Willow13's WunderBlog

This is a photo of our former sign on the causeway. We now have new signs on the causeway. I'll try to get a photo today with my cell phone camera.

See Diamondback turtle hatchlings at the GEORGIA SEA TURTLE CENTER. click here => Link

Thank You So Much :) The turtles thank you, too!

For the Turtles,

Dorothy Lane Carswell, Writer/Editor
Jekyll Island's Treasured Recipes
Cooking for Caretta caretta - just clicking on the cookbook site helps the turtles! Also, 100% of the profit from the sale of this cookbook goes to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center.

http://www.seaturtle.org/books/new/ Our cookbook featured :)

Thank You So Much! I am so happy for Dylan!

You are welcome and thank you for your kind words :)

For the Turtles,
Dorothy

Dorothy Lane Carswell, Writer/Editor
Jekyll Island's Treasured Recipes
Cooking for Caretta caretta -Please click to keep us #1 - 100% of the profit from the sale of this cookbook goes to help the turtles :)
http://www.seaturtle.org/books/new/ Our cookbook featured :)

I know what you mean, Breald! I cried, too. It's so amazing to have a turtle friend :)

Thank you, Sunrise from Germany, and thanks to all of you that have posted comments.

I haven't heard from Dylan since August 6, so please send her your best thoughts for safe travel and don't forget to click Jekyll Island's Treasured Recipes, Cooking for Caretta caretta to put us in first place for most "hits".

For the Turtles,
Dorothy

Thank you for writing shoreacres. When they look at you with those big beautiful eyes, you know the bond is forever :)

Still no word from Dylan ... here are some reasons from SEATURTLE.ORG

Satellite Tracking

This free resource is made possible by donations from seaturtle.org supporters - if you find the Sea Turtle Satellite Tracking Project helpful, consider making a donation today!

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did turtle X stop transmitting?

When turtles reach their foraging locations, they spend an even greater proportion of their time underwater and thus will transmit less frequently. Given transmissions can only be picked up during a few short windows each day, by chance this means that there may be periods of several days or longer with no transmissions received. As water temperatures cool, turtles may spend large amounts of time on the seabed effectively 'hibernating'; coming up for air after extended intervals, further exasperating the lack of data transmitted.

Eventually, however, all transmitters stop sending information. There are a whole suite of reasons why we might cease to receive transmissions from one of the turtles we are tracking:

1. Dead Battery: It appears from the results of most workers that few transmitters actually reach the end of their working battery life with some other factor being responsible for premature cessation of transmissions. In general transmitters will only actively try and send data to the satellite when the turtle is at the surface (see Saltwater Switch Failure below). Given that most turtles spend >97% of their time submerged and, even the smallest of transmitters have a battery life of some 20 days or more,most should last at least a year.
2. Attachment Failure: Sea turtles are known to like to hide under rocks and submerged reefs when resting and loggerhead turtles have even been observed 'scratching' their backs on these reefs, possibly to reduce often heavy barnacle loads. These behavioursmay dislodge the transmitter. Satellite transmitters typically do not float so when they are dislodged, they fall to the seabed and will not send anymore effective signals. Our attachment methods have improved greatly over the years and a transmitter can be expected to remain attached to a turtle for a year or morewhich is long enough for us to observe migratory routes and describe feeding locations.
3. Antenna Failure: Although turtles my not wholly dislodge their transmitter whilst undertaking back scratching and resting under rocky ledges, they may damage the antenna. Many turtle biologists feel that this is the number one reason for transmitter failure despite efforts to design more sturdy antennae.
4. Saltwater Switch Failure: To extend battery life all transmitters have a saltwater switch which is broken as the animal surfaces allowing economic use of battery life. A transmitter may become fouled with marine organisms, such as algae, which may temporarily inhibit the saltwater switch and cause the transmitter to be unable to recognize when the turtle is at the surface. If a more permanent attachment by a marine organism occurs, such as an encrusting coral species, mussels or barnacles, then transmission may be permanently inhibited, even though the batteries are not dead.
5. Turtle Mortality: Many turtles each year are captured in marine fisheries and a proportion are killed. Often these events can be identified as suddenly changing transmission frequency and location quality increase, often suggesting fast linear movements towards fishing harbours (i.e. movement of the fishing vessel). Transmitters with depth sensors or surface counters sometimes send data showing the transmitter at the surface. Undoubtedly, however, in a proportion of cases the capture event could occur when there are no satellites overhead and the transmitter is irretrievable damaged or discarded either with or separately from the turtle before a transmission indicating the capture can be received.

Good Morning!

I'm watching T.S. Fay and thinking about the email Jeff Masters posted about sea turtles not nesting in locations where hurricanes hit. It would be interesting to see data on this. On Jekyll Island, we are recording one of our most prolific nesting seasons. Does that mean we are safe from a hurricane this year?

I have added a wonderful photo by Barrierislandgirl of the rare and most endangered of all the sea turtles, Kemp's ridley. We rescued several juvenile "cold-stunned" Kemp's ridley sea turtles last December. They were flown by private jet to the GA Sea Turtle Center to "winter" in safety so they could be brought back to health and later released in warm weather. See my photo of Tweety being released last Spring.

Hello shoreacres :)

Thank you so much! SunsetSailor does live nearby :) She is just as wonderful as her photos, too! I LOVE that pic of the Diamondback Terrapin! She looks so sweet and the folds in her neck look like a pretty head scarf ... oh! she's wearing a turtleneck!

Still no word from Dylan :(

Hi MNTornado,

Cold-stunned happens when a sea turtle travels too far north and the water temperature drops too quickly for the turtle to swim back to warmer waters. Luckily these sea turtles were rescued :)

Thank you so much for your interest!

Hi Laura :)

Yes, we are so fortunate to be able to go with our released rescues by way of the satelite transmitter and know that they are swimming freely as nature intended. It's such a wonderful feeling to know that they are safe, too! I was so worried when I didn't hear from Dylan for weeks. There is something around NASA that blocks the signals, so she was fine :) It would be fun for us to have her come back to visit us on Jekyll Island, but since she is still a juvenile, she won't come ashore to nest for probably 25 years! A sea turtle reaches maturity at around 35 years of age and Dylan is only 10 years old.

Thanks for the congrats on the AC ... I can't believe I almost didn't upload that picture.

For the Turtles,
Dorothy

Dylan is in the Gulf of Mexico!!!!

For the Turtles,
Dorothy

Dorothy Lane Carswell, Writer/Editor
Jekyll Island's Treasured Recipes
Cooking for Caretta caretta

http://www.seaturtle.org/books/new/ Our cookbook featured :)

Here is some good news about one of our favorite sea turtles, Dylan :-)
For the Turtles,
Dorothy

Dorothy Lane Carswell, Writer/Editor
Jekyll Island's Treasured Recipes
Cooking for Caretta caretta
http://www.cookbooksforsale.com/displayCookbook.php?id=63760 -Please click to keep us #1
http://www.seaturtle.org/books/new/ Our cookbook featured :-)
Recipe Contributors from all over the World!


Here is a note from Stefanie Ouellette
Marine Field Programs Coordinator at the GSTC


Dylan’s back!

Believe it or not, Dylan is back on the map! As most of you probably know from following her tracking map on www.seaturtle.org, the last signal we received from her was on October 30, 2008. Well surprise, surprise…out of no where she transmitted 2 very good, high quality signals on Feb 25, 2009…in the Gulf of Mexico no less!

As explained in previous BLOGs, the loss of satellite transmission was probably due more to a problem with the transmitter (dead battery, broken antennae, internal malfunction and/or dislodged unit) rather than a problem with the turtle herself. Dylan has always been a feisty juvenile sea turtle and juveniles are known to be tough on their transmitters. So although we hope for 1-2 years of transmissions from any turtle we release with a transmitter, it was not a big surprise when she stoppped transmitting.

How did she get into the Gulf of Mexico from the east coast of Florida? Glad you asked! No, she didn’t cross over the peninsula by car, plane or train. Nor did she crawl over land. And it is highly unlikely that someone carried her. The most logical explanation is that she swam south along the east coast of Florida, around the keys and out into the Gulf. This migration may be the explanation as to why we haven’t received any good signals from her in a while. If she was traveling and spending a lot of time underwater, the transmitter wasn’t being allowed enough surface time to transmit a good signal.
So for now, she looks like she’s doing just fine, behavinglike a ‘normal’ sea turtle and going where sea turtles in her size class go. Let’s hope she keeps transmitting! Click here to check out Dylan’s tracking page.

Sincerely,
Stefanie Ouellette
Marine Field Programs Coordinator