How About Those Sea Turtles After the Storm?
Here’s a little update on the sea turtles over at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. These little fellas have seen some stormy weather and you must be wondering “how did those sea turtles come out after Tropical Storm Debby?” Let’s take a dive.
Those Wavy Conditions, Though!
Now, we already know that it’s no simple task for sea turtles to get from their nests on the beach to the wide open ocean. It gets even trickier when something like Tropical Storm Debby rolls through, stirring up the seas and whipping winds all around.
So far, Hilton Head Island has recorded about 195 sea turtle nests this season. Yeah, it’s a bit lower than usual we gotta admit. People were getting worried when Debby showed up, because of how the storm might affect the nests. No one wants to see our flippered friends in danger, right?
How the Turtles Fared
According to Amber Kuehn of Sea Turtle Patrol Hilton Head Island, only one nest was lost during the storm, which is a relief. But when it comes to what will happen next with the remaining nests, she’s not so sure.
She explains, “With all that rain we got, the beach can’t handle that much water. It starts standing around and if that happens in the nests, it can cause trouble. The baby turtles need a dry environment in their eggs. The water flooding into the nest can cause big problems when we’re checking and counting nests later. There might be some big losses to count.”
But, as Amber points out, there’s really not much you can do about it – it’s just nature doing its thing. We’ve marked the nests and done what we can, but dealing with Mother Nature is a bit trickier.
Looking Ahead
Sea turtle season runs through September, and so far 74 of them have hatched. There are still 120 nests out there and all we can do is keep our fingers crossed and hope they’ll make it to the ocean.
If you’re looking to learn more about these lovely creatures, there’s a bunch of info on the Sea Turtle Patrol Hilton Head Island website. Go give it a look!
