http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSQn6P5acOY
What an exciting afternoon. We had inspected the nest last weekend but it wasn't looking good for the turtles. With so much rain over the last two months, the low sand temperature hasn't been ideal. Fran decided to give it a few more days before checking again. And this Friday 23 February 2007 it was all happening.
Fran could tell by the feel of the sand that at least some of the eggs had hatched. Because of all the rain though, the sand was quite packed down and some human intervention was required. As Fran is an official Turtle Watch Association Member this type of intervention is acceptable.
Fran and Poppa dug down and discovered the baby turtles. They were tiny.
Georgie and some of the other local kids were very excited...and the adults too!
Unfortunately not all the eggs hatched.
The turtles were carefully put into a cardboard box and shifted down the sand dune, closer to the edge of the water.
And they were off !!!
Some of the little fellas got a bit disorientated and needed to be helped along. Madelyn and Mark helped this little guy who got a bit off track.
But eventually of the 65 eggs that were laid, 25 live turtles made it safely to the ocean.
The rest is up to nature !
4 comments:
What a wonderful story. One lady from two doors away has lived here for close to forty years and had never seen turtles hatching until now.
Wonderful photos!!! So glad you could share the excitement with us all!
Janet, Great story! You had us all drawn to the computer with everyone at the Nathan Depot asking when your turtles were going to hatch..... You are a Wildlife Warrior.
FYI I'm going to let Kochie know at Brekky Central that the turtles have hatched.
Thanks Dighty - good to see the public servants hard at work.
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