Osprey
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Location: Baja Ca. Sur
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Mixed feelings on the turtle thing
Got a call from a friend who took a walk on the beach this morning just a couple of miles west of the new marina. He found some late Ridley turtle
nests and gave me the location so I could find our local Tortuguera guys to report it. Luckily the beach cleanup team were on our beach and they used
their cells to alert the egg rescue squad. By now they’ve found the nests and moved the eggs to the safety of the nursery.
Lots of mixed emotions on the turtle thing all the way around this late in the hatch. Those hardy soldiers on their quads have saved, nurtured and
released 34,000 hatchlings this season alone all along our East Cape beaches.
I suppose by now it has sunk in that the whole exercise is one of those feel good things that helpers HOPE will do some good. The mama turtles usually
scout out the beaches two months before they make the first nest – then they leave the eggs not knowing what comes next; knowing nothing of the tides
or threats to the eggs from the weather. They lay eggs year round but since the arribadas bring all the attention in the summer months, we all think
about their actions as warm weather events.
I’m not sure the local turtle group has incubators at East Cape and if they don’t those 400 eggs will probably die or the hatchlings will all be males
because it will surely be cold and wet down there at the nursery over the next 50 to 70 days until the eggs are ready to hatch. These young Mexican
guys and gals know they won’t see the males again and the baby females they say goodbye to at the releases won’t be back on our beaches for 15 to 50
years.
If the females come back to thank me, it’s a fool’s errand because I can’t wait that long. I’m not gonna make it to age 91. I knew it when I saw the
little girls scamper down the sand to the water that they will turn out to be just like their mamas. I blame it on a lack of good parenting.
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sancho
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Osprey
If the females come back to thank me |
That's something I've never experienced
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DavidE
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Mood: 'At home we demand facts and get them. In Mexico one subsists on rumor and never demands anything.' Charles Flandrau,
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Back home I showed the lancheros a secret I saw in Magdalena. Before the hatchlings were released they dragged a net through the shallows and snagged
a whole bunch of predators. Fired off some M-80's to scare off the winged predators and a whole bunch more green turtlettes made it into deep water.
A Lot To See And A Lot To Do
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Osprey
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E, you might have swerved into something big. Baby turtles aren't as cute as harp seals but they are tiny and vulnerable. Think of how many would
hatch from the beaches of the world if we catch or kill the fish, birds and mammals that feed on them.
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Floatflyer
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Yesterday morning while on a walk on the beach I came across a couple hatchlings trying to find the water. I picked them up and took them out as far
as I could wade and then let them go with a "Buena suerte"!
Walked about 20 ft and found a couple others but they were on their backs and flipping helplessly. I, again, picked them up and transported them to
the water. Now I started tracking them and found a total of 9 hatchlings and then found the nest. I carefully stuck my fingers into the sand and
felt another one but did not disturb it.
I hoped that the sun would warm them and they would hatch out on their own. Wife and I came back later in the afternoon to check on them and no sign
of any further hatching. I probed with my fingers and, again, found a moving baby about 4" deep. I left it alone and we smoothed out the sand
between the nest and the water, trying to make it easier for them if they make it out of the nest. Will check them later this morning.
[Edited on 1-9-2013 by Floatflyer]
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Iflyfish
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M80's in the surf and nets! If I had read this first I would not have generated the thread on how to best fish the surf. Lets see, where did I put my
fireworks?
Iflyfishwithm80s
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DavidE
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Mood: 'At home we demand facts and get them. In Mexico one subsists on rumor and never demands anything.' Charles Flandrau,
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M-80's in the AIR to scare the predatory gulls and a few sweeps across the egress area of the hatchlings isn't going to hurt a damned thing. It
decreases the "immediate mortality rate" by 80%. The fishermen DUMP the predators out of the nets and few float to the surface. The intense influx of
the predators (they seem to know exactly when the hatchlings are due to emerge) chases away game fish. Let 'em go work for a living.
A Lot To See And A Lot To Do
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Iflyfish
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| Quote: | Originally posted by DavidE
M-80's in the AIR to scare the predatory gulls and a few sweeps across the egress area of the hatchlings isn't going to hurt a damned thing. It
decreases the "immediate mortality rate" by 80%. The fishermen DUMP the predators out of the nets and few float to the surface. The intense influx of
the predators (they seem to know exactly when the hatchlings are due to emerge) chases away game fish. Let 'em go work for a living.
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I know, just pulling your chain. It actually sounds like a good idea. However on never knows when one is interfering with nature.
When Yellowstone was set aside as a National Park they wanted to preserve it in it's natural state as they found it. So they started to kill off the
bears thinking that they depleted the populations of elk and deer. Turns out that by killing the bears and wolves consequently the deer and elk ended
up eating the riparian zones by the streams and the fish died off in massive quantities. Hard to know where to put the old hammer down. I think
turtles are as cute as baby seals...but that's just me.
Iflyfish
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Osprey
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E, that's a good thing for Mag Bay. We are very lucky over here in East Cape. On most releases, very early mornings, the birds are not yet active and
the shallows on both sides of the marina hold few predators except roosterfish. Once the hatchlings leave the shallows, Quien Sabes.
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Floatflyer
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Just got back from nest checking. Just before the nest was one dead hatchling. Got to the nest and there was a fair number of old open eggs that
were in a semi pile next to the nest. A seagull was sitting near by but we could not see any turtle tracks anywhere. Lots of other traffic, some
dogs, some people footprints. I can only hope that we found the tail end charlie's yesterday and that the rest of the nest had already set sail, so
to speak.
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Udo
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Thanks to Osprey's writings, and his successes in rescuing hoards of baby turtles, (we feel this is probably the best eco-cause in all of Baja) my
wife and I will join the ASUPMATOMA group and become a TORTUGERO, once we move in the area.
Udo
Youth is wasted on the young!
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Iflyfish
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It's very gratifying to see a group of those little guys waddle to the surf and brave the first wash of water over them, reminds me of salmon moving
against waterfalls. It's like sending the voyager in us out to the new world, the sea, god speed little fella, hope you make it back! Sort of like
watching the little ones go for their first day of school and we stand and in awe and wonder as the disappear under the waves.
Iflyfishinaweandwonder
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Barry A.
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Mood: optimistic
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Iflyfish
When Yellowstone was set aside as a National Park they wanted to preserve it in it's natural state as they found it. So they started to kill off the
bears thinking that they depleted the populations of elk and deer. Turns out that by killing the bears and wolves consequently the deer and elk ended
up eating the riparian zones by the streams and the fish died off in massive quantities. Hard to know where to put the old hammer down. I think
turtles are as cute as baby seals...but that's just me.
Iflyfish |
So true!!! Something similar happened with the Kiabab deer herd in Grand Canyon Natl. Park and environs--------The Park Service facilitated killing
off the major predators and the deer population grew to unsustainable numbers which devastated the vegegation by over-eating causing in-turn massive
deer die-offs by starvation. It has taken a long time to learn the lessons of Nature, and we are still working on it.
Humans may someday learn this the hard way by the unsustainable increase in their population. China partially got the message years ago. (I am
talking contraception, not abortion)
Barry
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Ken Bondy
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I think baby turtles and baby seals are equally cute:
PS this is an Olive Ridley from the mainland.
carpe diem!
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