One of our wildlife observers encountered a nesting green sea turtle the evening of July 1st by spotting the large flipper pattern in the sand from the water’s edge. The turtle was found nesting in the dunes. Volunteers responded, a passive identification tag was applied to turtle and measurements were taken. The tagging program allows us to report her info to a database in the event that any other organization finds her and reports her tag number, they will know she was nesting on our beach on July 1st (no tags were found upon initial inspection, thus the installation of a tag).
The nesting process for a green involves the movement of a lot of sand! The turtle digs a body pit putting her below the normal sand height, digs the chamber with her rear flippers, drops the eggs, and packs sand on top of them. She then uses her powerful front flippers and sprays sand behind her to cover the area well. Greens often nest in the dunes and that was the case for nest 31’s mama. She uprooted a few sea oats in the process and flattened some others with her approximate 300 lb body. After covering her nest well, she made a turn towards the water, slid down the dune she was in and made the 150’+ crawl back to the water. Fortunately for this turtle, she chose a dark quiet beach where she wasn’t disturbed by artificial light. Volunteers present captured some photos and videos using either night mode on the phone or a thermal monoscope.
The nest was marked for protection. Average incubation is about two months at which time we’ll start checking for signs of hatching following our permit guidelines. A few days after it hatches, we’ll conduct an excavation to assess the nest contents and record the nest contents and success.
While in Panama City Beach, 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
