Night Walk - 7/22

We had another successful walk as we got to see some hatchlings! Unfortunately, these hatchlings were disorientated and they were having troubles finding the ocean due to the light pollution. It was a very dark night as it was near a new moon and these hatchlings didn't know where to go. I was able to steer them in the right direction so they could start their swimming journey! In total we had about 6 hatchlings that we recovered from nest 25!

The following morning during patrol there was no new turtle nesting activity. Our season is definitely starting to slow down. The last sea turtle nest may be during the first week of August. During the morning patrol for cases like nest 25, we fill out a disorientation report. We also take pictures to show the hatchling crawls. I submit all the information to inform DNR of the lighting issues we are experiencing. See below for one of the pictures that was submitted with our disorientation report.

Disorientated hatchling tracks - notice the circling patterns from the various light sources