Page 70 - August 2015 Life In Naples Magazine

ROOKERY BAY
SEA TPURORTETCLTIENSG
ONE NEST AT A TIME
by Brigid O’Malley
B y 8 a.m., they’re ready to start their adventure.
Sarah Norris and Anna Windle, interns assigned to keep a protective
eye on the sea turtles and their nests this summer on Cape Romano in
Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, check the weather radar on
their phones. As the clouds move away, they pack up to go out on the water for
their tour of the beaches. Wire cages, shovels, GPS, a camera and some rain gear
are brought aboard their vessel.
“It looks like it’s getting better,’’ says Norris, a 2013 graduate of Florida Gulf
Coast University, as they wait to start their morning trip on the Tursiops.
Their goal: Search the beaches for any signs, no matter how slim, of turtle nests.
Windle, who attends Washington College in Maryland, and Norris both came
to Rookery Bay Reserve in Naples specifically to monitor sea turtle nesting activity.
Rookery Bay offers one of the few sea turtle intern programs in the region.
The allure of these crab and snail eating turtles that weigh in at up to 400
pounds and nest on our shores?
“They’re just awesome,’’ Norris said. “They’ve been around for so long. What
makes them the most interesting is that they come back over and over to the same
beaches to make their nests.”
This nesting season has been a busy one, with nearly half of the turtle nests
in Collier County on beaches protected within reserve boundaries. According
to Collier County environmental specialists, 154 nests have been reported so far,
compared to 103 at the same time last year. Rookery Bay Reserve encompasses
beaches on Keewaydin Island, Kice Island, Cape Romano and the Ten Thousand
Islands. County-wide, nests are up from 236 at this time last year to 413 so far this
year, with many partners assisting in their protection.
“It takes a collective effort to monitor and protect all of these nests,” said Jill
Schmid, one of the biologists responsible for managing Rookery Bay Reserve’s
turtle monitoring program. “So far the nesting season has been sensational,” she
added. But having a lot of nests is only half of the story.
Rookery Bay’s interns are two of the turtle gumshoes tracking down clues - and
info on sea turtles and their nests.
Five days per week, the two interns leave the dock at Goodland and head into
reserve waters. Once they reach the beaches, the two are eyeing the shores for
evidence of turtle nesting sites. False crawls are common. That means the tracks
70
NORRIS DISCOVERED THE FIRST NEST OF THE SEASON ON MAY 3.
show the sea turtle came ashore, but something sent it
back into the water, maybe to return later on, or to come
back to a different spot.
“They could hit a stump and get scared. Or they just
didn’t like the sand or they’re hitting vegetation,’’ said
Windle. She said looking for that telltale fluffy sand
where the turtle uses her back fins to kick the sand is
usually a good sign.
The monitoring team will carefully probe into the
sand around the possible nest to verify there are eggs
below, and then use their hand to find the egg chamber.
“It’s an awesome feeling when you determine it’s a
nest,’’ Windle said.
Norris said sometimes they feel they might be on the
trail of a nest, but do not find the chamber.
“You have to make sure it’s not a ghost crab tunnel,’’
she said. Windle admits that she’s run into them, but
Norris, the more experience turtle researcher, assures
her everyone does. On a recent trip, they found six false
crawls and one nest.
“You’re kind of investigating what did she do, where
SEA TURTLE INTERNS AND VOLUNTEERS PLACE WIRE CAGES OVER EACH
NEST ON CAPE ROMANO TO PROTECT THE EGGS FROM PREDATORS,
SUCH AS RACCOONS.
Life in Naples | August • September • October 2015