Surprise hatchlings are the exclamation point as the record 2012 sea turtle nesting season winds down.
Of the many nests buried under a build-up of sand during tropical storms Debby and Isaac, a few intrepid hatchlings emerged in spite of daunting odds.
"In some of the buried nests, patrollers happily discover empty shells indicating that hatchlings had emerged," said Wilma Katz of the Coastal Wildlife Club.
Article Photos
Coastal Wildlife Club monitors Jill Auman, left, and Norma Jean Zvosec, excavate a loggerhead turtle nest on Gasparilla Island. Unfortunately, all 88 eggs had been washed over.
CWC patrollers eagerly look for signs of hatching. Tiny tracks in the sand leading from nests trigger excavation three days later.
During excavations, any live turtles found are released immediately. They scramble to the Gulf of Mexico on their own with a watchful crowd of humans guarding them from predatory birds or ghost crabs.
Viable nests still remain on Gasparilla Island, Manasota Key and Little Gasparilla Island beaches and a few new nests are being laid, the latest on Manasota Key Sept. 9. Nests should hatch within six weeks.
Fact Box
To volunteer for the CWC, contact Grace Harvey of Boca Grande at (941) 964-5642.
Additional loggerhead nests will be "surprise" hatches originally misidentified as false crawls or missed entirely, Katz said.
"There were 17 surprise hatches last week in our combined areas," Katz said. "Since green sea turtle nesting begins and ends a little later than for loggerheads, we still could see new green nests."
Even nests with ruined eggs provide data, according to Katz, such as the total number of eggs and original nest date.
2012 is the first year sea turtle nesting in Southwest Florida topped 3,500 since monitoring began in 1988. The CWC reports a record 3,550 clutches laid as of Aug. 31 - or 394 more than the previous 1998 record of 3,156.
Although roughly two months of sea turtle nesting season remains, activity has all but stopped and it appears Gasparilla Island will fall short of its first 400-nest season. Gasparilla Island has so far notched a nest count of 392, which 91 nests ahead of the 301 recorded the same time a year ago.
The CWC monitors Gasparilla Island, Manasota Key and Little Gasparilla Island beaches where nesting is up 1,033 clutches and 41 percent from 2,517 a year ago to 3,550. ?
About 3,000 people, mostly volunteers, monitor 800 miles of Florida's nesting beaches, including more than 140 volunteers covering sandy stretches from South Venice to the Boca Grande Pass.
All sea turtle species are considered threatened or endangered under state and federal laws with green turtles particularly rare.
To volunteer for the CWC, contact Grace Harvey of Boca Grande at (941) 964-5642.
