10-4-2023
Hello Sea Turtle Lovers!
Wow, I cannot believe how quickly this season has flown by. As of October 3rd, all nests at Chateaux Sur Mer have been inventoried! This means that there are no longer any active nests on your beach, making this the last newsletter of the season.
While my heart breaks to say goodbye, I am excited to share with you how your beach did for the 2023 nesting season. Your beach saw a total of 41 nests and 73 false crawls (when the turtle comes up to the beach but doesn’t nest). Of those 41 nests, 39 were loggerhead nests and 2 were green nests! Your nest with the highest number of hatchlings produced 131 tiny loggerheads. Altogether your beach produced a total of 731 hatchlings!
Our night team was lucky enough to encounter 8 nesting turtles on your beach this season. This includes the first turtle our night team encountered this season – Lingonberry! Your beach also saw a nest from beloved green turtle Millie. I have inserted a chart with all of the turtles from your beach and the year they were originally tagged.
Name
Year Tagged
Lizzo
2023
Ellie Goulding
2023
Billie Eilish
2023
Lingonberry
2019
Peanut
2019
Mint Chocolate Chip
2017
Millie
2017
Striate Bubble
2016
Now, you may be wondering what it is we will be doing as sea turtle season wraps up. Well, there are still some nests on Sanibel and Captiva that we will continue to monitor until it is time for them to be inventoried. But as we enter the offseason we will be spending a lot of time proofing our data. This entails us going through all of our data entries and double checking that no mistakes were made. Though this isn’t quite as exciting as tagging turtles and searching for nests, it is just as important!
As we correct the errors in the data, some of the numbers I have reported to you about your beach may change slightly. When all proofing is complete you will receive a finalized version of all of the activity seen on your beach this season.
This turtle season is one I will always hold close to my heart. Sanibel and Captiva broke records for the total number of loggerhead nests in a season. Actually, the entire state of Florida broke records for total sea turtle nests – and we all got to be a part of it!
As for me personally, this was my first sea turtle nesting season and I am so grateful for the amazing opportunity it’s been. And I am even more grateful to have shared this crazy season with all of you. Getting to tell turtle tales to you has brought me so much joy this summer! Thank you for coming on this journey with me as we learned about the majestic mamas and adorable hatchlings of Sanibel and Captiva.
This season wouldn’t have been the same without you! Your contribution to conservation plays a huge role in the protection of sea turtles. Even with a record breaking nesting season, sea turtles still face many challenges. It is vital we continue to learn from these creatures so we can keep Sanibel and Captiva a safe place for sea turtles.
Thank you again for all the support you have given us, it means the world.
I look forward to another incredible nesting season with you all in the future.
Best,
Amanda
9-18-2023
Hello Sea Turtle Ambassadors!
Our sea turtle team has been very busy the past few weeks as we deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Idalia. Though Sanibel and Captiva did not receive a direct hit, the storm surge was enough to physically alter the beaches.
Many of our nests have been buried under several feet of sand, some so deep that the 4 foot stakes used to mark nest locations are completely buried. Because of that, it is hard to determine whether a nest was washed out into the ocean during the storm or if the eggs still remain deep in the sand.
Luckily, our team was prepared for a situation such as this. Due to the high number of storm events that occur in this region, our team has recorded highly accurate GPS points (precise to less than a centimeter) for all of our nests using a Trimble device. We can now take this Trimble out to find where the egg chamber should be located. Our team has been putting all hands on deck to locate and dig out nests. Because of the depth at which the nests are now buried, the process is taking some time. We have developed a plan to prioritize nests in the hatch window in the hopes that they will still hatch.
As of today, all nests in the hatch window have been dug out on Sanibel and Captiva, as well as all nests from Bowman’s Beach to Lighthouse Beach on Sanibel! While digging out a particularly deep nest, our biologist found a live hatchling ready to emerge – so there is hope!
Thankfully, 83.2% of all nests on Sanibel and 70.8% of all nests on Captiva had already been inventoried and were no longer active on the beach when Idalia occurred. Of the 152 nests that were still on Sanibel, 138 have been located so far. Of the 88 nests that were still on Captiva, 62 have been located so far.
While it is sad to have lost nests to the storm surge, I remind you that sea turtles have developed a life strategy to deal with nest loss. Sea turtles lay multiple nests in a season with each clutch averaging about 100 eggs. So when natural occurrences like storms and predation happen, sea turtle populations are still okay!
As for how your specific beach held up, 32 out of the 41 total nests had already been inventoried before the storm! Of those that remained, 2 have been officially declared lost, 5 have been found and inventoried, and 2 are still on the beach (hopefully ready to hatch soon).
I hope that by the time I send out the next newsletter we will have found and dug out all remaining nests! Though the past few weeks have been a bit crazy, our team is ever so grateful to be doing the work we do. And as always, we are grateful for your unwavering support.
Best,
Amanda
9-6-23
Hello Sea Turtle Lovers!
I cannot believe how quickly this season has progressed. Sanibel and Captiva have not seen any newly laid nests since our last newsletter but it is still possible that there will be more. Our current nest total is 1,198, with 1,174 loggerhead nests and 24 green nests. This marks a record breaking season for loggerhead nests! Your specific beach has seen 41 total nests this year.
But it isn’t just Sanibel and Captiva breaking records, beaches all across the coast of Florida have experienced newly high nest numbers. The state of Florida as a whole has broken its previous annual record of both loggerhead and green nests! It is so exciting to be a part of this incredible season!
Sea turtles visit places far beyond just Florida. They are distributed worldwide, with exact ranges varying between species. Since loggerheads are the most common species seen here, I have attached a map depicting their global distribution based on satellite telemetry from 1,273 individual loggerhead turtles. While we are lucky enough to witness sea turtles on the beach when they nest and hatch, they spend the rest of their lives in the ocean.
You may be wondering how sea turtles can travel such long distances and still find their way back to the beach they hatched from. Well, sea turtles have a special sense that allows them to detect the Earth’s magnetic fields. This serves as their personal GPS system allowing them to navigate the sea. I find it so heartwarming that the nesting turtles on Sanibel go off on their incredible journeys but will one day return home to lay the next generation of turtles.
In fact, your beach has seen 728 total hatchlings make it to the water so far. It’s crazy to think that in 25-30 years some of them may be returning to Chateaux Sur Mer to lay their own nests. In the meantime, we will continue to patrol the beaches and send you updates as the season continues.
Thank you for all the support. Until next time!
Best,
Amanda
P.S. Some of you may be wondering how the storm surge from Hurricane Idalia affected our remaining sea turtle nests. Our team is continuing to assess the situation and I will provide a more detailed update in the next newsletter.
8-14-23
Hello Sea Turtle Ambassadors!
I hope everyone has had a good August so far. The hatchlings have been keeping us busy with 21,655 hatchlings making it to the water so far! Of these hatchlings, 710 have been from your beach! Chateaux Sur Mer has seen a total of 41 nests this season – 15 of which are still actively waiting to hatch. Lingonberry, a mama turtle of one of the nests on your beach, had a nest with a hatch success rate of 95%, with 77 hatchlings making it to the water from this clutch. This is especially exciting because she was the first sea turtle our night crew encountered this season! What a full circle moment to now have so many little Lingonberries succeed!
Now, I want to make a clarification on a statement I made in the last newsletter. I mentioned that Sanibel produces mostly females, but I want to emphasize that Sanibel does produce some males. It is possible the groundwater from the Sanibel River may have a cooling effect on some nests, though this isn’t certain. Sex ratio studies have been performed on Sanibel, something that will be increasingly important as climate change causes warmer sands that will shift the sea turtle population to be more heavily female.
In addition to warmer sands, climate change is also causing an increase in ocean temperatures. We have had a few people ask us how warmer waters will affect sea turtles, especially after the water in The Keys was reported to be 101°F on July 24th. Typically, warm water is preferred for hatchlings as it can allow for faster and more efficient swimming. However, it is not well known how extreme high temperatures will affect their swimming. The Critical Thermal Maximum (CTM) is a measure of the maximum temperature an animal can withstand before it begins to experience uncoordinated, spastic movements. Unfortunately, the CTM for sea turtles in the ocean is not well studied, so I cannot give you a definitive answer as to how hatchlings (or adult sea turtles) may be affected by the hot waters this summer. That is why it is important to keep doing research, so we can learn more about what we need to do to help our flippered friends!
We thank you for your support in learning more about sea turtles! We wouldn’t be able to do the work we do without your help.
Until next time,
Amanda
P.S. I have attached a video of some hatchlings being released after inventory – Enjoy!
7-31-23 from sea turtle intern Amanda Manrique
Hello Turtle Lovers!
I hope everyone has had a wonderful July! As we near the end of the month, we are seeing a shift in turtle activity. Nesting turtles will become less and less common. In fact, we have already seen a significant decrease in mama turtles at night. For that reason, tonight (July 31) will be the last night our tagging team will be out looking for turtles. In honor of the ending of night surveys, you all got to vote on the names of the last turtles we spotted. Thanks to your vote, Carrie Underwood and Aretha Franklin were named last week! Hopefully we will continue to see these ladies for years to come!
Now that we are getting deeper into the hatching season, babies will be emerging from the sand every night by the hundreds! And with that, we get to see some pretty interesting things. This week a leucistic loggerhead hatchling was found during a nest inventory on Tarpon Bay Beach. This is a genetic condition that causes a lack of pigmentation resulting in a white appearance. I was lucky enough to be a part of this release and have attached some photos to share with you!
People often ask us if we know whether the hatchlings are boys or girls. The simple answer is no. But historically, Sanibel and Captiva produce mostly female hatchlings. This is because sea turtles have temperature-dependent sex determination. Incubation temperatures below 82℉ produce male turtles while temperatures above 89℉ produce female turtles. Any temperature in between can produce male or female turtles!
Though I can’t tell you with 100% confidence the gender of your hatchlings, I can tell you that Chateaux Sur Mer has seen 516 successful hatches documented – that's an additional 329 from our last update! And there’s still 22 active nests on your beach waiting to hatch, 2 of which were laid in the past week. As for Sanibel and Captiva as a whole, we have documented 15,188 emerged hatchlings! I hope these numbers bring you as much joy as they do me.
I look forward to sending you more updates as the season progresses.
Best,
Amanda Manrique
7-17-2023 From sea turtle intern Amanda Manrique
Hello Sea Turtle Ambassadors!
We have continued to see lots of turtle activity on the beach, with both nesting mama turtles and hatching babies crawling on the sand at night. Your beach has seen 12 new nests laid since our last update, making a total of 38 nests laid so far, as well as its first few hatches! From those hatches, we recorded 187 hatchlings successfully making it to the water!
Our night team has been lucky enough to spot multiple nesting turtles on your beach including 2 new turtles Ellie Goulding and Billie Eillish. You also had a special visit from Millie, a tagged Green turtle from 2017! Green nests only account for around 3% of the nests on Sanibel, so it is always very exciting when we see one.
Before nesting season starts to slow down, I want to give you all a chance to participate in naming a turtle on your beach! Please use the link to vote on a celebrity name for a turtle. Feel free to leave a suggestion besides the ones listed. But keep in mind, we have tagged many new turtles this season, so some names may already be taken.
As for Sanibel and Captiva as a whole, we are seeing a record high number of nests being documented with 1,104 nests laid so far this season. Of the nests that have hatched, we have documented 5,144 hatchlings that have made it to the water.
We appreciate all of your support during such an eventful season!
Best,
Amanda
6-14-2023 From sea turtle intern Amanda Manrique:
Hello Sea Turtle Ambassadors!
I am so excited to share with you some of the statistics about the nests we are currently seeing on Sanibel and Captiva. As of today (June 14, 2023), there are currently 571 nests between the two islands. We are so excited to be having such a busy season! We are currently experiencing what we call a “Green” year. This means that we are expecting a higher amount of Green turtles to lay nests. Loggerhead turtles are the most common sea turtles to nest on Sanibel and Captiva, making up about 98% of the nests from the 2022 season. Sea turtles return to the shore to nest about every 3 years so we should be seeing the Green turtles from previous years returning this season. We have already seen 14 Green nests this season in comparison to 4 Green nests at this time last year. While we love our Loggerheads, we are excited for the potential for higher species diversity on our beaches with an increase in Green nests. Now you may be wondering, what is the difference between a Green turtle and a Loggerhead turtle? One simple way to tell the difference between Loggerheads and Greens is by looking at their heads. Loggerheads are notorious for their very large skulls, which is how they got their name. In comparison, Green turtles have much smaller heads. Looking more in depth into their skulls, Green turtles have a serrated jaw to help digest their primary food source. Which leads to another key difference between Greens and Loggerheads: their diet. Green turtles are known for consuming sea grass while Loggerheads tend to consume more fish and crustaceans. But one thing the species have in common is that they are both classified as Endangered under the IUCN Red List, so it is important we do our part to protect Greens and Loggerheads alike.
Now for the update on the turtles you are helping protect on your beach! There are currently 20 nests on your beach, 7 of which were laid in the past 2 weeks. Our night crew has been lucky enough to spot a number of turtles so far, so we know who it is out there crawling around. In fact, Mint Chocolate Chip was spotted just last week! She was originally tagged in 2017 and we are happy to have her back on Sanibel. I’m excited to see who else will be making an appearance on your beach as the season progresses!
As you may remember, each year we pick a theme for our turtle names to help us identify them. This season we are naming our sea turtles after famous female artists, so you may have a celebrity making an appearance on your beach this summer. We have already spotted a few stars including Whitney Houston, Shania Twain, Dolly Parton and Stevie Nicks! We are having so much fun naming these turtles and want you all to be a part of it as well, so I will be sending out a poll in the next few weeks so you can vote on a name for a turtle that nests on your beach!
Thank you so much for your contribution to helping our flippered friends! We truly appreciate your dedication to helping wildlife. I look forward to sharing more information with you as the season goes on.
SEA TURTLE SIGHTING APP
SCCF is excited to launch its new app for reporting in-water sightings of healthy sea turtles. The data collected from this citizen science project will help researchers identify high-use areas, learn more about seasonal habitat shifts, and better understand when and where people are encountering sea turtles.
If you need to report any other issues with sea turtles please contact:
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission @ 888-404-3922
SCCF Sea Turtle Sighting App is a survey that is runs within the ESRI ArcGIS Survey123 App.
On your phone:
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE SURVEY123 APP (The link is also on the SCCF website: https://www.sccf.org/our-work/be-a-citizen-scientist )
Once downloaded install the app as usual. The app will need permission to access your phone’s location in order to receive GPS coordinates of your sighting and camera/media to capture and attach pictures.
To load the survey, follow these steps.
Open the Survey123 App
Click “Continue without signing in”
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE SURVEY or scan the QR code
(note Survey123 must be open and you must have clicked “Continue without signing in” for the download to work)
The survey will download and open.
To submit a sighting simply fill out the required fields and click the checkmark in the lower right corner.
To cancel the survey/sighting, click the X in the upper left corner.
(Note if you do not have cellular coverage you can still fill out the survey and save it in the Outbox to be sent at a later time.)