A-1 hatches July 24, 2008
115 babies (so far)

Hey Everybody,
We have Babies!!!! Tonight Steph call about 8:00 and said she had lots of waterfall sounds. She just knew it would be tonight. Well, she was right! 9:00 they had their first scout emerge. Then a huge indention with several more babies emerging, then BAM a FULL BLOWN BOIL!!! 115 babies made it safely to the water! Steph, Mike, Priscilla(her first hatching), Kate C, and Molly(her first hatching)were there along with a four tourist that showed up. Everyone was in awe and Steph sent them on with kisses and a farewll speech. She even named a few of them. This nest had a total of 125 eggs in it and the team is hearing some scatching so maybe we'll get a 100%. Woooowhoooo!!! We are off to a good start so let keep spreading the mojo and turtle dancing!!!!

Good Morning!

George found nest #4 early today! It was laid in front of nest #3 . George also found the eggs (106) a ghost crab had gotten #107.

Rob will send out stats and pics later. GOOD JOB , GEORGE!!

Cindy heard "washing machine" sounds at nest #1 this morning.We will monitor thru the day.

Patty & Rob will patrol tomorrow.
Enjoy The day,
Turtle Mom

When Peggy checked the nest this evening at 7:20 we had a little flipper showing. By 8:20 we had a boil-up with 80 healthy babies going into the water. There were no additional sounds at 8:45. Gayle, Jan and Tammy will check again after 10:00 and Peggy will check pre-dawn and again during her patrol.

Unfortunately, the photos that I took did not come out - there was less light than I had thought.

Rob

Nestt H-2 hatches!!! 8/2/08
Surprise surprise H-2 hatched last night around 10:00 p.m. with a boil of 45-49 babies on day 57. Mary & Lana called at 9:07 to say the sink hole had dropped considerably and would I come look at it. Got to the nest, took a close look and saw the sand pulsating!! The 3 of us did the best we could at calling all volunteers before they began emerging. Thanks to everyone that made it (big crowd) we needed everyone.The lights were a problem and the babies did not want to go south. We stayed at the nest until 2:45 hearing some more activity so I am hoping for another boil tonight since this nest had 104 eggs. I will be at the nest abt 6:00 just in case they are ready to go before dark.

Tuesday 8/5/08
Laguna Key

Good morning dear people!
I don't have the book in front of me but I believe our top turtle cleared the nest last night at 9:47. Then they boiled out looking much like a michelin tire, impossible to count at the nest, especially since they were all heading N.W. toward the palest sky. The Gulf was clouded darkly at the time. We had some intense moments! Regardless, they went very fast,13 minutes later 102, or 104 had made water. These were very strong healthy fast babies. We were not short handed but it took everyone there plus some to get 'er done. The water was rough so Howard and the guys kept checking for wash ups but had none. Others scouted around seeking strays but no tracks were found leaving the nest awry or coming from the surf. Not bad for a nest of 114.

Special thanks to the visitors from Arkansas who welcomed our crew to use the loo. Thank you EVERYONE!
Isn't life grand!

Excavation A-3 and A-4 August 4

Hey everybody,
First the bad news, The polaris is broke down and in the shop until further notice. So sorry everyone! I hope it will be fix soon! In the meantime we are delivering those babies left and right.!!!!
We excavated A-3 and A-4 yesterday so here are the result:
At A-3 the nest was not moved so when Steph dug up the nest she found 9 live health babies ready to swim!! They end up with 126 eggs. With the 100 that hatched on the 2nd of August,and the 9 released and the 3 infertile eggs. she had 14 uncounted for but she had empty shells so we're pretty sure that they went safely to the water. Congratulations to Steph and her team (specially Her newest member Rose). Ya'll did a fantastic job!!!

A-4 was moved and 95 eggs were relocated. At A-4 Bennis found 4 live ones in the nest so they were released and swam away beautifully!!! They had 75 boil one night and 3 more get to the gulf on another night plus the 4 live ones in the nest for a total of 82 seen to the water. With 2 dead embryo and 2 infertile, we had 9 uncounted for but Bennis saw tracks one morning and just assumed she might have miss sweeping the nest so we feel pretty sure that they went to the water because no track were found out side the tarp or trench. Congratulations to Bennis and her team they did an excellent job and to Dave for rolling up all that tarp. You are the MAN!

Orange Beach Hatches 8/5

We helped 103 beautiful healthy babies to the water tonight! They began to boil about 7:00 and were in the water just before dark. It was awesome! Thanks to all the volunteers , Gwen, Chyerel, Sheree & Boyd (Proud PaPa), Shirley, Lynda, Jerre and Sam. Hope I did not leave anyone out. The tourists were awesome as well and another round of applause was heard tonight as the last turtle swam into the gulf.

Since this nest had 104 eggs, I checked the nest after 103 babies emerged and found 1 dead embryo.

Fort Morgan A-6 Hatches August 7th

Hey everybody,
A-6 hatched last night with 58 babies making it safely to the water. This nest was not moved so we don't know how many to expect. Maybe we'll get some more this evening. Jeremy said it was a beautiful night.

Orange Beach H-6 - 131 eggs found this morning in front of Turquoise Condos, route A-2!!!!

NOW THE REST OF THE STORY - I rec'd a call 8:00 a.m. from Phillip West,Coastal Resources Mgr with OB. A visitor informed a city employee on the beach this morning that he saw the Moma Turtle nest last night and it was marked with a stick. I met Jason Dean, OB Conservation Officer/sea turtle volunteer at Cotton Bayou and he drove us to the area with supplies (that was nice & easy!). Tim Tucker,OB Street Dept Mgr. was at the site marking it for us. Thank you Tim! Well with the miserable weather conditions, strong winds, rain, high surf, we would have never found this nest if not for the stick left last night. To our surprise, Jason and I found the eggs in less than 10 minutes. The top of the clutch was only 5" deep. It was moved straight back to safer ground.

I wanted to let ALL the volunteers know that I appreciate the time you have taken not only with your volunteer duties, but also your posting to the world wide web! Back in June I sent an email to a group of my students informing them of your blog site.

Many of those students will be traveling with me to the coast on September 20th for the Annual Coastal Clean Up. Looking at the blogs and nest dates, we would be interested in being kept up to date on a few nest that MIGHT actually hatch during the time period we are in Gulf Shores. B-10 looks the most promising, but if I-4 goes early OR B-9 and C-3 go late we might get to see some hatchlings!

THANKS in advance for keeping us posted. Maybe we will get to meet some of you during our stay!!

Hi, I live on Fort Morgan at the 3 mile marker (near A-22). I was hoping that someone would call me (968-9179) if they see a nest on Ft. Morgan hatching-doesn't have to be one close--we will drive! :)

B-2 on Sat. 8/16
100 to 102 hatchlings evac'd B-2 last evening between 8:22 and 8:45. Rick did a FANTASTIC job of co-ordinating. Pompano Jerry held the large crowd of visitors rapt with his sea turtle "lectures". Adrian, Becky and Susanne were on hand to supervise the both of them. (joke) Howard and I were notified when the stethascope (which we leave in place during an evening) began moving. Around 8 one wee head emerged and rested atop of the nest while the sand slowly fell away. Then there were 4, then 6, then a slow steady train of turtles grew and spread along the trench heading south. As our *runners* followed the main troup on hands and knees, 3 more hatchlings formed a caboose and were shepherded along behind. Mid-trench Tom counted 100 to pass under the stick, Prissy counted 102. Adrian and Howard both heard noises following and I thought , "well heck, if 2 of our 3 deafest guys heard something, let's go home!" Rick and Priscilla stayed til 1-ish. Jerry remained with the nest until 2:30 a.m., still hearing a racket. Way to GO everyone! This was a real EVENT, a pleasure to witness. It never gets old!

Fort Morgan Saturday 8/16

A-8 (Kathy T.), had one turtle make it out Thursday, then last night they found three dead on the nest and a wanderer or two. She and her awesome team will be back out tonight, and we will excavate A-8 tomorrow, 8/17, at 6 PM. The following nests are being monitored, but no sounds or activity yet: A-10 (me), A-11 (Anne B.), A-13 (Katie B.), and A-14 (Bennis).

Exciting news about the success of a former false crawl, now nest A-45. Bennis excavated this nest on Thurs. night, 8/13, and reported the following results: 120 hatched escaped the nest, 2 infertile, no dead or living or pipped hatchlings. A huge THANK YOU to Bennis and her helpers for such great work on this.

Fort Morgan 8/16
More Updates:

Refuge nest updates: A-7 is being monitored by refuge staff but is still all quiet at day 63. A-9 is believed to have hatched during the big storm Tuesday night. Here's A-9's excavation info:


Emergence Date: 8/12/08 Incubation Days: 56 Date Excavated: 8/15/08 by Molly & I
90 Total Hatched
0 Total Pipped
17 Unhatched
107 Total Eggs (based on relocation data) with 105 Eggs Accounted For
89 Estimated to Water
83% Survival

Laguna Key 8/17

2 more hatchlings exited the nest B-2 around 11:30-12:00 last night. Rick said that they continued to hear activity all night long!. So far, we have a count of 100-102 out on Day 53, + 2 on day 54 of 129 known eggs.
Thanks everyone. It was very cute, Rick and Susanne sitting happily out in the rain yesterday, watching the sand for movement. You are doing a wonderful job!

Laguna Key 8/18

Final Outcome of nest B-2:

127 hatchlings were watched making their way to water over 3 nights (101 +2 + 24) beginning at day 53
The bottom of the nest was 28 inches deep. 4 inches deeper than when set. The sand in the nest was wet and compacted. Howard filled in the trench and erased signs of our occupation.
Vigorous noise had been noted since day 52 and Jerry and/or Rick sat through the nights on this one. Last night, alarmingly, the racket had all but ceased. Congratulations on a successful hatch gentlemen. Thanks to the guys that sat out in the rain and all 14 helpers involved in the happy outcome of B-2!

Happy day!

Fort Morgan
Hey Tired Turtle Team!

Great news from the beach; we have two more false crawls that hatched, giving us two more nests to add to the total! False Crawl #13, located in Kava Dunes in front of the Dolphin Pass House, has hatched and is now nest A-46. Patrol found signs of a coyote/dog digging in the area, and excavated to find 77 hatched escaped the nest. This is probably where the two stranded hatchlings came from that were found by tourists on Saturday in Surfside SHores. When I arrived, one had been successfully released to the water, and one very lethargic hatchling was resting in a bucket of moist sand. I named him Rudy, and he was successfully released later that evening after he rested and pepped up a bit. Kudos to the Jacksons from Mississippi for their phone call.

Fort Morgan 8/18

False Crawl #10, located at the end of Mobile St., has hatched and is now officially nest A-47. Patrol checked this morning and found 80 empty shells on top of this nest, then excavated and found a few live pipped. Claudia covered them back up, and this nest will be watched for a few days to see if any more hatchlings emerge.

Fort Morgan 8/18

Refuge staff and interns are keeping a close eye on A-7 and A-12, with no activity yet. A-10, A-11, A-13 and A-14 are still quiet, but we hope for lots of activity any day now.
A-8 was excavated last night around 6:30 PM. I heard tons of noise and thought we might find dozens of hatchlings, but we only found four live turtles in the nest. They were successfully released to the water. Thank you, thank you, thank you to Kathy Taylor and her team of dedicated volunteers for all of their hard work on this nest. They stayed with this nest night after night, and then showed up to help remove the tarp and excavate. All of you did a great job!

The results of the excavation are as follows:
Total Hatched-102
Alive in nest and released-4
Depredated-4 (one dead in nest and three found on top on Friday...probably crabs)
Unhatched with embryo development-1
Infertile eggs-8

As always, keep an eye on the weather, especially as this latest storm swirls around out there, and be safe. Keep up the good work!

Fort Morgan 8/18

A- 7 hatched last night with 82 hatchlings (out of 88 eggs) safely to the water. This was a day 65 hatching, and the refuge staff/interns had heard nothing from this nest up to this point; they simply showed up to check last night and found a depression. This serves as a great reminder to all of us to keep a close eye on our nests, even when they aren't making noise, and never give up hope as the days past 55 keep mounting! Great work, refuge team.

Fort Morgan 8/20

Hi Everyone!

I have some more exciting news from here on the Fort Morgan team: A-11 hatched last night (day 61) around 11:00 PM. Nest coordinator Anne Browdy reports that the hatchlings emerged around 11:00 PM, and all 98 made it safely to the water within the next 45 minutes. This nest only had 102 eggs total, so we got almost 100%! Thanks so much to Anne and her loyal team for taking such good care of this nest. Maybe Bennis will be next with a hatching at A-14, as she is hearing some noise.

No nests were found this morning, but Becca, Molly and I excavated nest A-47 (aka false crawl #10). Here's what we found: 3 more hatched escaped the nest, one dead hatchling depredated by crabs, and five dead embryos. It appears to have been a fairly successful hatching. I hope they all made it to the water on their own.

Fort Morgan
Nest A-7 8/22/08

A-7 was excavated Thursday by the refuge staff/interns. This is the one that hatched on Day 65 after 10 days of no sounds or signs of activity. The results of the excavation were 84 hatched escaped the nest, 2 infertile eggs, and 2 dead embryos (out of a total of 88 eggs). This nest had a fabulous 95% success rate.

Fort Morgan
A-12 8/22/08

A-12, another refuge nest, hatched without warning last night. Claudia and Jereme have been checking that one every night, and I have been walking down there from A-10 to check as well. When Claudia arrived last night a little past 8:00 PM, there were 6 or 7 hatchlings in the tarped area. She got them to the water, and then followed the tracks that led out of the trench. She was able to find another dozen or so hatchlings and see them safely to the water. We won't know until the excavation just how many hatched out. Thanks so much to Claudia for finding all those baby turtles and helping them survive.

Fort Morgan
Nest Update 8/22/08

A-10 (me) and A-14 (Bennis) are having some sounds, and we are just know they are going to hatch out tonight ahead of the storm. Nest A-13 (Katie) is located far enough from the wrack line that it should be safe. I know we are all very concerned about the effect that Fay may have on our nests this year, but we'll do the best we can and keep the faith that they'll all survive!

Orange Beach 8/22/08
Turtle Team,

We had another great night as H-3 produced 42 live babies and 1 infertile egg totalling 98 hatched and to the water.Some of these guys were so packed in - I don't know if they would have survived another day so I am glad we excavated a day early. Thank you so much to all our volunteers for being there tonight!!!

Gulf Shores/ East Beach
8/22/08

Day 54, Nest E-1, Betty decided to take a walk to relax, stopped at the nest to discover a scout on top. With the help from Lisa and her Orange Beach Team, the nest was tarped and trenched in time to see 77 hatchlings to the water. The OB team had to leave before the journey, they had H-4 hatching. Claude & Kate were monitoring E-2, came over and helped. Kate found this nest and it was the first boil for them, and for Leigh and Charla. As Leigh so aptly put it, 'so much for nest sitting!' Thanks to Peggy and everyone else who helped. Good job everyone!!

Fort Morgan
A-10 8/23/08

A-10 hatched last night. I had waffled back and forth about excavating this nest (day 65 and lots of noise) prior to the arrival of TS Fay, as I wanted them to hatch on their own. A little before 10:00 PM, amidst mounting winds and lightning, we decided to start removing the top layers of sand and listen again. I gently scooped out some of the loose sand that had caved in and there were baby turtles. We sat back and stayed quiet, and before long they crawled out on their own and started marching towards the water. There were 56 little cuties that went into the sea. We then excavated the nest in case others were trapped down there, but all we found were 54 infertile eggs and 3 dead embryos, bringing the total eggs in the nest to 113. Obviously this nest was affected when the high tides brought by TS Dolly washed over it, so thank goodness 56 survived. Interestingly enough, all 56 hatched shells were located underneath the 57 unhatched eggs, so the surviving turtles hatched out and then crawled out from underneath all of those whole eggs!

Fort Morgan
Nest Updates 8/23/08

A-11 was excavated last night, after a terrific hatching of 98 out of 102 to the water. Ann and her team found 2 infertile eggs and 2 dead pipped. Claudia excavated A-12 on patrol this morning, aided by Kate and Claude. The results of that excavation yielded the following: 91 empty shells, 1 live released tot he water, 3 dead embryos, and 7 infertile. This nest had 101 eggs total, with 86 making it to the water after 5 were depredated by crabs, with only ten total unhatched eggs.

Gulf Shores/East Beach
8/23/08

E-1 hatched on day 54 and E-2 hatched on day 53. Friday morning when Claude and Kate were checking E-2, three additional live hatchlings were found. Then, about 11am one more was seen in the trench making it's way to the water.
Due to tropical storm Fay, we excavated both nests Friday night. E-2 yielded 12 live hatchlings in the nest, 1 infertile, 2 dead embryos, and 2 hatched but dead in the nest for a total of 86 live hatchings.
At E-1 we found 10 hatchlings alive in the nest and 3 infertile eggs ,for a total of 87 babies out of 90 eggs making it to the water.

Fort Morgan
A-16 8/26/08

Remember the nest I told you about, A-16, that had been vandalized and had all the stakes pulled up? Well, would you believe it hatched last night right on Day 55? Thank goodness Molly, Debi and I went out there Monday afternoon and put up the tarp. Debi and Ronnie went to listen last night, and there was a cave-in when she inserted her stethoscope. Deb didn't see any turtles or movement, so they left to go check a false crawl and called Fred Foley to come out to A-16. By the time Fred got there, turtles were out and going into the water. Deb said they followed tracks and it looked like everyone made it to the water; thank goodness it's so dark out there. We'll excavate in a few days and let you know the final results. Maybe we'll have lots more hatch out on day 55!

Fort Morgan team
9/3/08
I wanted to give you all an update on our turtles. Looks like Gustav may have totally wiped out the remainder of our nests. I went out to Mobile St. yesterday, and got a really bad feeling when I realized nest A-34 was still underwater. If there is any chance at all with any of the nests Claudia mentioned in her email, we will monitor them and hope for the best. I will update you all as more information comes in.

Thanks for working so hard this season. I imagine you are all as heartbroken as Debi and I over the loss of our nests. Keep your chins up, however, and don't forget that we had more nests hatch successfully so far this year than last year. I plan to mourn all the hatchlings that were lost and then pray for even greater success next year.

Sunday, September 14 at 8:15 am we were walking on the beach from the Sea & Suds to the pier and we found a very small Loggerhead turtle. My husband walked out in to the water up to his waist and let the little one go. We watched for 5 minutes to make the turtle did not come back to land.
We are very new to the area so I do not have the phone number to call for help or info. The 1-866-SeaTrutle number does not work.
Is there any other number that I may call next time?

Can anyone give me the physical location or GPS numbers for the following nest sites: B-10 / I-4 / B-9 / C-3? Even though the hurricanes have wiped out the remaining nests my students wanted to take a beach walk Saturday and check out some of the areas that the turtles actually nested at this year!

THANKS in advance for any help given!