Taima the Seattle Seahawk and the Genus Buteo

For those of you who watching the Broncos/Seahawks game right now, you might have noticed clips of a random bird of prey flying around which, if you're anything like me, that was the highlight of the entire game.  Named Taima, the bird is the mascot for the Seattle Seahawks football team, an augur hawk (Buteo rufofuscus).  Although sometimes referred to as the augur buzzard, I prefer the name augur hawk, as buzzard is sometimes a bit of a confusing name.*  According to the Seahawks website, Taima has been the "first one out of the tunnel" prior to every game.**  The augur hawk is one of the most common hawks in Africa, and inhabits an enormous portion of the eastern and central part of the continent.  Open plains, grasslands, and forests are the augur's preferred habitat, fairly similar to its close North American cousin, the red-tailed hawk (Buteo jaimaicensis).

The broad-winged hawk (Buteo platypterus) is one of the smallest members of the genus, and a hawk that's involved in a very interesting new project, the aptly named "Broad-Winged Hawk Project."  Similar in many ways to the OCEARCH shark tracking project, the BWHP is using satellite telemetry technology to track broad-winged hawks on their migration from Pennsylvania, all the way down to Central and South America.  You can join in the tracking fun by clicking on the link HERE!  Several of the nestling broad-wings were from pretty close to where my friend Zach Evens's cabin in Pennsylvania was that we visited in August!

There are a ton of other hawks in the genus Buteo besides the red-tail, augur, and broad-wing, several of which we've talked about here on the blog, such as the red-shouldered hawk (B. lineatus), rough-legged hawk (B. lagopus), and the Swainson's hawk (B. swainsoni).

A rough-legged hawk on the hand of Anne Price, the Curator of Raptors for the Raptor Education Foundation at one of the raptor shows at the Best Western Denver Southwest!

*In the Americas, a buzzard typically refers to a vulture, while in the Old World, buzzard is often attributed to members of the genus Buteo, of which the augur hawk is a member.  We Americans tend to refer to buteos simply as hawks, which is part of what can lead to this confusion.

**For those of you not in the know, the tunnel is not a metaphorical tunnel, and instead refers to a legit tunnel that leads from the locker room onto the stadium.

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Thorny Trees and 20 Inch Tongues: A Case of Coevolution

A few days ago, I saw a very spiky-looking tree on the Bird of Prey Route near my house.  A few weeks ago, I saw another tree, much larger than this one, along the banks of Boulder Creek that had some enormous thorns on its branches as well, some of them easily six inches long, and super sharp on the end!  I don't know for certain what kind of tree this, or the Boulder Creek tree, is, but a good candidate I think is the honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos), or some other tree closely related to the honey locust.  Below is the picture of the tree that I took on the Bird of Prey Route.

And here is the picture that I took on my iPhone at Boulder Creek of this tree.  The thorns look pretty similar to those of the honey locust, and I think that the trunk of the tree looks pretty similar, too.

Now why do these trees have such huge thorns?  When it comes to nature, everything evolves with a purpose.  There is no reason why a living organism would evolve something without a purpose, especially something as involved as giant, six-inch long thorns.  The question is, what purpose do these thorns serve?  Well that's a darn good question, and I am very pleased you asked.  Much like the "thorns" that you can see on the tail of a Stegosaurus, they likely were to help keep the organism from being consumed.  We see similar thorns on the branches of some trees in the genus Acacia in Africa today.  There, the thorns help protect the tree from attacks from one of the largest plant predators alive today, the giraffe.  This tree....well, suffice it to say that you probably won't see many activists hugging this tree.

"Oh, maybe these thorns look deceptively big," you're thinking.  Wrong.  These thorns do not look deceptively big.  If anything, they look deceptively small.  These thorns are frickin' HUGE.

So the real question is, why the long thorns, Goldilocks?  Many paleontologists believe that, during the Pleistocene Epoch (which lasted from between around 2.5 MYA to about 12,000 years ago), many of North America's mega-herbivores, everything ranging from mammoths and mastodons, to giant ground sloths and the North American camel Camelops, could have been preying upon these trees.  Selective pressures slowly caused these trees to evolve protection against these mammalian mega-herbivores.  Mastodons especially had very robust teeth, which would almost certainly have made them excellent bark-munchers.

In Africa, the acacia tree, also known as the whistling thorn, the thorntree, or (my personal favorite) the wattle, has a very similar defense.  Unlike the honey locust of North America, however, the acacia tree still has to deal with intense predation today, and from a wide variety of herbivores, everything from gerenuk to giraffe, elephants to more giraffes.

You see, the giraffes love the acacia tree.  If giraffes had Facebook, then they all would like the "I <3 Acacia Trees" page.  I remember reading somewhere that they can eat up to 60 or 65 pounds of acacia leaves per day.  (To understand this, try imagining a large hunk of butter that weighs 60 or 65 pounds.  Now you have an idea of how many pounds that is.)  They love it so much that, if the acacia tree hadn't adapted to keep up with the continual browsing pressure, the giraffes might have loved the acacia trees to death!  In response, the acacia trees convergently evolved these sharp thorns, just like the honey locust tree in North America.  (We talk about convergent evolution quite a lot as it is one of my favorite topics, so click HERE to learn more about it!)  

The giraffes love the acacia, though.  They aren't going to give up on those lovely leaves, just like that!  So while these acacia trees evolved their thorns to protect their leaves, the giraffes evolved something spectacular: a prehensile tongue!  Don't believe me?  Well, one of my favorite things about the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is that you can feed the giraffes there.  And guess what: their tongues are HUGE!  Below, I have a video of my good friend Masaki Kleinkopf also feeding the giraffes!  Check out my gangsta hoodie, yo.  

So, yeah.  Suffice it to say, giraffes have frickin' long tongues.  And they use these TWENTY INCH LONG TONGUES to help circumnavigate through the acacia tree's poky and spiny maze of thorns to reach the leaves!  The acacia tree wasn't going to just take this lying down, though: no giraffe is going to be feeding on my leaves, yo!  So the acacia tree adapted again.  This time, by employing the use of tannins.

Long story short, tannins are used by humans in a variety of ways, including tanning, food processing, and making cocoa and wine.  They also apparently taste terrible.  Don't ask me, I've never tried it, but then again I don't have a 20 inch prehensile tongue, so it's a whole different ballgame.*

Not only do tannins taste terrible, but they inhibit the digestion of the leaf matter in a number of nasty ways, none of which would be all that fun for the giraffe.  So when a giraffe starts munching on the leaves of the acacia tree, that tree will release tannins to make the leaves taste like....well, leather I suppose.  (Again, haven't tried either.)  This tannin releasing is a pretty cool adaptation all on its lonseome.  The giraffe begins to move off to another acacia tree nearby.  However, if it's within 50 yards or so (especially downwind) of the original, now tanniny acacia, then the giraffe is out of luck: the nearby acacias react in turn, releasing their own tannins, and rendering their leaves almost indigestible to the giraffes, as well!  I would imagine that, because of this, giraffes have in turn developed the behavior of moving upwind as they eat, and a cursory glance over the Internet indicates that this does seem to be a behavior observed in giraffes!  Coevolution at its finest!

Make sure to check back soon for our next episode in our coevolution series, all about a very fun little squirrel!  See you then!  In the meantime, you can read about what coevolution actually is, by clicking HERE.

*The second baseball metaphor that I believe has been used on this blog.  Refer to "23-Fact Tuesday: Prairie Falcon, Red-Tailed Hawk, and Great-Horned Owl at the Dino Hotel" and "Eye Black: What Works for Football Players Works for the Cheetah" to learn more about this sport.  

Works Cited:

Flickers on a Rainy Day

Rain makes lots of animals behave differently than they normally do. Many birds either take shelter or, like the American robin, head out to forage for drowning worms. The other day (and by other day, I mean several months ago, because I kept forgetting to post this post) during a rainstorm, I was walking with my friend Mona when we noticed a flicker stabbing repeatedly at the ground.

Here is a picture of the end result of what we were witnessing!

According to one source, the Puget Sound Backyard Birds, ants compose about 80% of a flickers diet, and foraging for this tasty insect snack is probably what the flicker was doing as it continually stabbed its beak into the ground! Even if it wasn't looking for ants, most of the flickers diet is insects. During the winter, when insects can become scarce, the flicker consumes berries and seeds. Certainly an unusual diet and foraging behavior for a woodpecker!

Below is a video uploaded by Deepa Mohan of a flicker foraging for food.  As you can see in the video, this flicker is foraging when the weather outside is not so frightful.  I assume that perhaps the flicker we saw was active while it was raining both because the insects would be scurrying around trying to find safe ground, and also probably because the ground was softer than usual.  

Like other woodpeckers, the flicker will nest in holes of trees, but will sometimes nest in the abandoned burrows of birds such as the belted kingfisher or the bank swallow, whose nests are located in holes within the earth.  Below is a picture of a pair of belted kingfishers flying into their nest:

Flickers are pretty common where I live, and they seem to be pretty common throughout the United States!  If you have any great flicker stories or pictures, make sure to send them in or comment below!

Works Cited:

Flocks of Robins and Winter Territoriality

Where I live in Colorado, and in fact across much of North America, the American robin (Turdus migratorius) is a common sight, especially during the spring and summer.  You can often find this bird hopping across the ground, rooting around in the ground for worms.  However, this morning, on my walk across campus, I noticed a flock of about thirty or so robins in a random tree, and couldn't remember a time when I had seen so many robins in one place, not even close.  What was going on?

Just like for a robin, a little digging proved fruitful....or should I say wormful?  "The Great Backyard Bird Count" (GBBC) revealed that during the winter, the territoriality of the American robin decreases dramatically.  Two graphs on the website, which I have included below, help us to understand what is going on.  The first graph, titled "Percent Submissions With Positive Sightings," charts the number of people who see robins.  As you can see, the peak months for robin sightings are between the months of April and July, with a peak in July.  March, as well as August through October, are also pretty good times to see robins, but during the winter months between November and February, robins are not seen as often.

The second graph, titled "Average Number of Birds for Positive Sightings" charts how many robins people typically see together: i.e., if they report a robin sighting, they also report how many robins there were together.  As you can see, April through September are definitely the worst months to see multiple robins together, with October through February being the best time, and a large peak in November.

Graphs are tough: what does this all mean in English?  Essentially, during the breeding season (spring and summer), robins maintain strict territories, which causes them to spread out, with a more even distribution.  This means that you would be more likely to see a robin on a walk through the park, but not several robins in the same place.  During the winter, presumably because their breeding territories are simply too small for them to get enough food, and since it is no longer the breeding season, they abandon their territories, allowing different robins to go wherever they wish.  For whatever reason, probably something to do with mutual protection, they also form flocks.  The forming of flocks also causes the number of individuals per sighting to increase.

Another study conducted by the GBBC (read the full write-up HERE) pertained to snow depth and frequency of robin sightings.  As you can see in the graph below, the likelihood of spotting an American robin with even just a little bit of snow drops quite dramatically.  Similar results were reported for the red-winged blackbird, while birds such as the white-throated sparrow and northern flicker responded to increased snow depth as well, but not quite as dramatically.

For the robin, a bird that typically feeds on the ground, even just a little bit of snow cover might prove to be an issue.  However, other ground-feeding birds, such as the dark-eyed junco, didn't seem to mind the snow anywhere near as much as the robin.  GBBC suggested that other factors must affect the distribution of these birds, such as "weather, diet, and the species' normal range and altitudinal limits."

A subspecies of the dark-eyed junco called the gray-headed junco.  I took this picture of the stuffed animal when we were in Ouray over the summer.

A picture of a dark-eyed junco that I took in my backyard.

The GBBC devotes a paragraph to acknowledge the uncertainties in these results, a humility that I find refreshing and, sadly, not too common on many Internet sources these days.  GBBC looks at the graph below, plotting the snow depth against the likelihood of seeing a house finch, and notes the steady decline, as opposed to the sharp drop seen in the robin graph, or the lack of real pattern seen in the junco graph.  GBBC reports that this would be a pattern not expected if it was access to the ground (or lack thereof) that was causing these birds to move.  Instead, one would expect the sharp decline of the robin graph.  Other factors, such as temperature, could be what is causing birds like the house finch or the house sparrow to move.

A male house sparrow.

A female house finch, silhouetted against the backdrop of the evening sky.

Works Cited:

"Snow Depth Survey." The Great Backyard Bird Count. http://www.birdsource.org/gbbcX/science-stories/past-stories/snow-depth-survey (accessed January 23, 2014).

Stokes, Donald, and Lillian Stokes. The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2010. (accessed January 23, 2014).

"Winter Robins." The Great Backyard Bird Count. http://www.birdsource.org/gbbcX/science-stories/past-stories/is-that-winter-flock-of-robins-in-your-yard-unusual/ (accessed January 23, 2014).

Chiidax the Northern Fur Seal and the Evolution of the Otariids

Late last year, the New England Aquarium in Boston, Massachusetts received Chiidax, an orphaned northern fur seal (Callorhinus ursinus).  However, it was last July that Alaska SeaLife Center first took in Chiidax, after he was left outside the Alaska Department of Fish and Game offices.  A note which was included on the outside of the box that the pup came in said that the pup's mother had died while she was giving birth.  Notice how in the first two pictures of Chiidax below, the pup is covered in an all black coat, a mark of his young age.

After the pups are weaned at around four months old, they molt into their next coat, the cream and brown color of the young juvenile northern fur seal.  Look for those in these next four pictures, taken sometime last fall.  The post on ZooBorns (read that HERE) doesn't say exactly when the pictures were taken, but given that the post was published late last November, these last photos were presumably taken around then.  

When the first post on Chiidax was written on November 23rd of 2013, he weighed 18 pounds, but when he's full grown, he will definitely be a bit bigger: the males, or bulls, of the species can weigh nearly 600 pounds, which is several times more than the females weigh!  The males have to be so large because they create harems of thirty to forty females, and defend them from other males.  The seals are native to the Pacific Coast of the United States, as well as the coast of the Bering Sea in Canada, Alaska, and Russia.  

The last report on Chiidax was in late December, on the 29th.  Below are several pictures that were shared then.  You can see how smooth he looks, and how perfectly adapted for a life beneath the waves this creature is!  

The northern fur seal is the sole extant member of the genus Callorhinus, but there is also a fossil species of Callorhinus.  C. gilmorei is known from the Pliocene Epoch of southern California and Mexico, as you can see in this paper HERE.  Other sources cite another paper, linked HERE, as stating that this genus is also known from Japan, but I was unwilling to pay the fee to read the paper, so that fact remains unconfirmed.  If you have a subscription to this online journal, let me know what you find!

According to the first paper, the eared seals, or the members of the family Otariidae, can be traced back at least to the Mid to Late Miocene Epoch, approximately 11-12 MYA in California, in the form of Pithanotaria starri.  Another taxon, Thalassoleon mexicanus, is known from Mexico during the Late Miocene, approximately 5-8 MYA.  The authors of the paper suggest that between 5 MYA and today, between our time and the time of Thalassoleon, was when fur seal diversification took off, resulting in the eight extant species of Arctocephalus and the extant Callorhinus ursinus, which includes little Chiidax!  The genus Arctocephalus, along with the genus Callorhinus, comprise the extant members of the eared fur seals.  The writers of the paper also suspect that it is during this 5 million year period that the sea lions developed as well.

Things have probably changed a lot in this area of paleontology since this paper was published in 1986, but unfortunately I can't seem to access most of these papers.  Callorhinus gilmorei still seems to be a valid taxon, however, as do Thalassoleon and Pithanotaria.  Hopefully, new fossils will yield more interesting results regarding these creatures very soon!  

Unless otherwise noted, the photo credit for all of these pictures in the post go to ZooBorns, either this post HERE or HERE.  

Boston on Dwellable

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A Family of Red-Shouldered Hawks by Wes Deyton, Guest Blogger

A month or so ago, I came across a documentary on YouTube about a family of Red-Shouldered Hawks made by a man named Wes Deyton.  I also saw a number of really cool pictures that he took of the birds, and thought it might be interesting to see if he'd be willing to do a guest post!  Kindly, he was happy to oblige!  First, a bit about Mr. Deyton:

My name is Wes Deyton and I recently graduated from Western Carolina University with a Bachelors Degree in Communications and Broadcasting.  I live in Fuquay Varina North Carolina, which is near Raleigh.  I enjoy taking pictures and making videos of wildlife as well as scenic nature.

Anyways, let's all give Mr. Deyton a warm welcome!  I hope you enjoy these pictures and the video, all of which were taken by Mr. Deyton, as much as I did!

The Red Shouldered Hawks in the video (below) were filmed in the woods behind my house. I have been following them for about the whole Summer.  I did not get any footage of the hawks in the nest when they were really young, because I was still at WCU. I have not been able to find them lately because I think the young Hawks have gone on to find their own territory.

The Red Shouldered Hawk is a medium sized hawk, it primarily lives in woodland areas and it can be found all over the eastern woodlands as well as California and Northern Mexico. These birds generally live in woodland and swamp areas and build their nests high up in trees, close to sources of water such as lakes, streams and swamps.  The nesting period of these birds is about 45-60 days.  

The female hawk spends most of her time getting food to bring back to the nest for her young.  The diet of these birds consist mostly of small mammals, reptiles (including snakes), and amphibians.  There is no sharing in a hawks nest when it comes to food: when the mother brings food to the nest, the chicks have to fight for food.  Sometimes, the female hawk will feed the smaller hawk to make sure it gets enough nourishment to grow and develop healthily.  

Hawks get bored in the nest and dream about life on the outside. They dream about flying high like their parents. This is very evident by seeing them jump back and forth and flap their wings in the nest before they are fully developed to fly. The young hawks climb from branch to branch to develop their balance and then fly short distances until they build up their confidence to fly away from the nest.

The hawk is at the top of the food chain and strikes fear in smaller birds when they are around.

Aren't those pictures brilliant!  Thank you very much Mr. Deyton for sharing these pictures and the video with us, we hope to hear more from you again in the future!  Thanks again!  -Zack Neher

North Carolina Piedmont on Dwellable

Meet Pyg!

Meet Pyg, the Triceratops hatchling! Pyg is the blog's new mascot, and will be using her unique blend of entertainment and education to help teach people about her long-lost world. Make sure to follow her on her exploits! I'll be using Pyg to help make our subject matter a little more fun, because, lets face it: dinosaurs are boring. Wow, I'm totally joking, no they're not, they rock! I'm actually with Grace Albers up in Dinosaur National Monument in Utah right now, so you'll probably be seeing some pictures from that trip pretty soon! However, tomorrow we will be talking about the recent Discovery/Megalodon controversy, so make sure to tune in then!

Black Bears on the Primos Truth Cam!

A few weeks ago, a bear savagely tore through the fence of my friends neighbors.  The Lippincott's have an alley behind their house, and the bears apparently like to use it as a thoroughfare, so I decided to try and catch one on my Primos Truth Cam!

Here, we have Sam Lippincott posing next to the bear break-in entry point.  For reference, he's about 8.5 feet tall, which gives you a sense of how tall the bear must have been.

Another photo of the damage.  The bear was trying (and succeeded) to get to the trash cans, and had proceeded in strewing the trash all over the place!

I didn't get much, but I did get a series of five pictures of a young black bear!  Check them out, pretty exciting stuff!

A New Hairdo for the Alpacas: An Article from the Wild Animal Sanctuary

Remember that post I did a few weeks back about the giant bears I saw at the Wild Animal Sanctuary in Colorado?  (If not, you can just click HERE to catch up).  Anyways, I thought it might be interesting to see if anyone at the sanctuary would be willing to do a guest post on the blog!  The person I corresponded with, however, said that all of the staff members are putting in 60-70 hours per week, and therefore are absolutely unavailable!  My correspondent did say that I could feel free to reprint some of the stories from the newsletters, and I thought that was a great idea!  In their last newsletter, they printed a story called "Summer's Here and It's Time for a New Hairdo," an article all about their fleet of shaved alpacas!  Since I thought these guys were totally awesome, I decided to reprint this story, as it is both interesting, educational, and really, really funny!  So please, enjoy, and make sure to check out the Wild Animal Sanctuary, and like their Facebook page by clicking HERE!  Also, be sure to check out their website by clicking HERE!  

It seems like everyone likes to observe the seasonal changes with some sort of personal change in their own life. It’s possible they are trying to mirror the change in landscape… or more likely, they’re trying to find a balance with nature. Sometimes this sort of thing can come in the form of a new wardrobe… and others might find balance by including more outdoor activities to get them in the groove.


Yet, whatever you like to do when the weather and daylight start to shift… there’s always one thing that pops up on an Alpaca’s springtime dance card – a trim and shave! Yep, that’s right, there’s nothing more refreshing than a late spring haircut to lift the spirits of an Alpaca - especially since wearing a winter coat in July or August can get a bit stuffy!

With this in mind, we started late last year trying to find a viable solution to our shearing needs for the 50+ Alpacas that live at the Sanctuary. Mind you, shearing one or two wouldn’t be so bad… but when you are looking at more than 200 fuzzy legs that happen to have big fuzzy bodies attached to them – one has to be realistic when it comes to planning how to get the shearing job done!

Luckily, through a myriad of connections talking with each other, we were able to find an Alpaca Ranch in Montana that routinely hires a professional shearer each spring to help lighten the load of their Alpacas. The Ranch owners offered to help the Sanctuary by paying for their shearer to come to the Sanctuary – along with the ranch’s own special team of Alpaca wranglers – in order to shear all of our Alpacas in the spring.

They were happy to share their expertise in the art of Alpaca wool management, and planned on taking the wool back to Montana to turn it into highdollar rugs. They then planned on sending some of the rugs down to us to sell in our gift shop… as well as retail the rest to clients that have been following their wool artistry for many years.

Well, April finally rolled around, and the out-of-state shearing party arrived as scheduled. However, the Sanctuary’s staff ended up having to jump in the middle of the Alpaca wrangling end of things when the ranch’s wranglers came up missing.

Actually, it turned out to be a good adaptation, since we were happy to participate in order to ensure our Alpaca’s visit with the barber turned out to be a positive one. Besides, they’re all so cute that it’s a pleasure to spend time amongst this curious flock!

We started early in the morning and worked with precision. We were able to have two areas where the Alpacas would be laid down to get shaved. As one would be getting his or her hair clipped… the other would be getting his or her hooves trimmed and teeth checked. 

The shearer spent the day swapping back and forth while the ranch owners and Sanctuary staff took care of all the oddities like wool collection and doing discretionary medical exams.

We ended up with some pretty slick-looking Alpacas… and they ended up feeling substantially lighter. Their final appearance was definitely charming, as most of them ended up looking more like “Pokey” – “Gumby’s” sidekick of a horse!

When it was all over, the ranchers were forced to spend some time trying to pack 50+ Alpaca’s worth of wool into a regular-sized Chevy van (which ended up being packed solid, floor to roof), while our dainty-looking heard of Alpacas trotted off into the sunset. It’s definitely a new season, and the Alpacas definitely have a new hairdo, so as far as we’re concerned… it feels like everything is in balance again! 

Did you like what you just read?  Well, make sure to check out the Wild Animal Sanctuary's newsletter page by clicking HERE!  Make sure to also like their Facebook page by clicking HERE, and to check out their website by clicking HERE!  

Sea Turtles on Tybee Island and the Tybee Sea Turtle Project by Amy Capello, Guest Blogger

Last summer, my family and I took an ecology tour with Dr. Joe Richardson on Tybee Island off the coast of Georgia and South Carolina.  These tours, called the Tybee Beach Ecology Trips, were a fantastic way to learn more about the local sea life of Tybee.  When we returned home, I became a fan of his tours on Facebook (you can too if you click HERE), where he shares lots of cool photos from the days catch.  Since then, Dr. Joe was generous enough to do a guest post here on the blog, which you can read by clicking HERE.  Over the last year, he has also shared numerous photos from another Facebook page for the Tybee Sea Turtle Project (which you can visit by clicking HERE).  I decided to contact the folks at the Tybee Sea Turtle Project as well to ask if they would be interested in doing a guest post, and I got back some fantastic material from Amy Capello, a volunteer involved in the Sea Turtle Project!  So without further ado, I'm going to let Ms. Capello tell you all about the project, and how to help out the sea turtles!  

Loggerhead sea turtles, Caretta caretta, are a common species of sea turtle found on Tybee Island and all along the Georgia coast. There are several species of sea turtle found throughout the world, all of which are threatened or endangered. Due to their status, there are many efforts being made to protect these amazing creatures. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources is responsible for monitoring sea turtle populations throughout the state. This is a large project to undertake and depends on sea turtle volunteers on every island in Georgia. On Tybee Island, the Sea Turtle Project is headed by a wonderful, dedicated local named Tammy Smith. She is responsible for coordinating approximately 80 volunteers. These volunteers are willing to give up large portions of their time to ensure the welfare of sea turtles. Starting in May, volunteers take turns walking the beach at sunrise to look for evidence that a nesting female came out overnight to lay a nest. Usually, the best indication of a female coming out to nest is her tracks. You might think it’s easy to spot the tracks from a 300+lb. female turtle, but that’s not always the case! Sometimes it can be quite difficult to spot her tracks and the volunteers have to make sure they don’t get distracted by Tybee’s beautiful sunrises and instead focus on potential tracks in the sand.

This is a female that was laying a nest on Tybee. It is a rare occurrence that we get to see the nesting females on Tybee. Some tourists spotted her and called it in and the volunteers were able to go out and see her. She had identification tags and we're waiting to see what other nests she may have laid this season.

Once a nest is located, Tammy will come out to the location and determine if the female laid a nest or simply came out of the ocean and decided to return. Sometimes females will emerge from the water and then change their mind about laying a nest. This could be caused due to disturbances from people who get too close or scare her with their white-light flashlights. It could also be caused due to natural reasons, such as no dry sand to lay a nest during a very high tide. If you encounter a sea turtle while you’re out on the beach at night, keep your distance and make sure that your presence doesn’t change the natural behavior of the turtle. Any living sea turtle you may see on the beach is a female; males will never come out of the water, so make sure to give them their space to do what they came to do! Remember, they are endangered and need to lay every nest they can if we are going to see increases in their population.

This is a false crawl. This means that the female came out of the water to lay a nest and decided not to for some reason.

If a nest is found during a dawn patrol walk, Tammy will determine if the nest is in a suitable location. Sometimes females will lay their nests in a place that may get washed over by high tides and cause the hatchlings to drown. If this possibility is anticipated, we will move the nests to a better, safer location.

A bucket of eggs waiting to be moved. Sometimes the nests are relocated if they need to be moved to a safer place for incubation.

All nests, whether or not they are relocated, are marked with posts and monitored by the volunteers every day on their dawn patrol walks. We make sure that there are no disturbances to the nests, by people or natural predators like ghost crabs.

We mark all of the nests on Tybee Island with a special sea turtle caution tape. The nest is federally protected since the turtles are endangered and only trained and permitted volunteers are allowed to interact with the hatchlings if they require assistance.

The nests will incubate for approximately 50 days, give or take, and then the babies will hatch out. Our volunteers work hard to look for field signs that a nest is going to hatch. When the time comes, we try to be on hand to make sure that the hatchlings make their way to the water safely. I often wish that the nests came with little timers so we would know right when they are going to hatch, but unfortunately, they’re like human babies – they come when they’re good and ready!

A traditional hatching is often referred to as a “boil.” This is because all of the babies hatch out at the same time, appearing to boil out of the sand. It’s a unique experience to get to witness, but since it only takes minutes for the babies to come out, it’s often missed – even by our volunteers! Once the babies come out, they orient themselves with the brightest point on the horizon. A lot of people think they only hatch during a full moon, and this is completely false. However, any light reflecting off the water is going to be brighter than light reflecting off the sand, so the light leads the babies in the right direction. But think about developed islands, like Tybee. There is so much light pollution from inside and outside condos, restaurants, hotels, residences, etc. that often times our babies will head towards those lights, since they are much brighter than the light reflecting off the water. Unfortunately, this means they head in the exact opposite direction of where they are supposed to go. This is why it’s so critical for people to be aware of how much light pollution is out on our beaches. If you are on any island during sea turtle nesting season (May – October), it’s extremely important to turn OFF your lights!! The only “sea turtle friendly” lights are ones that are red-filtered. Even the red-filtered lights, if they are too bright, can disorient a sea turtle, but they are less distracting than a bright white light. If you want to walk the beach at night, consider going without a flashlight or light from your cell phone and your eyes will adjust to the dark. But, if you must have a light, you can purchase red-filtered flashlights in lots of stores like Wal-Mart and Bass Pro Shop. I can’t stress enough how important this is for our babies!

Hatchlings making their way to the sea. These turtles came out earlier in the daytime, allowing for a photo opportunity! All of the babies made it safely to the sea.

Once the little hatchlings hit the water, they are faced with a 24 hour long journey out into the Sargasso Sea where they will spend the first 10-15 years of their lives. They don’t start reproducing until they are about 35 years old. Considering that only 1 in 4,000 survive to adulthood, if we lose any sea turtles before that age, they haven’t even had a chance to replace themselves in the population! In the ocean, they face threats of boats (whose propellers hit them, often fatally), fishing line, and plastic. Plastic in particular looks very similar to one of their favorite foods – jellyfish! Sea turtles have never been to the store and don’t know how to tell the difference between a floating plastic bag and a floating jellyfish.

We love our sea turtles so much and we’ll do anything we can to protect them. We’re so happy that our efforts and the efforts of the public are starting to make a difference! Last year, we broke the record for the number of sea turtle nests on Tybee and overall in the state of Georgia. It was a big year for all of us! We hope to see an increase every year until their populations have fully recovered.

What are some ways you can help sea turtles? Here are some great starting points:


1.  Turn off all lights at night during nesting season (May – October) – this includes buildings, flashlights, and cell phones
2.  Use red-filtered lights if you must use a light
3.  Pick up trash on the beach, especially plastic of all kinds
4.  Do not disturb sea turtles you encounter on the beach
5.  Fill in any holes you dig on the beach and knock down sand castles – these are major obstacles, even to a large turtle
6.  If you are on a boat, keep an eye out for sea turtles and make sure you don’t hit them
7.  Educate others and spread the word! Often times people are willing to do the right thing, they just haven’t been told what the right thing is yet

This was fantastic: thank you very much Ms. Capello, as well as the Tybee Sea Turtle Project, for taking the time out of your busy schedules to teach us about these sea turtles, and what we can do to help!  To support the cause, make sure you check out the project's Facebook page by clicking HERE!  You can also check out the website for the Tybee Island Marine Science Center HERE!  Thanks again, and hope to hear from you guys again in the future!  - Zack Neher

Photo Credit for all of the pictures in the post goes to the Tybee Sea Turtle Project.  

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