1 month down, 5 to go!

Photo (by Dominic Tilley): WE5252 returning to sea at 5:30AM on June 30th, 2011.

The Jumby Bay Hawksbill Project’s 25th season has begun rapidly, with 32 turtles identified after only a month of patrolling. Preseason patrols in May revealed 8 nests, bringing the total to 56 nests. Despite changes in beach landscape due to erosion and seaweed buildup in the off-season, turtles have been nesting more successfully this year. So far this season, successful nest attempts have outnumbered unsuccessful attempts or ‘false crawls’, contrary to what has been shown in previous years. Turtles have been nesting across all sections of Pasture Beach, even where activity has traditionally been sporadic (e.g. the middle of the beach containing vegetation islands).

5 of the 32 individuals are first-time nesters, and were given flipper tags and unique drill patterns in their shells for future identification. An additional 7 are second-time nesters, and another 9 are third-time nesters, providing evidence that young mothers compose a substantial part of nesting cohorts on Jumby Bay. Several veteran mothers have also shown up this season, including PPN075, tagged in 1989 and on her 7th nesting season, QQB933, tagged in 1991 and on her 9th nesting season, and QQZ108, tagged in 1993 and on her 8th nesting season.

Looking forward to a busy season!