It’s going to be hard to do justice to the magic that happened here Wednesday night, but I am going to try. Our turtle season has had fewer nests this year, but those nests seem more successful than last year. Nest 11 (at Ancient Dunes) hatched on the 19th, but we hadn’t seen any signs of nesting on nest 10, which is at Marshmallow walk. I got a text asking me to look at some tracks, so after supper, Reggie and I wandered down with Tucker to see what was going on. And we wanted to see how high the tides were between a new moon and Hurricane Erin kicking up some surf.
It looked like there were armadillo, ghost crab, canine, and turtle hatchling tracks near the nest. As I was examining them, Reggie said, “look, there they are.” And sure enough, there were tiny heads just barely poking out of the sand through the cage.
I sent a quick note through the turtle team group chat that the nest was hatching, and did a short live stream in the turtle team facebook page. And then we watched!
All of this footage is in actual time, not sped up or slowed down… we only had phones, but the beautiful thing was that the turtles paused long enough for people to wake up their children and grandchildren and head to the beach to watch! By the time the turtles had emerged from the hole and begun their tumbling descent to the ocean, we had about 30 people watching the spectacular moment with us.
The sun was setting, and the waves were crashing, and the baby turtles kept emerging from the nest, making their way doggedly to the ocean. Mixed in were the voices of young adults who have spent twenty+ summers on the island, gasping with surprise and delight, the admonitions from parents and turtle team members for children to plant their feet and stay still while the turtles trekked across the sand, and joyful squeals from children and their parents alike. It’s a rare treat to see a nest “boil,” and to see one with enough light to take video/photos?!? For me, it’s the first daylight hatch I’ve been lucky enough to see from start to finish.
It was such a magic moment, and the atmosphere of joy was palpable. 30 people of all ages, stopped in their tracks watching an ancient mystery unfold, as at least 90 babies scrambled to the ocean in the waning sun.
This video has information on nests hatching.
