Newborn Tiny Turtles and Ghoulish Ghost Crab Ambush

Nest 33 in Grayton hatched at 63 days on Sunday Night September, 21. Sorry I missed the hatch but I have attached photos from the "morning after" below.

It was a great hatch with an army of tracks heading almost straight for the beach. I say almost because there was definitely a slight westward drift in the tracks from what must have been lights in Gulf Trace.

The Nest


Tracks to the Beach


Westward disorientation of three hatchlings to Gulf Trace. (Arrow-Signage indicating western border of New Grayton and the State Park)


I followed three stray turtles tracks that seemed to be stuck in tire tracks headed to Gulf Trace. One never knows what goes on in the tiny brain of a turtle hatchling, but I noted that all three turtles stopped along their long westward trek and briefly picked up starlight which caused them to briefly shift o a beach-ward path only to continue back to the west. Did they stop and wonder what was wrong with their chosen light source? Did they somehow sense that the journey was much longer than mother nature had prepared them for?


Ghost Crab Ambush


Unfortunately their chosen "guiding light" were house lights in Gulf Trace and not a star. As I have noted in previous years, distant home lights are certainly
able to pull the hatchling away from their celestial compass. The results are often the same, a ghost crab ambush at the end of a long and exhausting crawl.

So long my little friends, I am so sorry you never made it to the water.