Rainy Day Passing

There are days when the weather conspires to make the beach a place for natural inhabitants alone, a place inhospitable to creatures without feathers, gills or hard shells. At such times water, wind or cold temperatures throw up unwelcome signals warning that conditions are, temporarily at least, on the outer edge of safe.

Today was that kind of day on Florida’s east coast at the latitude of 29°. From early morning, rain was heavy and the only thing on the beach apart from sand and seashells was birds, and even they were few in number. Looking through windows the outdoor perspective was little other than ghost-like lines rubbed faint by hard falling slants of rain, the definition of horizon, surf and sand smeared, if not by cloud or fog, then by a weakness of light. One of those times when warm and dry interiors offer the better choice.

Hard and steady rain lasted through the early afternoon but by three o’clock people were sniffing the air, venturing out for a look at what the sodden beach might hold. Not long before a straggle of people were plodding along the water’s edge. It wasn’t a pristine stroll, as rain and tide had worked together to throw up a grimy beard of jetsam and ruined bits of plastic along the surf line, a sight thankfully rare during these colder months.

A half mile south I came upon a first-time sight, one that no one likes to see. At some time during the long hours of rain, a sea turtle—what looked to be a mature Loggerhead—had come ashore, and there just above the waterline breathed its last. Orange paint spattered on its back is probably a marker put there by the beach patrol. Tire tracks circling the turtle could come from only the beach patrol who relay such information but do not get involved. Local fish and wildlife officers will pick up the turtle and determine the cause of death. Disease or sickness is a possibility, but so is cold shock, the very same that is affecting catfish and snook.

Sad to see the death of a magnificent creature like the sea turtle, but then nature in its myriad ways is nothing if not example of pure democracy.

Some interesting sea turtle tidbits:

• Sea turtles have existed for over 100 million years.

• Florida beaches are ‘home’ to eighty percent of Loggerhead turtles in the US.

• Scientists estimate that only one in 1,000 babies reaches adulthood.

• Hatchlings weigh 1 ounce and are 2 inches long; adults often grow to over 3 feet long, weighing 200-300 pounds.

• Nest temperatures during incubation determine a turtle’s sex. Males develop in cooler temperatures, females in hotter temperatures.

Dreaming of the Sargasso Sea

This will not be my first mention of the sea turtles that nest along Florida’s east coast, especially along the stretch of beach just under my nose. When I left home at 8:00 this morning for my usual walk on the beach, the sea turtles were not really on my mind, and a surprising encounter with biologists, nests and eggs was far from my thoughts.

There is a blue-roofed beachhouse a mile and a half south of me, and for almost two months it has been my ‘turn-around’ marker. As I approached that spot this morning I noticed a jeep stopped there, and three people very carefully digging in the sand. I realized right off that it was a team from the Volusia County turtle watch, and that they had just come upon a new deposit of turtle eggs buried by a female turtle during the night. I quickened my pace, eager to catch as much of the event as possible.

I got to the nest maybe five minutes before the two graduate students and their senior located the cache of about ninety eggs. For the next thirty minutes I watched (and took pictures) of the gradual uncovering of the eggs. They were digging the eggs up this time because the mother had chosen a bad location, too close to the surf, and in an area of known raccoons, a natural predator. What was especially interesting about these Loggerhead eggs was the size, and the number of fused eggs. Normal turtle eggs look very much like a ping pong ball, but the eggs this time were in many cases extra large. Not only that, but a good many of the eggs were fused together. This in itself is not all that unusual I learned, but it is more commonly just two eggs. There were three and four eggs fused together in this nest.

The scientists were working as fast as possible (uncovering progresses in a manner much like that on an archeological dig—slowly) because exposure to the air, light and temperature is detrimental to the eggs. They had a site already selected for re-burying the eggs a moderate distance south along the beach. Better conditions all around.

Turtle nesting season runs from early May through late October. As of this week sixty-four nests have been logged and roped off. According to the figures from the Fish & Wildlife Agency, the 2009 nest total along Florida beaches was 52,374 for Loggerhead turtles, a number 40% below the 1998 total. Temperature is very important for the hatching of eggs. Ocean temperatures influence mating, as well as when the female comes ashore to deposit the eggs. Temperatures within the nest are relevant to determining the sex of the hatchlings. Warmth at the top of the nest results in females; cooler temperatures near the bottom produce males. Beaches in Volusia County are vital because the white sand is slightly cooler than the sand farther south.

As for predators, the newly hatched turtles run a gauntlet for survival, racing against the sea birds, raccoons, crabs, and once in the water, against fish and sharks. From a nest of 100 eggs only a handful will survive. Those babies who make it through all the hungry obstacles swim straight out to the Sargasso Sea, where they eat and grow for a year or longer. This is a region of the western Atlantic between the Azores and the Caribbean, so called for the abundance of Sargasso seaweed, its deep blue color and exceptional clarity. Blue heaven for newly hatched sea turtles.