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  • Tag Archives AJ

  • 2 old, 2 new and 2 PAT tags deployed

    Posted on by kelly stewart Comment
    whew! very busy and lots of fun last night. the turtles kept us going until 5 am. we had a visitor again last night, Chris was here from NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service (Miami) to deploy 2 PAT (Pop-up Archival Transmitting) tags. These special tags record temperature, light levels and dive depth as they are towed behind a leatherback, and store the data onboard until a pre-determined time (set by the researcher). At this time (90 days in our case) a special link on the tag corrodes in the salt water and the tag floats to the surface. Once on the surface the tag sends its data to an orbiting satellite (in the same way our satellite tags work for tracking turtles). From the data collected, important things can be discovered about leatherback behavior and water temperature profiles. Chris will be getting some data in about 90 days. We had 2 tags to deploy and thought we'd probably see at least 2 turtles. I found the first one, down on Singer Island and she was new. I waited until she laid eggs and gave her the standard procedure - new tags, genetic sample, measurements etc. she was a very small turtle at only 140 cm curved length (our average size is 151 cm). but she managed to nest rather quickly and I was anxious to get back up north. while I waited, chris had called to say he also had a turtle and he and chris (yes, confusing) were going to put a PAT tag on Foxxy (our last turtle from 2003). I traveled up the beach to see her while both Chris's went north in search of another. it wasn't long before they called with another 2003 turtle we've not seen yet this year - Sole. She was the recipient of the 2nd PAT tag. I made one more pass to the southern inlet, not finding anything, but on my way back, about 30 m away from where Foxxy had nested I found another new turtle! by this time it was 4 am. this new turtle was quite a bit bigger than the first and seemed to take a long time getting her eggs out (she eventually did). I gave her some tags and went to meet chris 1 in the office - he'd gone out to get snacks and we were starving! we took a break then in the office and filled out our data sheets like mad, catching up from the last few nights. we did manage to see all the turtles nesting last night in a 20 km stretch of beach, and deploy some special tags - a really successful night. tonight brings our total leatherback count to a RECORD number! we've now seen 66 individuals in one season, and we still have a month to go (the old record of 65 was set in 2003). one note about names of the new turtles... I promised my friend Trudy that I would try to get all her 3 girls a turtle and so tonight we managed the last 2. the new ones are Shayna and Trudy (we already have an AJ, and a Paige).
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  • Two turtles and a loon?

    Posted on by chris Comment
    Last night seemed to speed by at a rapid pace. I was on the beach by about 10pm and found a turtle on the first run to the north. It was AJ- a turtle who is becoming quite the regular on our section of beach. I think we have seen her 4 times this season already! Kelly and I had a few Loggerheads last night to keep us busy between the leatherbacks. I found a second turtle at around 3:30am near the Juno beach fishing pier. She had just finished her nest and was returning to the sea. I quickly checked her tags, measured her and checked her out. It was Scorpio and we have not seen her since we tagged her in 2002. As Kelly was driving home down the beach after the sun came up she called me to tell me about a Loon on the beach. I said I would check it out and continued North to count and mark the crawls from last night. There were 10! Although they were a bit late, the Loggerheads are here! I found the Loon and she appeared to be healthy so I brought her to the local lake and let her go. She drew a little blood from me before she left! I wish that someday I can hear the call of a Loon on a lake up north someday. Doesn't seem quite right to hear one on the beach in Florida! Not much else to report from last night. We hope the luck continues tonight.
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  • 4, 5, 6……

    Posted on by kelly stewart Comment
    a truly wild record breaking night. we had 6 leatherbacks on our beach last night, and that's not an april fool's joke! everything got started around midnight when I saw AJ just after she'd emerged from the water. I watched as she approached the wrack line (which is extensive with all the sargassum - huge rafts of it - floating in from the weekend's waves). she hit the first pile of weed and then turned sideways. she continued up the beach but hit so many piles of thick wet seaweed that she finally gave up and I watched her crawl back into the water. we were sure she'd be back - I guess leatherbacks don't like the seaweed much. I took a quick break - Sandy, Sue and Chris were surveying the north end. on my way south again, I came across a new turtle - she had just started to dig her egg chamber. Chris and Sandy were there in minutes and we attached our only remaining GPS transmitter to her. She was a very wide turtle so the harness did not need much adjustment. I went south again, while Chris and Sandy went back north. AJ was still out there somewhere, and I expected to see her on my section of beach. I kept going... through the park, no AJ. I was thinking she was just a little bit further and when I reached Singer Island and had to squeak through a tight spot where the tide was rapidly coming in, I knew I'd have to make it quick to avoid being trapped on the south end. nearing the Ocean Mall area of Singer, which is often a good turtle nesting spot, I thought I might find her. I did find a track and was happy to have made the decision to press on. but... I checked the turtle and she was another new one! I decided to call her Deb, because the turtle was on Debbie Sobel's survey beach, and also for our prankster friend Deb at the MLC. I noticed then that I had a message on my phone. Chris and Sandy had found AJ - up north. We all headed back for a break in the office. Chris and I were checking data from our GPS turtles around 4 am and thought we'd better make one more run, not really expecting anything. But at the Seminole golf course, I found one more turtle. no flipper tags, but she did beep. the number that came up on the scanner was a 125.... and all our PIT tags start with a 4. It must be one of Dean Bagley's turtles - up at Doc Ehrhart's beach in Melbourne. Dean.... call us and let us know her name :) I gave her a new flipper tag and called Chris. He had plenty to tell me about what he'd found and so I'll leave it to him to tell you - he'll be back soon from marking the nests --- oh and we need NAMES! so leave a comment here with your favorite name for our new turtles. we are running out of good ideas!
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  • Lots of fun

    Posted on by chris Comment
    Last night was a ton of fun. Started out in Ft. Lauderdale at the Interpol concert. It is a little wierd to wake up and go to a concert BEFORE work! Had a great time and then headed up here to Juno beach as fast as I could. I knew there would be turtles. A call to Rick who was working on Hutchinson confirmed the night was "turtly" as they had an untagged turtle on the beach at 9pm. Got up here by 1am and headed out on the beach. The waves were awesome and the beach had been cut in half since the night before. I headed north hoping not to find any tracks from missed turtles - nothing. A quick turn around at the Jupiter Inlet and I headed south. Near the Seminole golf course I saw the unmistakable dark smudge in the sand ahead of me. Yep, I missed a turtle. I was bummed that she had just left the beach and she had the biggest track I had ever seen in my life! I sat for a minute and then cranked up the bike and cruised south again. Didn't have to go 100 meters before I found a turtle! AJ (click for more info about AJ) was just finishing up her nest and was getting ready to leave the beach. I checked her flipper and PIT tags, took some quick measurements and checked her out. Leatherbacks are really cool and exciting to sit next to. I sat for a bit enjoying her company and we parted. I headed south again. Wonder where she went??
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  • a 3 turtle night’s not too bad…..

    Posted on by chris Comment
    we had a good night out on the beach. I was patrolling the south with Matthew and we'd been out only about 20 minutes, just long enough to cover the park, when I pulled over to write something down in my notebook and happened to look up ahead of me. 'what's that' I said - there was a big black shape just up out of the water. excitedly we confirmed it was a leatherback and then waited until she was laying her eggs. she's another new turtle - Matthew's named her Bonita. a little later on Chris and Kelly M called from the northern stretch of beach to say they had one too! AJ returned for another nest on our beach - this one's her third I think. it was quiet for a while after that, and just as I was thinking we were all done for the night (around 330 am), Chris called to say he and Kelly M had yet another turtle. this time it was Jenny. we have not seen her for 20 days so she likely nested elsewhere for her last clutch, but nice that she has come back here to our beach. a 3 turtle night's not too bad.....
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  • Kelly returns

    Posted on by chris Comment
    well, yeah I am home, and really need some sleep! I had an amazing time on the beautiful islands of Puerto Rico and Culebra - there was work involved but seeing turtles never seems like hard work. I'll try to post some of the highlights of my trip when I wake up today. last night it did feel good to be back on home turf and out looking for our Florida girls. found just one, around 130 am, down near MacArthur Park - AJ returned for her second nest here. we haven't seen her since I tagged her on April 15th, so she must have nested on a nearby beach about 10 days ago. more soon....
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  • 4 New Turtles!

    Posted on by chris Comment
    the beach was really beautiful last night. a really bright moon, strong east wind and big waves brought in lots of seaweed and - turtles! we saw a total of FOUR new turtles tonight, a record for the project. we had just begun our survey to the north of MacArthur Park when we came upon a small turtle just getting ready to lay her eggs. she had come out of the water about 9 pm, according to a couple who were out on the beach for a walk. she was much smaller than usual, at only 145 cm in length. she laid some oblong eggs, more like chicken eggs than turtle eggs, and not very many of them. because she was small, and laid only a few mishapen eggs, it could be that this was her first nesting. she's been named Chara, after a star. Jesse and I continued on and just after 2 am found another turtle digging an egg chamber in MacArthur Park. Jesse tagged her first turtle of the season and named her for her mom, Sara. this turtle was a little larger than usual, at 161 cm. then, just as we were celebrating an already successful night, I headed north while Jesse went south on the beach around 3 am. I saw another turtle emerging from the water, right near Loggerhead Park (seems to be the new hot-spot). I moved on, quickly checking the beach for other turtles and then returned to her just as she was getting ready to lay eggs. this turtle was also new to us, with no tags. Jesse met up with me, and we measured her together. this one's name is AJ, after Archelon (a giant turtle thought to be the ancestor of the modern leatherback), and one that lived during the Jurassic period, along with other dinosaurs. we went into the office then to sort out all the paperwork that we had done, double-check our data, and put samples away. around 430 am, we went back out to do one more run of the beach before bedtime. just onto the beach, headed north and there was another new turtle (named her Atria). the turtles just didn't stop all night! it was really fun. we saw a beautiful sunrise and completed the morning nesting patrol for both Juno Beach and MacArthur Park. we'd seen all the turtles that had nested in our area. it's time for bed now as I'm probably not making much sense..... nest totals: Juno Beach: 16 MacArthur Beach State Park: 4 Singer Island: 2
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