I read somewhere on the board that it's turtle season in Sowal. Can someone please explain this?
Turtle Season?
- Thread starter prception69
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http://www.beachtobay.org/html/turtle_watch.html
Sea turtle nesting season runs from May 1 through October 31. The first sea turtle nest in Walton County is usually found the third week in May. We find these nests by walking the beach early in the morning and looking for tracks left by the female when she comes ashore to nest. The tracks look like large tractor tracks that begin and end at the water line.
We also monitor the nests after they have been laid. Once a nest hatches it is excavated in 72 hours and any hatchlings left in the nest are released to the open sea. Empty egg shells are counted, and all conditions of the nest cavity are reported to D.E.P.
The heart and soul of the South Walton Turtle Watch is the tireless dedicated volunteers who walk the beach at dawn looking for tracks of sea turtles who came from the sea during the night to nest. Nests and false crawls, are documented. Turtle Watch volunteers also monitor hatching nests, documenting the success rate.
South Walton Turtle Watch volunteers now include night walkers, monitoring potential lighting problems that cause lighting disorientation to hatchlings. Disorientation results in many hatchling deaths each year.
South Walton Turtle Watch needs your help. If you would like to walk the beach, or if you see a sea turtle, or sea turtle tracks, please call Sharon Maxwell at 897-5228, or call the Florida Marine Patrol, at 1-800-342-5367.
The numbers of turtles on our beaches are dwindling each year. Their protection is the best reason for not leaving holes, tents, chairs, or other items on the beach.
More info - http://www.graytonbeach.com/turtles.html
Sea turtle nesting season runs from May 1 through October 31. The first sea turtle nest in Walton County is usually found the third week in May. We find these nests by walking the beach early in the morning and looking for tracks left by the female when she comes ashore to nest. The tracks look like large tractor tracks that begin and end at the water line.
We also monitor the nests after they have been laid. Once a nest hatches it is excavated in 72 hours and any hatchlings left in the nest are released to the open sea. Empty egg shells are counted, and all conditions of the nest cavity are reported to D.E.P.
The heart and soul of the South Walton Turtle Watch is the tireless dedicated volunteers who walk the beach at dawn looking for tracks of sea turtles who came from the sea during the night to nest. Nests and false crawls, are documented. Turtle Watch volunteers also monitor hatching nests, documenting the success rate.
South Walton Turtle Watch volunteers now include night walkers, monitoring potential lighting problems that cause lighting disorientation to hatchlings. Disorientation results in many hatchling deaths each year.
South Walton Turtle Watch needs your help. If you would like to walk the beach, or if you see a sea turtle, or sea turtle tracks, please call Sharon Maxwell at 897-5228, or call the Florida Marine Patrol, at 1-800-342-5367.
The numbers of turtles on our beaches are dwindling each year. Their protection is the best reason for not leaving holes, tents, chairs, or other items on the beach.
More info - http://www.graytonbeach.com/turtles.html
prception69 said:
Were you hankering for turtle soup?
Are these turtles endangered? Protected? Make a good soup?What's the hubbub bub? From what I have read so far they don't seem to be very bright creatures. Disoriented from light? I will continue to read up on this.
[The numbers of turtles on our beaches are dwindling each year. Their protection is the best reason for not leaving holes, tents, chairs, or other items on the beach.
More info - http://www.graytonbeach.com/turtles.html[/QUOTE]
Not to leave holes? Doesn't this make it easier for them to nest?
More info - http://www.graytonbeach.com/turtles.html[/QUOTE]
Not to leave holes? Doesn't this make it easier for them to nest?
it's a delicacy here...yummy 
oh my gosh, i had no idea that light was a bad thing for the nesting turtles...that would explain a few things...
prception69 said:
No. They fall in the holes and either can't get out or get disoriented and head back to the water. They are very particular and follow ages old instincts and locations imprinted at birth. They like to return to the same place as they hatched. They crawl close to the dune line and dig their own nest.
Turtle-safe lights are the way to go
from the Destin Log
Sea turtle hatchlings face many perils, but perhaps the biggest threat to the tiny creatures is coastal development, say officials from a local environmental group.
?We have seen an increase in sea turtle hatchlings being attracted to artificial beachfront lights as coastal development has increased,? said Sharon Maxwell, program chairman for South Walton Turtle Watch, whose members search for and watch over turtle nests along Walton County?s 26 miles of Gulf -coast beach.
Newborn loggerhead, green and leatherback turtles are attracted to light emanating from restaurants, homes and condominiums along the coast ? turning the hatchlings in the wrong direction once they are born. That, say officials, makes the turtles easy prey for predators.
One solution to the problem might lie in neon lights, which emit a pure-red light source not visible to the hatchlings.
?Sea turtles see a different spectrum of lights than we do,? Maxwell said.
With $5,000 in grant money from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the turtle watch group has paid for neon lights along the beach walkway at Tops?l Beach Resort.
The ?salt-proof? lights, the turtle watch group hopes, will eventually be hung near pool areas, walkways and parking lots near the beaches where the turtles bury their eggs. Sea turtles nest along the Florida Panhandle from Franklin to Escambia counties. Green and leatherback turtles are considered endangered; loggerhead turtles are threatened.
from the Destin Log
Sea turtle hatchlings face many perils, but perhaps the biggest threat to the tiny creatures is coastal development, say officials from a local environmental group.
?We have seen an increase in sea turtle hatchlings being attracted to artificial beachfront lights as coastal development has increased,? said Sharon Maxwell, program chairman for South Walton Turtle Watch, whose members search for and watch over turtle nests along Walton County?s 26 miles of Gulf -coast beach.
Newborn loggerhead, green and leatherback turtles are attracted to light emanating from restaurants, homes and condominiums along the coast ? turning the hatchlings in the wrong direction once they are born. That, say officials, makes the turtles easy prey for predators.
One solution to the problem might lie in neon lights, which emit a pure-red light source not visible to the hatchlings.
?Sea turtles see a different spectrum of lights than we do,? Maxwell said.
With $5,000 in grant money from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the turtle watch group has paid for neon lights along the beach walkway at Tops?l Beach Resort.
The ?salt-proof? lights, the turtle watch group hopes, will eventually be hung near pool areas, walkways and parking lots near the beaches where the turtles bury their eggs. Sea turtles nest along the Florida Panhandle from Franklin to Escambia counties. Green and leatherback turtles are considered endangered; loggerhead turtles are threatened.
prception69 said:
http://www.npca.org/marine_and_coastal/marine_wildlife/seaturtles.asp
All sea turtle species are listed as endangered except the loggerhead, which is listed as threatened.