We are still very much in our nesting season here on Panama City Beach. On average, it takes two months for our nests to hatch here so we won’t expect to be seeing hatchlings until late July at the earliest.
Our surveyors and volunteers have been busy, just the way we like it! Since June 1st we have had 1 false crawl (non-nesting emergence), marked 8 nests for protection, tagged 1 nesting turtle and relocated one of those eight nests out of the path of a storm drain. All of this activity was from loggerheads, the most common nester on our beach.
Of the 8 nests that have been marked in the last twelve days, we were notified by the police, the public, a Leave No Trace wildlife observer and our morning surveyors. Volunteers have been able to observe a nesting loggerhead while another volunteer installed passive tags. Volunteers also responded to a call from local police in the wee hours of the morning as they came upon a turtle nesting. And responded to reports from the public another night finding the nest after the turtle had returned to the water.
Nesting typically happens overnight, if you encounter a sea turtle on the sandy beach at night, please refrain from using flash photography, use no lights at all (causes disorientation), avoid her track and any disturbed sandy areas, observe from the back side of the turtle from a distance and contact PCB Police non-emergency at 850-233-5000. They will contact our on-call volunteers to respond and protect the turtle and the nest she lays.
Remember, everyone can do their part leaving our beaches clean, dark and flat!
All activities performed under MTP-038 and MTP-286
