Our first Leatherback nest since 2020
On June 23, 2023, we found our first Leatherback sea turtle nest since 2020. Leatherbacks are the largest turtle in the world and their tracks can be as wide as 7-8 feet! It’s become a trend for our patrol to lay across the tracks to show the size of the turtle.
After entering the beach, our team immediately saw the sea turtle track, the female left behind. As our volunteers approached the disturbed area in the sand, we determined it was a nest, and we knew eggs were there based on the sheer amount of sand moved.
The marked Leatherback nest.
Because Leatherbacks are experts at disguising where they lay their eggs, it’s almost impossible for us to locate the clutch, so we mark off the entire disturbed area to ensure the clutch (or group) of eggs is contained within the taped area. The average size of a Leatherback clutch is around 80 racquetball-sized eggs, with an incubation lasting around 60-70 days give or take a few days based on outside temperature and precipitation.
Leatherbacks are great at disguising the location of their clutch of eggs because they often do ‘orientation circles’ in the sand after laying. When they deposit their eggs, they will crawl in circles to assist in orienting themselves and disguising the specific location where they laid their eggs.
After the nest was marked, our team will monitor the nest each morning looking for signs of disturbance, predation, washovers, and more - anything that could affect the success rate of the nest. When the nest emerges, we’ll evaluate the nest, meaning we’ll dig up the contents of the nest to count how many hatched and how many didn’t hatch.
A leatherback false crawl near Mickler’s on June 19, 2023. The person in the photo is 6’3” to show how large these turtles can get!