New Beginnings

Tags

Let's Be Wild New Beginnings, Olive Ridley Sea Turtle, Playa San Miguel Costa Rica, Pretoma, Wild Weekly Photo Challenge - New Beginnings

An Olive Ridley Sea Turtle Egg;  What are its chances of survival?

Happy New Year, everyone!  I am so honored that one of my images won Let’s Be Wild’s ‘Exploration’ category.   See the image HERE.  This week’s photo challenge (ending today!) is “New Beginnings.”   Let’s go once again to Playa San Miguel, Costa Rica and watch the olive ridley sea turtles’ new beginnings.

While the female turtle is in her egg-laying trance, the biologists record data then transfer the eggs to a nursery.

The eggs are buried the same depth as the turtle’s original nest.

In 40 to 60 days, the magical awakening begins, and the hatchlings quickly find their way to the surface and follow the call of the ocean.

O, Oh, Olive Ridley Sea Turtle!

Tags

Frizztext O Challenge, Olive Ridley, Playa San Miguel, Pretoma

Olive Ridley Tortugita’s Pilgrimage Home

Frizztext’s alphabet letter for the week is O!  He asks us to check our tagwords for the letter O.  In my archives, “O” stands for the gentle olive ridley sea turtle!

“Crawling Lessons” – watercolor – ©Lisa Brunetti

Welcome to the world of the olive ridleys that visit Playa San Miguel, Costa Rica each rainy season.

The young hatchlings face tremendous odds, and one out of one thousand lives to be an adult.  Some say the figure is closer to two thousand.

Ah, how comforting it is to discover the turtles’ calling-card trail!

Most mornings find me on the beach before sunrise; there’s always a slight chance  to witness an adult olive ridley finishing her egg-laying duties.  The turtles leave an obvious trail, which I follow to see who reached it first:  poachers or the biologists and volunteers for Pretoma.