|
Tybee Island Sea Turtle Project
|
2004 Nesting
Season
The 2004 Nesting Season brought 6 sea
turtle nests to Tybee Island. The overall success rate for
Tybee’s nests was 40%. Two nests were lost due to tidal
washes associated with the large number of storms
experienced this year. Tybee was home to the only
Leatherback nest on Georgia’s coast. Through out the
state, the number of nests was extremely low with only 365
nests for the entire coastline. This is the lowest number
reported since 1989.
Nest 1
The first sea turtle nest of the season was found on May
11, 2004 by one of our volunteers, Tammy Sullivan. This
nest turned out to be a leatherback nest, very rare on
Georgia’s coast. The nest was identified as a leatherback
by the large size of the tracks and later by the presence
of “spacer eggs” in the nest. The nest was located very
close to the high tide line. Because of the rare
occurrence of leatherback nests this far north, Lindsay
Thomas and Mark Dodd decided to relocate the nest. The
nest was expected to hatch around July 4. |
|
|
Nest 1 began
hatching on July 13 with a total of 51 hatchlings reaching
the ocean’s waves. The success rate for this nest was
67.11%. Many of the baby leatherbacks crawled out of the
nest during daylight hours. Any hatchlings found during
the day were collected and released in the late evening,
often gathering a crowd of excited witnesses. |
Nest 2
The first loggerhead nest on Tybee was found on Thursday,
May 27 by the Department of Public Works (DPW.) This one
is located by the 9th Street crosswalk. Expected hatch
date was July 25.
On July 21, nest 2 began to hatch. Fifty-two baby
loggerheads crawled to the sea. Some did experience
disorientation due to street lighting. The success rate
for the nest was 38.81%. Tybee Island Sea Turtle Project
staff and volunteers are working diligently on a Lights
Out Campaign for the 2005 season to prevent hatchling
disorientation.
Nest 3
The third nest was found on Sunday, June 27 by the
Department of Public Works (DPW). It is located down past
the end of the 7th Street crosswalk, out past the
undeveloped dune. This nest was in a questionable
location, but the decision was made that it would be best
to leave the nest where it was. The predicted hatch date
for this nest was August 25.
Unfortunately nest 3 was
lost to tidal inundation. None of the 78 eggs hatched.
|
Nest 4
The fourth nest was found on Tuesday, July 6 by a small
group of people who had been walking on the beach. It is
located on North Beach about 200 yards from the jetties.
It is about halfway between the jetties and the Lighthouse
Point Condos. It is pretty far up on the beach close to
the primary dune and appears to be in a very good
location. It took almost two hours to find the nest; the
mother had hidden her eggs very well. The predicted hatch
date for this nest was Friday September 3.
Nest 4 hatched on September 7. Due
to a small amount of wash over, only 36 hatchlings
developed fully giving this nest a success rate of 34.95%.
|
 |
Nest 5
The fifth nest was found on Thursday, July 8 by the
Department of Public Works (DPW). It is located about 100
yards north of the Butler Street curve where the anchor is
located. It was an interesting crawl because the mother
crawled out on the same path that she crawled in on. The
nest is high enough to not be washed over by the tides,
but is in a bad location due to the amount of artificial
lighting that can be seen on the beach. There was a nest
in about the same location last year and most of the
hatchlings became disoriented due to the beachfront
lighting and headed directly into the road. Thirteen were
recovered alive and twenty were found dead on the street.
We will see how lighting may play a major role in the
hatchlings success. This nest was predicted to hatch Sunday
September 5.
Surprise! Nest 5 was our
most successful nest of the season with only one egg not
hatching. On September 1, 68 hatchlings made it to sea.
Nest 6
The sixth nest was found Tuesday, July 20 on the far north
end of the beach just out in front of the Lighthouse Point
Condos. The track was very interesting because the turtle
had actually emerged about 100 yards down the beach and
crawled along the beach all the way to the nesting site.
This means that the mother was out of the water for a long
period of time. This nest is very low on the beach and
will probably be washed over a few times in the next two
months, but other than that it should be very safe. The
predicted hatch date for this nest was Friday, September
17.
Sadly our last nest was
washed over a number of times by high tide, including
standing water at times. Eighty three eggs were found when
the nest was excavated.
|
Return to the Home
Page
|
