Lucky mornings

For the past week or two I have been lucky enough to catch a turtle or two nesting as the sun rose along Juno Beach. This morning was one of those days! I came across this nesting green sea turtle just south of the Juno Beach Park Fishing Pier. She seemed to be having some trouble laying eggs, so I checked her out and her cloaca was completely plugged up with eggs! I have never seen anything like that in all my years of sea turtle work! She was missing a rear flipper and it is possible that there was other damge that caused the blockage?? I removed about a dozen eggs and she continued to lay a normal size clutch of eggs and she returned to the water about an hour and a half later. Check out some of the pictures in the gallery.

Pleasant morning

In my position as a biologist at the Loggerhead marinelife center in Juno Beach I have the wonderful opportunity to survey the beach each summer morning. On Friday June 16th, I watched as this loggerhead sea turtle finished laying her eggs after dawn. If you take a close look at the photo, you will notice a waterspout in the background! An image of a threatened species after the sun has risen with a waterspout in the frame - Lucky!!

Alberto?

As the first tropical depression of the season tries to spin itself into tropical storm alberto, the weather is changing here in South Florida. This morning the sunrise was really beautiful. I will post a few more from this morning in a few days. Stay tuned for more updates as the storm approaches and maybe I will be able to capture a few lighting images!
Take a look at the website www.floridaleatherbacks.com for our daily research updates and see how Alberto will be affecting the sea turtles nesting along Juno Beach.