What do volunteers do? 2 types of volunteers Different levels of commitment Regular volunteer...
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Transcript of What do volunteers do? 2 types of volunteers Different levels of commitment Regular volunteer...
What do volunteers do? 2 types of volunteers Different levels of commitment
Regular volunteer Commits to 1 or 2 days per week from May 1 through
August 31 to walk a section of beach AT DAYBREAK Reports signs of sea turtle activity
Permitted volunteer May have an assigned section of beach 1 day per week Commits to a year of training locally and by FWC Commits to being readily available to respond to calls
from me
What will you learn? The Regular Volunteer will hopefully learn to:
Tell the difference between a nest and a false crawl
The Permitted Volunteer will learn to Identify different types of crawls Identify different species Locate eggs in a nest Relocate eggs if necessary Excavate a nest upon emergence Respond to dead or injured sea turtles Accept getting “sandy”
Since almost all emergences happen at night, artificial beachfront lighting can disorient hatchlings, causing them to crawl all over the beach or landward into vegetation or local roadways
Three days after the nest emerges, volunteers will excavate the nest and take an inventory of the contents Photo by Sandra Baker-Hinton
Sometimes a turtle stops development in the egg
Sometimes live hatchlings are trapped in the nest and need to be rescued
Photo by Jennifer Kravassi
Live hatchlings that are trapped in the nest are collected and released to the water
Photo by Jennifer Kravassi
Photo by Jennifer Kravassi
The public is invited to our excavations
Everyone gets excited when there are live hatchlings! Photo by Jennifer Kravassi
Photo by Sandra Baker-Hinton
Photo by Sandra Baker-Hinton
The rescued hatchlings are released and they make their way to the surf
Photo by Sandra Baker-Hinton
Photo by Sandra Baker-Hinton
Our Volunteers
Select a day (or days) of the week Select a section of the beach The south end is covered by ATV (lack of
beach access) We frequently ride north to visit with walkers Walk that section at daybreak
looking for signs of sea turtle activity the previous night
Call me! I, or one of the other permitted volunteers, will come and verify the crawl
Walkers begin on May 1 and walk through August 31
Hatchlings begin to arrive in July and can continue into October
Volunteers monitor existing nests as they walk and report any disturbance or vandalism