Nesting Green Sea Turtle. Credit: USFWS/Pam Gelman

This past summer was a productive one for sea turtles and sea turtle volunteers at Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Six nests of the federally threatened loggerhead sea turtle and the first documented nest in Virginia of the federally endangered green sea turtle were located, protected with anti-predator exclosure devices, posted, signed, and monitored.

Two of the loggerhead nests were relocated; of the 253 eggs laid, 241 (95%) hatched and emerged. The four loggerhead nests that were left in place contained approximately 549 eggs, of which about 353 (64%) hatched and emerged. The nesting green sea turtle was first noticed and photographed by Sandbridge residents along their busy beach. Refuge biologists were notified and relocated 120 eggs to a secure location within the refuge where 114 hatchlings (95%) emerged. A total of 796 sea turtle eggs produced 589 (74%) live hatchlings.

Four loggerhead hatchlings from the first relocated nest to hatch were transferred to the Virginia Aquarium to participate in studies on growth and development. They will be released into the Gulf Stream in 2006.

Back Bay refuge staff worked closely with several partner agencies during the busy turtle season. As usual, False Cape State Park personnel patrolled Back Bay and False Cape beaches daily for nesting sea turtle tracks, and aided with nest-checks. The Virginia Aquarium Stranding Team provided the energy and dedication of its volunteers who did most of the night-time nest monitoring, as well as advice, and the rehabilitation of eight hatchlings that were severely dehydrated. Christina Trapani, Sea Turtle Stranding Technician, and was on-call for emergences standing in for the refuge biologists for five nights when both were away on training.

Volunteers and interns patrolled beaches for nests collected data on crawls and nests, helped relocate and/or post and sign nests, monitored nests when they were close to hatching, constructed new predator exclosure devices and helped to excavate hatched nests and examine unhatched eggs.  A total of 46 volunteers and 3 interns worked for 1,415 person-hours, including 1,020 night time hours.