Early this morning, I drove to Eastham to meet up with Bill Allen. Bill is a dedicated volunteer for 
Mass Audubon, the largest conservation organization in New England. Mass Audubon coordinates all the “turtle walks” in the area. The NMLC works with Mass Audubon and helps out with the walks. A turtle walk is when people walk up and down the beaches looking for cold-stunned turtles. Today, I went on a turtle walk with Bill. We walked about three miles of beaches in the Eastham area, including first encounter beach, campground beach, and thumpertown beach. Bill does this walk every day, many times twice a day!
Oftentimes, scientists are able to successfully predict the time and location of sea turtle strandings, according to temperature, wind speed, and wind direction. The turtles are most likely to strand during extended, strong winds that are blowing toward the beach. There is actually a direct correlation between wind speed and turtle strandings, the stronger the wind, the more turtles that strand. Also, the turtle walks are timed to coincide with the high tides, as this is when the cold-stunned turtles are likely to wash up.
We didn’t find any cold-stunned turtles today. Bill said the weather was probably too nice…even though I thought it was freezing! However, there is a storm coming, so there maybe turtles washing up this week.
We did find a lucky horseshoe crab that we threw back into the water. Bill also took the opportunity to educate some locals about what to do if they come across a cold-stunned turtle. The proper procedure is to move the turtle to the top of the beach and mark its location. The turtle should be covered up with something, such as seaweed. Mass Audubon, or a local wildlife rescue agency, should then be contacted.
Posted by Christy Buckley on Dec 4, 2006
