October 17, 2019
Greetings, Chateaux Sur Mer Residents!
It is with bitter sweetness that I bring you your final Adopt a Beach update for the 2019 sea turtle nesting season! While we are definitely sad that it has come to an end so quickly, we are overjoyed to have had such a successful season with so many hatchlings making it to the ocean- which is the reason we do it all anyway!
For your concluding update, I would like to provide you with some grand totals our program has accomplished this year. On Sanibel Island, our team recorded an astonishing 655 nests and 1,097 false crawls! Over on Captiva Island, we had 195 nests and 295 false crawls! Of all these turtle encounters, our nighttime crew was able to tag 160 new nesting females… this is especially impressive because our team only surveys on Sanibel! On the East End of Sanibel (from the Lighthouse to Tarpon Bay Road), our nighttime crew had 66 encounters and was able to attach 31 flipper tags on new turtles that we have not encountered before. On the West End (from Tarpon Bay Road down to Bowman’s Beach), the nighttime crew encountered a whopping 277 turtles and attached 129 flipper tags to new previously unencountered turtles!
As you may remember, I briefly touched on information about a research project one of our technicians is conducting. By deploying microstations, the groundwater project’s goal is to better understand the nest incubation environment and how it influences hatchling sex ratios. Notably, this year we were able to deploy 20 microstations! Of these microstation nests was N153, located in front of your neighborhood. So, if you happened to be strolling by and saw a few additional gadgets around this nest, that was why! We still have a lot of work to do to finish up analyzing our data and hope to have results soon!
Now moving on from nest information to the hatchlings- the 2019 season may not have been a record year for total nest counts, but it certainly was for hatchlings! Between Sanibel and Captiva a remarkable 48,469 hatchlings made it out to sea! Surpassing the old record of 43,224 hatchlings making it to sea in 2016, this is certainly something to celebrate! The success this season was helped in part by the lack of direct hit from any major storm event- only three nests were completely lost this year compared to 32 in 2018. While we did favorably with storms, the coyotes remained one of the larger threats. Even with the application of predator screens on verified nests, approximately 41 nests this year had some sort of coyote depredation, whether it was a partial or entire nest loss (meaning the coyotes found the nest and were able to dig in and either the eggs or hatchlings were lost), or if we could tell coyotes had been present at the time of hatchlings’ emergence (due to coyote tracks being near hatchling tracks). This season we continued setting up camera traps on a select number of nests. The goals with this ongoing project includes determining if egg and/or emerging hatchling loss can be quantified, as well as attempting to get an understanding of the distribution and abundance of these animals. Even though coyote depredation has stayed low over the past several years, we still want to ensure we are mitigating loss as effectively as possible!
An alarming set of data we collected this year was the amount of disorientation events. If you recall, disorientation events often occur because of artificial lighting disrupting the hatchlings’ inborn tendency to crawl towards the brightest light, which naturally is the moon and stars reflecting off the ocean out on the horizon. This season, we have recorded 61 disorientation events compared to 37 last year. On your beach, nine of your nests experienced disorientations (N277, N379, N378, N264, N112, N332, N413, N108, N380). What hasn’t changed is the vast majority of these disorientations have been caused by skyglow, which is the brightening of the night sky in urban areas caused by light pollution. When hatchlings become disoriented, they can use up all of their energy reserves wandering in the wrong direction and become susceptible to predation, or even end up in pools or on roadways. SCCF is working to alleviate this issue by continuing to encourage turning off unnecessary lights at night, in addition to partnering with the city council of Cape Coral to further educate residents and implement new ordinances to combat the skyglow.
By being a part of our Adopt a Beach program, you are helping us battle for the success of our sea turtles, and by extension the shorebirds and all the rest of our beach life we care for so much. We truly hope you enjoyed being with us this season, and we wish to have you along for the ride with us again in the spring.
On behalf of SCCF, I would like to thank you for your contributions this year. We couldn’t do any of it without you!
Allegra Gossett, sea turtle intern
September 22, 2019
Good afternoon, Chateaux Sur Mer residents!
I hope everyone has had a fantastic week as we are easing into the official beginning of fall! We feel very fortunate to have been spared from the wrath of Hurricane Dorian, which has allowed for our continuing counts of minimal nests being washed out this season. That being said- let’s get down to business and explore the nesting and hatching news on your beach!
Because of several wild nests discovered, the total nest count for Sanibel and Captiva Island has increased to 852 nests! While still not quite breaking our all-time record of 871 nests in 2017, we are very pleased with the results thus far and are still chipping away at it with the wild nests still popping up from time to time! Another number to be proud of is the total hatchlings that have made it out to sea at this point- 44,865! Every single one of those hatchlings is a reason for us to keep doing what we do and we absolutely could not do it without you! To add to that already amazing news, we still have 101 total nests incubating so even MORE little ones will be on their way soon!
On your gorgeous beach, out of your 28 nests, 22 have hatched leaving 6 to incubate. Even more exciting is that your nests have produced 2,072 to date! The past few weeks have been quite busy for your beach with two more nests hatching since your last update. The first nest, N371, had a clutch of 69 and a great hatching and emergence success rates of 88.4%. The second nest, N413, had a clutch of 82 with more great hatching and emergence success rates of 95.1%! More good news from your beach is that so far you have only had three nests that have been on the lower end regarding the success rates. For N277 and N185, both have had less that 15% hatch and emergence success rates from a possible wide variety of natural causes. The third nest, N192, is the odd one of the bunch because upon it’s discovery an egg chamber was never located. As you may know, on the morning of the survey, volunteers will dig in the nest and try to locate the egg chamber based on the nesting female’s tracks and movements. Verifying egg chambers is beneficial because it lets us know that it was definitely a nest, and also where we can apply the predator screen to protect the eggs from being depredated. After no hatching field signs, a 70 day inventory was performed and once again, no egg chamber was located. In this situation, we consider these nests to have unknown final statuses because we simply do not know if it ever was really a nest or not to begin with!
Over the past month or two, SCCF has been busy with hatchlings seeming to be everywhere… and not just sea turtle hatchlings! Occasionally when we receive a hotline call, there is a case of mistaken identity upon hatchlings and once arriving at the scene discover that typically we have either gopher tortoise or a species of softshell turtle hatchlings! In any instance, we always recommend putting a hatchling in a bucket with moist sand and absolutely no water. Be sure to check out the adorable pictures attached to view our common culprits!
Photo credits: Sea turtle and gopher tortoise hatchling(s)- SCCF Intern Allegra; Florida softshell turtle hatchlings-CROW
This concludes your sea turtle nesting update! I would like to thank you again for participating in our Adopt a Beach program and I can’t wait to share more nesting and hatching news soon! Allegra Gossett, sea turtle intern
August 30, 2019
Hi there, Chateaux Sur Mer residents!
It is time to present to you another Adopt a Beach update! With fall right around the corner, I am happy to report that we are continuing to have a turtle-y awesome season! That being said, get ready to delight in some more news from your beach!
Between Sanibel and Captiva Island, we have totaled a solid 847 nests and 1,392 false crawls! While we were hoping to beat our all-time record of 871 nests in 2017, we have just come up shy of 24 nests. Despite this, there is still some time remaining for late nesters to arrive, and wild nests are popping up occasionally too! Wild nests are typically the result of a misidentification of a false crawl when in fact, it was truly a nest. Sometimes those females can be very tricky when laying their nests! The survey team will usually see a bunch of hatchling tracks and follow them back to a single location where they emerged from. Then, they will mark it up like a normal nest and inventory it three days later!
On your beautiful beach, you have steadied at 28 nests and 20 of these have hatched! In just the two weeks since your last update, two additional nests have hatched. Presently, you have had approximately 1,921 hatchlings make it out to sea! Contributing to this success, the two nests that have most recently hatched, N378 and N380, the former garnered a 79.6% hatch success rate and 78.8% emergence success rate, while the latter impressed with a 98.7% hatch success rate and a 97.5% emergence success rate! To add to this fantastic news, you still have 8 nests incubating! We can’t wait for more little ones to make their debut soon!
In other exciting news and just when we thought we weren’t going to have any more new nests… a green sea turtle nested yesterday! We received N505 east of your beach on West Gulf Drive, and by the look of the fresh tracks, it appeared our morning survey crew had just missed her! Green sea turtle nests can actually take slightly longer than loggerhead nests to incubate, so we will be monitoring this nest until the end of October!
Remember the two live strandings that SCCF responded to a week ago? Well, we are happy to report one of those patients was deemed healthy and was released last week on August 22! Feel free to check out the release story here:
http://www.crowclinic.org/articles/teamwork-helps-sea-turtle-earn-second-chance
Please enjoy the short clip of its release taken by Kelly!
This finishes your sea turtle nesting update! I would like to thank you again for participating in our Adopt-A-Beach program and I look forward to sharing more nesting and hatching news soon!
August 16, 2019
Hello again, Chateaux Sur Mer Residents!
I would like to welcome you to enjoy another Adopt a Beach update! By now, it is sounding more and more like a broken record to say this nesting season is flying by; but with us approaching the last few weeks of August, it certainly is!
As the last few nesting females continue to trickle in, Sanibel has reached a staggering 833 nests and 1,389 false crawls! Compared to last year’s total numbers during the devastating red tide event- 721 nests and 1,242 false crawls- we are very pleased to have had such a successful season thus far! On your lovely beach, you are up to 28 nests and have reached a total of 17 turtles that were tagged by our night crew. Due to the drop off in nesting activity on the beach at night, our night crew suspends their surveys on the last night of July. While the new nesting has slowed, the hatches are in full force! On your stretch, 18 have hatched so far- more than half your nests! One of the nests on your beach that has hatched, N248, has had the highest clutch count to date out of all of your nests- 132! Depending on the species, sea turtles can lay between 50-200 eggs per clutch. For loggerheads, the average is close to 110 eggs, and the nest on your beach was far past that!
As you may remember from your last update, your beach has seen quite a bit of action from green sea turtles, hosting three nests out of the 28 Sanibel has received this year. The first one has flipper tags KKM0104, KKM0105 and is named “Kate”. She laid N264 on your beach, which hatched on July 31 and was inventoried! Kate had a clutch count of 76 and a hatch success rate of 89.4%! Since first being tagged on June 6, she has laid FOUR nests that we know of on Sanibel and was encountered four additional times false crawling! The second one’s nest (N478)- female with flipper tags KKM0032, KKM0031- or “Andrea” is still incubating on your beach; however, she was first tagged on May 30 this year and has laid four total nests that we know of and was observed during one false crawl! Last but certainly not least, there is a mystery green on your beach that laid nest N248 and it has hatched and been inventoried! This nest had a clutch count of 132 and a hatch success rate of 54.5%. Unfortunately, this nest was washed over a few times, probably contributing to the lower hatch success rate. Despite this obstacle, 72 hatched shells were counted, so there is a great chance these ones made it to the ocean! To see the paths of our satellite tagged turtles, please visit www.ocearch.org.
Another cool thing that has happened since your last report is that SCCF has responded to TWO live loggerhead sea turtle strandings! The first one was an adult called in near South Seas Island Resort on Captiva on August 8. This poor turtle was seen struggling to lift its head out of water, and overall very lethargic. Our crew worked quickly to ensure the turtle was taken to Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife (CROW) as soon as possible. The second turtle was a subadult called in by a fisherman near Red Fish Pass on Captiva on August 9. The fisherman reported a possible boat strike injury resulting in buoyancy issues for the animal, preventing it from diving. The fisherman and his guests were so kind to actually capture the turtle and meet us with it in Tarpon Bay out on SCCF’s boat! This turtle was then also quickly transported to CROW for medical attention. As of now, both turtles remain in the care at CROW, and we are hoping for a speedy recovery!
Please enjoy the attached photos from one of our live sea turtle strandings taken by Marine Lab intern, Madison!
This concludes your sea turtle nesting update! I would like to thank you again for participating in our Adopt-A-Beach program and I look forward to sharing more nesting and hatching news soon! Allegra Gossett, SCCF sea turtle intern
August 2, 2019
Hello Chateaux Sur Mer Residents!
It is time to shell-ebrate… we made it to August! What a perfect time during the season to reflect on how lucky we have been to have had such successful numbers of not only total number of nests laid, but also total number of hatchlings making it out into the ocean. Conservation truly begins with you at this point because without your support, we certainly could not do what we do and ensure the positive results we have received!
Since your last update, Sanibel has garnered an impressive 807 total nests and 1,381 total false crawls! On your beautiful beach, you are now up to a splendid 27 nests with 16 of them being tagged by our night crew! Your stretch of beach has also had 10 nests hatch until now and there are still many more weeks of hatching to take place!
In addition to quite a few of your nests hatching, they are also having tremendous outcomes- half of the nests have had over 90% hatch success and emergence success! As you may already know, hatchlings face a multitude of threats before even making their ocean journey. Predation from ghost crabs and coyotes take a toll, but unfortunately a preventable source of hatchling mortality exists: disorientation is when artificial lighting (from sources such as condominium lights or skyglow) disrupts the natural ability sea turtles have to crawl towards the bright horizon, ideally the moon glowing on the ocean at night. This seemingly harmless act causes hatchlings to wind up in pools, roads, or just continue to wander aimlessly using up precious energy stores and becoming more susceptible to the predators on the beach. Please help them by spreading the word to your friends and family to turn out their lights at night because sea turtles dig the dark!
In other news on your beach, I now have some totals for turtles that have laid nests on your beach along with others, and one dependable turtle that has laid TWO nests on your stretch! First, you have one female- flipper tags KKM0101, LLZ637- that has laid one nest on your beach (N371) and two over on West Gulf Drive (N253, N323)! Three females- flipper tags MMY944, MMY943 & MMY934, MMY933 & MMY998, MMY997- have each laid one nest (N112, N108, N162) on your beach and one on West Gulf Drive (N227, N405, N360)! Next, one female- flipper tags KKM0134, KKM0133- laid TWO nests just on your beach (N380, N470)! Lastly, and perhaps most impressive, you have had two green sea turtle females that have each laid one nest on your beach, plus on two other beaches! Affectionately known as “Kate” and “Andrea”, these girls have each laid one nest on your beach (N478, N264) and one just west near Gulf Shores and Gulf Pines beach (N354, N483)! We are learning so much about not only these particular females but their species as well from their visits and are very fortunate to have been given the opportunity!
Finally, I have attached a few pictures of what hatchling disorientation looks like so you can see how heartbreaking it is to see how devastating their first introduction to the world was, along with several pictures of how it should be- hatchlings making their way to the ocean!
This finishes your sea turtle nesting update! I would like to thank you again for participating in our Adopt-A-Beach program and I can’t wait to share more nesting news soon! Allegra Gossett, SCCF sea turtle intern
July 20, 2019
Hi there, Chateaux Sur Mer residents!
It is that time again for your Adopt a Beach update and I have to ask- is it really the middle of July already?! This sea turtle nesting season is continuing to be as busy as ever as we are approaching the tail end… but everything is coming full circle as we have hatchlings departing our beaches nightly!
Sanibel Island is persisting with quite a high number of nests, currently at 750! Combine that with over 1,021 false crawls, and our island has practically become a sea turtle highway! On your lovely beach, you are up to 23 nests with 14 of them being tagged by our night crew! In even more exciting news, since your last update you have had EIGHT nests on your beach hatch- that’s almost 1,000 hatchlings making it to the ocean!
Of the eight nests inventoried on your beach, the overwhelming majority had excellent hatch success and emergence success rates- over 90%! Hatch success is the percentage of eggs in a nest that produces live hatchlings, while emergence success is the number of hatchlings that leave the nest chamber and actually reach the sea. Even with all the obstacles hatchlings must face, one of your nests, N112, had a 98.2% hatch success and emergence success! Now those are some resilient little turtles!
So what’s going on under there once mom comes ashore, lays her nest, and then heads back out to the water? Well after a nest is laid, the eggs take anywhere from 45-70 days to incubate, or about two months. Digging out of the nest is a group effort amongst the hatchlings and can take several days to accomplish. We can tell nests that have hatched by observing a depression in the sand or a “crater”, which is where the hatchlings have burst above ground from the egg chamber as a group! Combine the crater with adorable little flipper marks surrounding it, and you know you got yourself a hatched nest!
Lastly, I wanted to share with you some important research one of our technicians, Courtney, is working on to learn a little bit more about what is going on in a sea turtle nest. Throughout the season, Courtney has been deploying microstations at select nests which collect data regarding temperature, salinity, and inundation levels. Our hope is to better understand how these variables influence a nest, and with sixteen stations already having been deployed, we are certainly on track to get some fantastic results!
This concludes your sea turtle nesting update! I would like to thank you again for participating in our Adopt-A-Beach program and I can’t wait to share more nesting news soon!
Allegra Gossett
June 21, 2019
Hello Chateaux Sur Mer residents!
I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer so far and enjoying all of the sea turtle action that has been occurring on your beach! It is my pleasure to once again bring you your sea turtle nesting update.
Up to this point, the entire island of Sanibel has been blessed with a whopping 368 nests! Combined with a massive 660 false crawls, the turtles are certainly actively scoping out our beautiful beaches to lay their precious eggs! Of these nests, currently you have received a total of 14 nests and our nighttime crew encountered and tagged 10 of them!
Even more exciting is that your stretch of beach has been chosen by TWO green sea turtles! Many questions we receive while out and about on our surveys is if different species nest on Sanibel, and if so, how we can tell the nests apart. Loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta Caretta) are the species with the overwhelming majority, but occasionally, some years more so than others, green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) choose to nest on our beaches. Luckily, each species leaves very unique clues to inform us on our morning survey as to just which kind laid a particular nest. One clue is the alignment of flipper marks in the sand: loggerheads have an alternating track, resembling commas, while greens have a very symmetrical track. Greens also have a longer tail than the loggerheads and therefore will leave a drag or “poke” mark in the center of the track from it. Another clue is in the details of how the nest looks. For loggerheads, the nest will be covered up by a wide mound of sand accompanied by a shallow body pit. In the case of greens, the nest will still be covered up by a wide mound of sand, but the body pit is much deeper and the amount of sand thrown to cover the nest is much greater.
Speaking of green sea turtles, we have been fortunate enough to have placed satellite tags on three of them so far! Satellite tags enable us to better track their movements, giving better insight to vital information such as which foraging grounds are being utilized. At the bottom of this email, I have posted a link to a site where you can actually see one of these turtle’s (Melanie) movements in real time!
Lastly, we have finally had our first nest on Sanibel hatch this week! While we are still anticipating the arrival of little ones dashing to the ocean from nests on your beach, it still is such an awesome event for everyone. I have attached some adorable pictures our sea turtle technician, Jack, took of hatchlings making their way to sea.
This concludes your sea turtle nesting update! I would like to thank you again for participating in our Adopt-A-Beach program and I can’t wait to share more nesting news soon!
Allegra Gossett