Blog Post By: Lilli Stanley, Sea Turtle Intern
This summer I wanted to do an internship working on wildlife conservation so when I got the opportunity to work on Edisto Island, SC working on loggerhead sea turtle conservation I was so excited. My family has been vacationing here since I was little, so getting to do the work that I had seen others do was an exciting opportunity. In a lot of ways, this summer was a challenge for me. It stretched me in a lot of ways like moving to a new place where I knew no one, it pushed me out of my comfort zone by requiring me to talk to knew people every day, and even give a 30-minute-long presentation to a room full of people. However, every time I was faced with one of these challenges, I found that I was able to them, it just took some courage. This was a huge milestone for me. I am a very shy and quiet person, and even a few months ago I would have been shocked if someone told me what I had accomplished this summer. Besides growing in confidence, I also learned so much this summer. Nearly every day I learned something new about the turtles, how to do something new, or just about the general flora and fauna here on Edisto. When I think about my favorite experience this summer, two instances immediately come to mind. The first one being my very first encounter with a loggerhead sea turtle. I was on night patrol with Leah and Eli (one of the other summer interns) when we spotted a turtle coming ashore. We stayed a good distance away from her until she was at a safe viewing stage. Once she started laying, we were able to move closer to her. It was amazing. I had never seen an adult turtle before, and we were the only people out on the beach so it was just us and the turtle. She had some bioluminescence on her carapace, so she had lots of blue glow in the dark sparkles all over her. Once she was done laying and she was late stage covering, I was able to measure her carapace and scan for a PIT tag. While I was measuring her, she was moving her front flippers and she slapped me on the wrist! She actually bruised it; she was so strong. It was an amazing first experience with a turtle. The second experience that comes to mind happened on my second to last patrol of the summer. We were driving down to the inlet when we spotted a pair of incoming tracks but no outgoing. Upon closer look, there was a turtle ashore right near the scarp. She wasn’t moving except to blink but there was no sign of sickness or injury. One of the turtle volunteers stayed with her while we worked on some relocations and when we came back over an hour later, she still had not moved. We then began to clear some sand away from her and poured some ocean water on her. This seemed to be the extra push she needed, and she finally began crawling back to the water. It was so amazing to see that she was ok and to be able to see a turtle in the daylight! Until then, I had only seen a mother turtle at night, and to see one the day before my internship ended was so cool.
0 Comments
|
Leah SchwartzentruberSea Turtle Biologist Archives
September 2023
|