Turtle Team

Oops, Where did the water go?!

Turtle Team · June 5, 2023 ·

Did you know sea turtles don’t just nest in the Mackay region?

They also feed and mate in the waters around Mackay.

While Flatbacks are by far the most common turtles to nest on our beaches, they don’t always feed or mate in the area.

Greens are often spotted basking (resting) or mating close to shore and can sometimes get caught out with the outgoing tides. They are usually busy feeding on the seagrass beds around Mackay and often mate in the waters around here but will then take a bit of a journey to go to their preferred nesting beaches.

So while we get mostly nesting female Flatbacks on the beaches, we only get the occasional nesting Green turtle.

Different turtles can use the same area for different purposes so it’s always interesting to see what shenanigans they get up to!

These two Green turtles were spotted off Shoal Point by a concerned local who was relieved to learn they were perfectly ok but maybe just needed to work on their timing. They got a bit carried away and missed the tide going out so they had a little rest on the sand until the tide came in again.

Turtle Watch was alerted and the turtles were tagged and measured for our records, the female had an impressive 106.7cm carapace!

If you’re concerned about a turtle on the beach, please call the stranding hotline (1300 130 372) and they will determine if intervention is needed or if it’s just a turtle in need of a nap.

Nesting in the dirt, a very determined turtle!

Turtle Team · June 2, 2023 ·

Remember this fabulous, determined Flatback from November who nested

across the road from the boat ramp at Shoal Point?

We are very happy to share that 55 days later, her eggs that were relocated to a more suitable location have hatched, and she had an amazing 100% success rate with 46 empty shells left behind. A few stragglers were found stuck in some roots and safely released.

What a great outcome despite the intense rain and massive high tides!

(All turtle monitoring activities are carried out under permit from the Qld Turtle Conservation Project)

Avoid Island 22/23 Flatback Turtle Census

Turtle Team · June 2, 2023 ·

This season M&DTW participated in the annual Flatback Turtle Census to collect information on the nesting and hatching turtles that call Avoid Island home. Avoid Island is a small island located off the coast of Qld between Carmila and Claireview, in the Flat Isles. It is owned and managed by Queensland Trust for Nature and is a permanent nature refuge for the animals that live there and visit. It is also one of the 3 largest Flatback rookeries in the Southern Great Barrier Reef.

While the Island’s beaches are very important for nesting turtles, the Island as a whole is an important nature refuge for countless birds, reptiles and insects. Many species of lizards, skinks and monitors call the island home, sometimes sharing the house with the human visitors! Birds are everywhere, from the kingfishers and swallows to the quails and shore birds, the island is home to many. Interestingly, it is thought that there may be no mammals on the Island with none being sighted or filmed on the various camera traps set up.

This season volunteers from Turtle Watch went over with QTFN staff for a two week period at the end of November/start of December to tag and record nesting turtles as they came ashore to lay their eggs. Despite some rainy weather that delayed the changeover of volunteers halfway through the census, it was a success with 51 nests marked and recorded on the Island. Six of these turtles were primary turtles which means they have not been seen or recorded previously on Avoid Island or any other monitored rookery (No tags or tag scars). There was one nest that hatched on Dec 1st indicating a very early nesting in October.

Most of the turtle work is done after dark leaving the daytime hours for catching up on sleep (hard in the heat!) and exploring the Island. There is a good reason it’s known as Avoid Island with rocks surrounding most of the coastline, low tide reveals many hidden dangers for boats. There are some very interesting rocks and cliffs along the North side of the Island and the view over to Red Clay Island is stunning, especially at sunrise.

After the mammoth efforts of the rain filled 2-week tagging and recording trip, a group of QTFN & Turtle watch members headed back in early February to conduct the hatching census on the marked nests and any other emerged nests that could be identified. This year we were unlucky enough to have a heatwave occurring at the same time so conditions were quite challenging but working in the
very early morning and into the evening made conditions manageable. In total the 51 marked nests plus another 26 were excavated and results of hatching recorded for the QLD Turtle Conservation Project database.

Avoid Island is a beautiful place, and despite the challenging weather conditions over the summer months, it’s invaluable for the animals that call it home and the humans that are fortunate enough to visit it and discover its many secrets.

Nesting Season is here

Turtle Team · March 23, 2021 ·

Nesting Season is here 08 February 2021

Written and photographed by Stephen Gummer.

The Great Barrier Reef off Mackay is a spectacular place, and home to many beautiful creatures. Today we are going on an exciting adventure with the Mackay District Turtle Watch (MTDW) President Steve Fisher and MDTW Secretary David Bowen, both very experienced in turtle research.

It was going to be an early start 5am, forecast was slight seas and 5 knot Northerlies, so beautiful conditions for the trip to the islands in the Cumberland group. Objective is to assess the success of this year’s sea turtle nesting season. The trip to our first site, Penrith Island, took approximately 2 hours. It was full tide, so we were able to easily cross over the fringing reef and into the sandy bay, adjacent to a beach known to be a popular sea turtle nesting beach. In the Mackay region we expect to see Flatback, Green and occasionally Loggerhead turtles nesting. Other species, Hawksbill, Leatherback, and Olive Ridley turtles can be found in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage area but do not nest in this region.

Walking the Beach
Once the boat was securely anchored, we all waded ashore. Sun is out, temperature is on the rise, so armed with hats, sunscreen, and water, full of anticipation we set of towards the end of the beach to start our survey. Will we find any nests? What turtles will they be? Most of all, will we see any hatchlings? I certainly hope so.

We found a few turtle nests in the area mostly green turtles based on the tracks, and size and shape of the nests so Steve and Dave tell me. There were a few false nests, and we could see some overgrown nests from last season.

Flatback turtles lay up to four times during the season, while Green turtles can lay twice that many clutches, so it was not surprising to find some new adult turtle tracks leading up the beach. These tracks were possibly made as recently as the previous night.

We found many tracks from hatchlings that had climbed out of their nests and found their way down into to the water. Steve told me that only about one in a thousand hatchlings survive to be adults. If you look carefully and follow the tracks back up the beach, they lead to a point in the soft sand. This is where the nest is. Hidden very well and extremely hard to spot.

Excavating a Nest.
We happen to come upon an interesting nest, under some native flora. Dave tells me that it will be cooler under there and the eggs take longer to mature. There is evidence the baby turtles have hatched successfully not too long ago. This nest is a good nest to excavate to check on hatching success. It is especially important that only trained persons excavate nests as it can be very harmful to any hatchlings still in the nest if the person does not have the correct training combined with loads of field experience. Turtles, nests, and hatchlings are all protected under the QLD Nature Conservation Act and it is an offence to handle turtles, eggs or hatchlings unless you are trained and have been authorised under the Dept of Science, QLD Turtle Conservation Program.

Steve and Dave are trained and authorised to excavate nests and handle sea turtles. Not very deep into the excavation we find something breathtaking. Well for me anyway. Dave asks me to come have a look. A couple of baby turtles stuck in the root system that had invaded the nest site. The poor little things are stuck! Dave frees one and passes it up for release. I have never held a baby turtle before, so tiny. I have been instructed to put the hatchling high up on the beach facing towards the water. Dave told me the hatchlings at this stage are learning and imprinting the beach as they, scurry down towards the water.

They are also warming up for their long swim after being trapped in the nest. One day if this little one is lucky and manages to grow to an adult female she will be back to this very same island. It is important to have minimal contact as possible to give the turtle the best chance for survival so the hatchling was immediately released in a good spot, able to crawl directly to the water. I took a couple of photos of this little one’s efforts to find its way to the waters edge.

As the excavation of a nest is sandy work, I put the camera away as the rest of the nest now need to be excavated. Dave informs me, this is a green turtle nest and we should expect up to over 100 eggs. As Dave continued to dig very carefully, we come across 7 more hatchlings trying to climb free out of the root system. We released them and watched as they all made it to the water’s edge and swam away into their new lives. In total we counted 116 Shells, performed 9 assisted releases, and found sadly that eight of the little turtles in the nest did not survive. They were well developed but had died before hatching. Steve and Dave tell me this is normal, and this is actually a highly successful nest. This is good news for the Green turtle population.

If you want more information or would like to become a volunteer. Please Check out Mackay District Turtle Watch Website at https://mackayturtles.org.au/
Please remember that handling of turtle or there nest are is prohibited by law and can only be done under the direct supervision of trained personal.