Panama City Beach Turtle Watch

Our volunteers are busy and they are loving it! We continue to find new sea turtle nests and expect to do so for the next few weeks. At the same time, with nests having been on the beach for 2+ months now we are experiencing hatches.

Nesting and hatching typically happen overnight. Please refrain from using any light around a sea turtle. White light and flash photos can be temporarily blinding to them leading to disturbance and disorientation. While you are on the beach, FWC recommends the use of red LED flashlights, give them a try you’ll find your eyes adjust a lot better as well with the red LED flashlight. Also turn off your exterior lights and leave your curtains/blinds closed to reduce interior lights from causing any disorientation.

If you do encounter a nesting turtle please call PCB Police non-emergency at 850-233-5000. If you encounter any hatchlings, you can call them or call the number on the blue sign posted at the nest. Either contact method will reach our volunteers so they can respond. Then stand away from the turtle(s) and give them space.

We don’t post nest locations or when a nest might hatch and quite frankly we don’t know for sure, it’s nature. Our volunteers even miss the hatch a lot of the time because it can happen anytime and can be quick once it starts.

What we will post is any excavations that we can invite the public to attend. Stay tuned to the Events section of our Facebook page for those announcements. If you can’t join us in person, check our page around that time and we’ll try to stream live on Facebook with the video available for replay later.

Now that our 2024 hatching has started we would like to recognize two of our volunteers heavily involved in our hatching activities.

At the beginning of this season Nancy Evou and Betsy Straley were both recognized by Panama City Beach Turtle Watch with Lifetime Achievement awards recognizing their long running contributions to our program. To relate their years of service to sea turtles, the hatchlings that they helped in their first year could very well be returning to our beaches now or in a few years to lay their own nests!

Our program has been in place since 1991 and let’s just say these two volunteers have done it all! They have contributed countless hours each year and we hope they are able to continue for many more!

In her recent volunteer years, Betsy is out on the beach at night as part of the hatching monitoring team. She also helps with our education outreach initiatives and strandings (sick, injured or deceased sea turtles).

Nancy is involved in just about every aspect of PCB TW. Her volunteer efforts are most often seen through the education outreach, strandings and very much so all of the nest excavations!

We are very appreciative of all of the efforts and hours that Nancy and Betsy give to our program and look forward to having them on our team for many years ahead!

Last night while one set of volunteers was off marking our newest nest, our hatching volunteers received a call about a nest hatching!

Here on PCB, we have very high levels of hatchling disorientation due to artificial beachfront lighting. Our hatching volunteers have been trained by FWC and our local permit holder on procedures for recovering disoriented hatchlings. When a nest has been on the beach about 2 months, volunteers will visit it briefly at night looking for signs of any disoriented hatchlings. We only use red lights when we are on the beach and if turtles are present we try to refrain from even the red light. We ask that beachgoers do the same thing if you are on the beach with a nesting or hatching sea turtle. Think of it like this….you are driving down the road and someone has their bright headlights on “blinding” you OR you are outside at night and someone takes a flash photo of you and now you are “seeing stars”, well that is what it is like for the sea turtles when we shine lights towards them. They then become disoriented and waste precious energy.

You have heard it before
Clean, Dark and Flat
that is what we should strive for on our beaches!

Now that we are in hatching season, we will conduct excavations following a hatch (or when the nest has gone beyond a reasonable incubation period). Stay tuned to Facebook for those events, we will try to give notice a couple days in advance following a hatch. Again, we can’t predict what will hatch tonight, much less a few weeks for now. So stay tuned for excavation announcements via the Events section.

We thank our volunteers in advance for the hours, days and weeks they are committing to helping our protected sea turtles here on PCB. They won’t be able to tell you where a nest is or when a nest will hatch, but they will be able to tell you why they are there and answer questions if you see them on the beach and they aren’t consumed in rescuing hatchlings.

Our teams had an exciting evening Thursday night. While the Leave No Trace enforcement team was patrolling the beach their wildlife observer, driving their UTV close to the high tide line (per FWC permit), spotted fresh sea turtle tracks. They stopped and found a loggerhead in the process of laying eggs. About that time, our volunteers were receiving a call from non-emergency beach police dispatch as someone had seen the nesting turtle and called to report it so they headed to the nest.

The wildlife observer, operating under a permit from FWC, was able to check the nesting loggerhead for any existing passive tags, but none were found. They were able to install tags, so if this nesting loggerhead is encountered anywhere else and the tags are reported to the tag tracking team, there will be a record of when and where the turtle was seen. During this process, beachgoers joined to watch the process, in aww of her size and the entire nesting process. She covered her nest and returned to the water. She may have already nested here in the panhandle this season and may nest again, as they can lay a nest every 2 weeks. Volunteers marked the nest for protection, nest 31!

We very much appreciate all beachgoers looking out for the well being of our nesting and hatching sea turtles. Please remember to refrain from using white light, red light was used sparingly during the tagging process and then no lights. Even without using lights everyone was able to see the turtle and what she was doing thanks to the moon glow.

It’s a date our volunteers have been waiting for….it’s been 2 months since the first nest of the season was laid on PCB and that means we should be entering our hatching season any night now!

Here on Panama City Beach, we have a high level of hatchling disorientation with hatchlings going towards artificial lighting instead of the shimmering Gulf of Mexico.  Our volunteers received training from FWC and our local program to aid or rescue hatchlings if they are disoriented.  No one other than permitted volunteers can handle hatchlings but there are ways that anyone along our 18 miles of beach can help protect hatchlings.  Please help us reduce artificial lighting on the beach, especially if you have noticed a marked nest in the area. Clean, dark and flat is the best environment for hatchlings.

Clean: Leave No Trace, remove all of your belongings and trash from the beach each night
Dark: Keep exterior beach visible lights off and blinds/curtains drawn to reduce interior light visibility, reduce flashlight usage and use red LED flashlights if needed
Flat: Fill in holes and knock down sand castles (this prevents sea turtles from wasting energy struggling as the cross the sand)

Please refrain from touching any hatchlings and do not disturb their nest area.  We know that we have many visitors on the beach so we have various signs, as shown in these photos, to try to share these messages so we can all do our part to help protect the sea turtles on our beaches.

We don’t announce nest locations or predicted hatch dates.  What we will announce is an excavation which will take place 3-4 days after a hatch (we don’t know any further in advance than that).  Where possible, we’ll invite the public to attend the excavation and we’ll also attempt to go live on Facebook for those unable to attend in person.

Thank you in advance to our hatching volunteers for the many hours they are about to spend between now and late October helping to protect the hatchlings on PCB!

While we don’t have any hatchlings on our beach just yet we wanted to take a moment to point out there are shorebird chicks in the area!

For years now, Panama City Beach has been chosen as a nesting grounds by Federal and State protected Least Terns and Black Skimmers.  These nesting shorebirds who have traveled many miles to get here like many of you.  They primarily nest in the same area of the beach annually and those areas are marked and protected by FWC Shorebird Monitors.  Chicks commonly wander outside of posted nesting areas and are thus vulnerable to any type of activity taking place nearby. Please watch your step near these sites, and never enter the posted areas. If you’re being dive bombed, you’re too close!

Photos taken with a telephoto lens and then cropped

We now share with you the conclusion of the recent morning where our surveyor found multiple loggerhead sea turtle crawls.

You, the nesting loggerhead, have made two attempts to nest in the last several hours. You are determined to find a good spot on PCB to lay your nest. You swim another two plus miles once again deciding to give it another try. You emerge from the water, crawl about 40 feet and reach a sandy slope from a recent escarpment (vertical wall formed by wave action) in which you are able to scale with ease. You begin digging your body pit but the sand doesn’t feel quite right. You scoot forward another 20 feet and try again, finally everything feels right this time. You settle in and dig the chamber with your rear flippers, deposit ~100 eggs, cover the nest, make a turn and head back to the water. After a long night with two false crawls, you have traveled over 5 miles in the water and have now successfully nested.

Soon our PCB Turtle Watch morning surveyor will find your nest and is able to predict you are the same turtle that had the other two false crawls found this morning based on the crawl width, one of the data points we gather for each crawl we find. This particular female could have already nested on our beaches here in the panhandle prior to this nest and she may nest again as they can lay every two weeks resulting in between 3 and 7 nests in a season. Often when we observe a false crawl, we will find a corresponding nest crawl the same day or within the next day or two. If the sea turtle has made an attempt, there is a good chance she will keep trying until successful within a few days. The video explains the rest, this nest is now marked for protection and will remain on the beach until it hatches and is excavated to determine the hatch success.

Thanks for tuning into our multi-part story of one of our nesting loggerheads this season. We share this information with you in an effort to educate as many people as possible on sea turtle behaviors and how we can all help protect them.

If you encounter a sea turtle on our sandy beaches, please contact PCB non-emergency at 850-233-5000 and they will dispatch our volunteers. Please leave our beaches clean, dark and flat to provide the best nesting environment possible for these protected species!

Activities performed under MTP-038

Thanks for tuning in as we continue on our mission as Panama City Beach Turtle Watch to protect sea turtles through our active volunteer program (full for this season) and through education efforts.

You’ll recall in our last post that our female loggerhead encountered bright lights and disturbance leading to a false crawl (non-nesting emergence). We now share the next chapter of her story.

Imagine you are the female loggerhead that very badly wants to nest. You are likely exhausted from your prior crawl where you attempted to nest but you instead escaped the paparazzi without nesting. You have returned to the water and begin to regain your strength and energy as you gracefully swim along. You have ~100 eggs that you are ready to lay but you need a good beach to lay them on. You swim, under the dark of night, about 3 miles from your first attempt. You pop your head up for a breath and see a darker empty beach, you are ready to give it another try. You swim toward the shoreline and emerge from the water. Once again crawling your ~300 pound self up the sandy beach about 60 feet and unfortunately something doesn’t feel right about this location. You wander a bit eastward, are you drawn to a bright light or the urban glow of Panama City? While your initial thought was this would make a good nesting site, you have now crawled over 130 feet from where you exited the water and haven’t nested, only to return to the water leaving another false crawl.

Above is the next crawl our surveyor found one recent morning. We have no beachgoer accounts of what happened at this location and based on the photos taken during our morning survey it doesn’t look like she was disturbed by beachgoers. But something wasn’t right, she wandered further than usual crawling over 130 feet parallel to the shore before returning to the water. On our Florida beaches, it is not uncommon to have false crawls as the turtles scope out the feel and appearance of the beach to choose their ideal nesting location. We assume this was a natural false crawl.

This particular loggerhead has now made two false crawls and is still very eager to nest. Where will she go next, stay tuned to find out!

If you encounter a sea turtle on our sandy beaches, please contact PCB non-emergency at 850-233-5000 and they will dispatch our volunteers. Please leave our beaches clean, dark and flat to provide the best nesting environment possible for these protected species!

Join us for a multi-part story of a loggerhead’s attempt to nest on PCB to find out if she was successful.

Imagine you have been waiting all day knowing that tonight is the night to lay your eggs.  The sun has set and the beach appears darker.  You, the nesting loggerhead, choose a spot on PCB to exit the water, and crawl your ~300 pound self slowly about 80 feet onto the beach.  You begin digging your body pit and you are swarmed by the paparazzi.  Bright flashlights being shown on you, flash photos, a crowd getting a little too close for comfort and now you are temporarily blinded from all the bright lights.  You abort your digging and try to get away (but still can’t see clearly because of the bright lights) crawling another 25 feet toward the dune before figuring out the correct direction of the water.  The crowd is still very much nearby but you make a sharp turn and crawl over 100 foot back to the water to escape the paparazzi.  You made a good attempt but this wasn’t the time or place to nest.  Now it’s time to recover from that long exhausting and blinding crawl and decide where to next?

This is the scenario of a recent False Crawl shown in these photos.  It is evident by the photos as well as other beachgoer reports that this nesting loggerhead was disturbed enough that she was not able to nest at this location which is what is called a False Crawl (a non-nesting emergence).  Very near the trash can is where she finally turned and made her way back to the water.  Her crawl at that point was very hard to see in person given all of the footprints all around. 

How could her experience have been a better one?  Beachgoers that encounter a nesting sea turtle (or hatchlings) should refrain from using any lights or flash photography. There is enough ambient light on our beaches that your eyes will adjust and you will be able to see what is happening without any additional light.  Stay behind the turtle, out of her line of sight, remain quiet and just observe nature.  As she moves, you should move too avoiding her crawl and staying behind her.  When you encounter a sea turtle on our sandy beaches, please contact PCB non-emergency at 850-233-5000 and they will dispatch our volunteers.  Please leave our beaches clean, dark and flat to provide the best nesting environment possible for these protected species!

Stay tuned in the coming days as we’ll share the next part of this nesting loggerhead’s journey.

Note: tire tracks near the water are from our morning surveyor that recorded data for this false crawl and then continued on with survey; other tire tracks are from law enforcement or vendors travelling the beach day and night and are the reasons that we respond asap to any report of a nesting turtle to get the area marked off for protection.  In this case, no nest was laid.

All work performed under MTP-038

What a week our volunteers had! 
They marked 6 loggerhead nests this week (we are at 23 nests so far as we approach the midpoint of our nest laying season). 

In addition to volunteers responding to mark new nests found by surveyors this week, they responded to storm impacted nests which involved salvaging exposed eggs (sucked out by waves) and burying them at the dunes in a new marked nest as well as visiting several previously marked nests to bury stakes that had been washed away, as well as to install new stakes and caution tape at nests that have had so much sand accretion that the original stakes could barely be seen.

We are currently experiencing high tides that are impacting many of our nests.  When a nest receives too much water at once, it can stop the development of the eggs.  Since we don’t know how much is too much or what actually reaches those buried eggs, per the FWC permit we operate under we leave the nest marked for up to 80 days from when it was laid.  If a washed over nest doesn’t hatch (it usually takes 2 months) we’ll give it until day 80 just in case the incubation time was slowed down due to the water.  If it doesn’t hatch by then we’ll excavate it to determine the stage of development the eggs reached, which will likely coincide with this week’s high tide event.

This week we anticipate some additional impact to some of our nests as we continue to see tides/surge higher on the beach then it has been.  While this past week’s volunteers get some rest from all of their efforts, we have a new team ready to respond to any reports of nesting turtles, new nests or storm impacted nests.

All of our official volunteer spots are full and everyone has received FWC training.  But you can help us out….if you are on the beach and see a nesting turtle contact PCB Police non-emergency 850-233-5000 or if you see any storm impacted nests contact us via Facebook messenger.  This week we had several calls from beachgoers that provided us with reports that we were able to respond to quickly, we appreciate those reports!

All activities performed under MTP-038