It has been a busy nesting season so far here on Tybee, and it got a lot busier last Monday! Nest One, on North Beach, finally hatched! The Tybee Sea Turtle Project workers and volunteers were keeping watch and began to see activity around eight-thirty that evening. By ten o’clock, about 80 to 100 baby sea turtles made a successful trip to the ocean with the help of several wonderful volunteers and even some island visitors.
It’s so exciting to know our first nest of the season has hatched! Our turtles are super special to us here on Tybee, but they seem to be important to the entire Savannah area as well! There was even a feature story about Tybee’s sea turtles on WSAV.com…check out the video!
That’s not all of our sea turtle nest either! Nest number eight for Tybee was found Friday morning! It had to be relocated higher up in the dunes, but everything is fine and it contained 72 eggs. Nests two and three are both closing in on their 50 day mark next week as well and volunteers will be watching closely for the next nest to hatch!
Amazing stuff, right?! Well you know, Tybee isn’t just concerned about our sea turtles. Our island is also home to Diamondback Terrapins, and this is also the time of year these brackish water dwellers lay their eggs. Unfortunately, a lot of them have to trek across busy HWY 80 to do so. Cars and turtles just don’t mix, so please be aware of our Diamondback terrapins as you drive to and from Tybee this time of year!
These beautiful turtles are a “species of concern” here in Georgia, as they are in many other states. That means their numbers are dwindling and they could soon become threatened, or worse…endangered or eventually extinct. For more information, check out these Georgia Sea Turtle Center articles, Diamondback Terrapin and Diamondback Terrapins and Roads. So please, watch out for our nesting terrapins as well as our sea turtles when you come for a visit! We’ll certainly appreciate it, and we’re sure the turtles will be pretty thankful, too!
