NPS photo

A Kemp's ridley returns to sea with a transmitter affixed for tracking the sea turtle's movement via satellite. The transmitter may last for up to a year or longer.

Each year, the National Park Service conducts a program to detect, study, and protect nesting Kemp’s ridley sea turtles and sea turtle nests on North Padre Island, including Padre Island National Seashore.  This program is made possible due to funding from the federal government, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and a variety of partners and donors.  We patrol the beach to locate nesting turtles and nests, and conduct public education efforts to alert beach visitors to report nesting turtles that they see.

Kemp’s ridley turtles nest on the Texas coast between April and mid-July.  Turtle patrollers typically locate about half of the Kemp’s ridley nests found on the Texas coast each year.  For the 2008 nesting season, Padre Island National Seashore staff and volunteers patrolled daily from April 1 through July 13.  These patrols were conducted during daylight hours, from about 6:30 am until 6:00 pm, since Kemp’s ridley turtles nest mostly during the day. 

Other beach workers and users also locate Kemp’s ridley nests found in Texas.  Kemp’s ridleys often nest in groups called arribadas, so on days when one nest is found the chance of finding additional nests increases.  In an effort to alert the public about nesting and enlist their help in locating nests, a “nesting Kemp’s ridley alert” flag is flown on the Padre Island National Seashore Entrance Station and Malaquite Pavilion flagpoles each day that Kemp’s ridley nests are found on the Texas coast.  The rectangular flag has orange background and a black silhouette of a sea turtle.  You can greatly assist the Kemp’s ridley recovery program by watching for nesting sea turtles while you are on the beach and immediately reporting them (see what to look for and how to report). 

When possible, we examined each nesting Kemp’s ridley found by patrollers or the public to determine whether she was from the experimental project to re-establish a nesting colony of Kemp’s ridley turtles in south Texas and whether she had nested and been tagged previously. 

We attached satellite transmitters to three of the first Kemp’s ridley turtles found nesting at Padre Island National Seashore this year (in April).  Information from this research was used to predict where and when the turtles might nest again within this nesting season, to aid with nest detection efforts.  Data are also being gathered on where the turtles go between and after nesting.  One adult male was also tracked during 2008.  Maps of the movements of these four adult Kemp’s ridleys are posted at http://www.seaturtle.org/tracking/ under the 2008 Padre Island National Seashore Kemp’s Ridley Project. 

Staff and volunteers from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, University of Texas, Sea Turtle, Inc., Sea Turtle Restoration Project, Texas A&M University and other entities also searched for nesting Kemp’s ridley turtles and their eggs on other Texas beaches and conducted associated efforts.

Eggs from most sea turtle nests found at Padre Island National Seashore and northward along the Texas coast were transported to our incubation facility for protected care and monitoring.  The hatchlings from the eggs incubated in the facility are released at the northern end of Padre Island National Seashore when they emerge from their eggshells and become active.  The public was invited to attend 18 of the hatchling releases held at the national seashore in 2008.  No more public releases are planned for 2008. 

People interested in attending a release in future years should note that these releases are open to the public free of charge, typically beginning at about 6:30-6:45 am.  Once nests are found, the dates when these nests were located and the predicted hatchling release dates for them are listed on this website.  Hatchlings are typically released on one or two days within each of the predicted release date ranges.  People interested in attending a release should target dates when several clutches are due to be released.  This ensures that if one or more clutches enter their very active state called a frenzy when they must be released, that there will still be other clutches available for the public release.  As the potential release date that you are interested in nears, call the recorded Hatchling Hotline at (361) 949-7163 for the latest information on the upcoming release.

Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle Nests Found on the Texas Coast during 2008

Leatherback Turtle Nests Found on the Texas Cost During 2008

Loggerhead Sea Turtle Nests Found on the Texas Coast During 2008

Green Sea Turtle Nests Found on the Texas Coast During 2008