Turtle Pic of the Day

Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch Volunteers Continue Helping the Local Turtle Population...

As reported a couple of days ago, the Turtle nesting season is winding down.

The Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch volunteers of course continue to monitor the local beaches to make sure that all remaining hatchlings from late-season nesting make it safely into the Gulf.

To the right, you'll see a bucket of soon to be released turtle hatchling that hadn’t yet emerged from an excavated nest. 

If you look really close you will see one live pip in the bucket. Pip is the term used for a turtle hatchling that isn’t fully emerged from its egg. By the time this photo appeared in an article in the Anna Maria Island Sun, this baby had managed to shed the eggshell and all the hatchlings had been released.