had a couple of gorgeous nights out on the beach. The moon has been full, the tide has been low and the water is as flat as glass. It's been a very enjoyable ride for everyone out there. Unfortunately, we've only seen one turtle in the last two nights. Cocoline returned for her third visit tonight at around 3:00am. She nested right next to her previous nest from 20 days ago. So far this year, we've seen 55 turtles for a total of 77 encounters. We've documented 39 nests on Juno Beach and and 12 on Jupiter (the rest are on MacArthur Park and Singer Island).

Finally!!!!!!!!

Kelly Martin — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 23:12:27 -0500

I finally got my morning turtle! Well, sort of. This turtle was spotted on Juno Beach at around 5:20 on Tuesday morning. We were expecting a perfect morning turtle, actually a full daylight turtle since the sun comes up around 6:30 and leatherbacks typically take about an hour and forty-five minutes to nest. This turtle didn't stay to nest but she did crawl around the beach for about an hour so Chris, Rebeccah and I got to watch her return to the water just before sunrise. The turtle was Kaysie, a turtle that we first saw about ten days ago in MacArthur Park. It was a gorgeous morning and we were able to snap a few pictures before she left. I was very excited to see my first true morning turtle - although I do wish she had stayed to nest. She did return the next night to successfully nest back in MacArthur Park. We've been averaging about 3-4 turtles a night for the past week. We are excited to report the return of Alice! Alice was the first turtle ever spotted by our researchers when the leatherback project started in 2001. She has since returned in 2004, 2005 and 2008. Chris spotted Alice in Jupiter on Monday night. We've had a good mix of new and returning turtles. Rosie came back to nest again on Singer Island. Kathy, Romy, Melanie and Deema returned after ten days and Olive returned after 20 days. Our new turtles include Belinda, Denise, Michelle, Tillie, Kona and a very special turtle to me - Lucille. Lucille is named after my neice, Madilyn Lucille, who received her middle name after her great grandmother (my grandmother). My mother got to watch this turtle nest on Wednesday night and decided to name her Lucille. There are many generations represented in this turtle. We've also had a few interesting stories with our turtles that did not occur on our beaches. Over the weekend, we received an email that one of our turtles had been caught in the Port Canaveral Inlet. There is a dredging project going on in the inlet and a trawl net is towed through the area to make sure that no turtles are pulled into the dredge. The crew was surprised to find a leatherback in their net and even more surprised to see that she was tagged. It was Annie, a turtle that we first saw back in 2006 and again ten days ago. The turtle was released unharmed. Yesterday, a leatherback was spotted in the intracoastal near Jupiter Island with a boat strike. After our rehab staff and FWC personnel observed the turtle for several hours, it was decided that it would be in her best interest to move her out to the mouth of the inlet. Leatherbacks generally do not do well in a rehabilitation facility and it is usually better to allow them to heal on their own. After scanning the turtle, we discovered that it was Piper, a turtle that we tagged in 2007. Liz and Rebeccah are on the beach tonight and they've already seen two turtles - Melanie - a turtle from ten days ago, and Corey - a turtle that we just saw last year. Corey, named after my sister, nested twice last year. She is the second turtle that we've seen this year that also nested last year. We've currently got 37 nests on Juno Beach and 12 on Jupiter. Last year by this date we had 84 on Juno and 8 on Jupiter. Although 37 seems low, we've typically seen an up and down pattern in nest numbers so it still looks like we're on the high end of a low year.

More and more...

Kelly Martin — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 06:41:48 -0500

We've seen quite a few more turtles over the past few nights. We're starting to see several turtles that we've already seen this season. Katabatik, Helen, Kathleen and Lucy have returned over the past three nights. Each has been seen once already this year. We've also had two new turtles. Melanie - named after Andrew's cousin - nested on Tuesday night. Kitty - named after Rebeccah's mom - nested last night just south of the LMC. We've also seen two turtles over the past couple nights that were tagged in previous years that have not been here yet this year. It seems that we're getting a very good mix of turtles lately. We've now seen 38 individuals since we started surveying. 19 turtles were tagged in previous years, 19 were new this year. This is about average. Over the past few years about half of the turtles that we've seen are new. The entire crew is very happy to be keeping so busy out there with turtles!