Night patrolEvery Bight members saying at the house of turtles walked to the beach at 8 pm and skimmed looking for tracks. If a track was found we would follow it slowly with our red headlights not to disturb the female if she is laying eggs or digging. Simple small disturbances can make a sea turtle feel uneasy and retreat to the Ocean. If we do indeed find one we see where she is at along the process. We wait a distance from her to let her work. After 1-3 hours she is usually ready and laying eggs or has given up. If she dose lay eggs we would collect them right out of the hole into a bag. Measurements of the turtles size were recorded along with any distinctive masks. If she had a marker the information was added to her file. For new turtles, Our job was to put a tracker on her to identify her as a she may return. After the turtles fills and crawls out of the hole, we take the collected eggs and burry them in a good spot with wet sand. There are markings along the posts and trees behind the beach which are used to make triangulations to relocate nests. Two posts are measured from and recorded at the spot the nest is. As the eggs are being dropped in the manmade hole, they are counted and written in the file. After this the beach can continue to be swept.
|
ExcavationsIn the afternoon 30-65 days after a nest was laid, volunteers and workers find and dig up the shells. Firs measuring from one post and another and meeting in the cross hares of the recorded measurements the digging begins. Every nest is buried with a dated tag to indicated the nest is there. Sometimes it takes a while but the eggs are received and each one is tallied as either a 1, meaning it was still in it's first stage of development (still yoke) 2, meaning second stage or some developed features and color change 3, the third stage, a mostly formed turtle maybe attempts to hatch, and 4 is either. a completely emerged turtle or an empty shell. From these calculations it can be determined how many from this nest was likely to have hatched and survived. This information along with the information collected on the turtles themselves can over time give a long term picture of the species developments and conditions they face. This research is just the beginning to the things we can do.
|