Brrr….earlier this week nest 47 green hatchlings emerged prior to sunrise and found the mid 40’s air temperatures to be a little too cool. After they emerged from the chamber and started making their way to the water they became cold stunned leaving them motionless on the beach. Our morning surveyor found them during her daily nest check, collected them and coordinated with Gulf World Marine Institute as our local FWC facility. They slowly warmed them up, they became active and ready for release.
These hatchlings received a special release care of St. Andrews bay private charters and tours. The hatchlings were escorted offshore a couple miles and released into the Gulf to begin their journey. The nest was excavated 3 days later (luckily the air temps had gotten a little warmer) to find that the nest produced 128 green hatchlings of which eight were still in the nest during excavation. They were collected and released that evening into the Gulf.
We have two nests remaining on the beach. One loggerhead nest (and may not due to wash over) and one green nest that should wrap up our season here by mid November.
All activities performed under MTP-038
