For three nights at Grande Riviere Beach in Trinidad I waited for a leatherback turtle nest to hatch. On the third night one finally did. And then another. And another. It’s quite an incredible sight to see. A deserted beach (save for the ever patient vultures), and then suddenly a hundred or more little turtles emerge from the same spot under the sand, desperate to find their way to the ocean. An interesting fact about these hatchlings — each nest, whether 50 hatchlings or 100 will all be the same sex, depending on the temperature of the sand when they were incubating. So in other words, there can be two nests fifty feet apart and one will be all female while the other will be all male. Nature at its peculiar finest. Nikon D800 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 28mm) ISO 800, f/4.5 at 1/320th of a second.
What a thrill it must have been to see that, Sean. The “p” in photographer stands for patience. Your 3 nights of waiting in the wings paid off with this remarkable image.
Sean, I remember experiencing the same thrill on a smaller scale when a batch of snapping turtles hatched on a sandy bank by my farm stand on Higgins Rd in Cheshire. They were all over the parking lot. Some customers thought they were frogs! I gathered them up in a pail and brought them to the swamp pond behind my stand. I often wonder how many survived. I have pictures too in my old fashion album. This was before cell phone cameras and the digital age.
Wonderful! I’ve often helped painted turtle hatchlings get to the water at one of our local reservoirs in western MA. They seem so helpless against the ‘big water’ but they dive in with no fear. I particularly love this composition because it’s out of the ordinary. One is upside-down, others are just waking up to being born while some seem ready to move on.
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What a thrill it must have been to see that, Sean. The “p” in photographer stands for patience. Your 3 nights of waiting in the wings paid off with this remarkable image.
Fascinating. The nest tenders here on the Gulf are very vigilant. Now I see why
This is incredible, Sean! What an experience. Hope you are well my friend!
Sean, I remember experiencing the same thrill on a smaller scale when a batch of snapping turtles hatched on a sandy bank by my farm stand on Higgins Rd in Cheshire. They were all over the parking lot. Some customers thought they were frogs! I gathered them up in a pail and brought them to the swamp pond behind my stand. I often wonder how many survived. I have pictures too in my old fashion album. This was before cell phone cameras and the digital age.
Wonderful! I’ve often helped painted turtle hatchlings get to the water at one of our local reservoirs in western MA. They seem so helpless against the ‘big water’ but they dive in with no fear. I particularly love this composition because it’s out of the ordinary. One is upside-down, others are just waking up to being born while some seem ready to move on.
Such a rumble-tumble of life emerging! A lifelong struggle from the very beginning for them. Thanks for waiting three days for this remarkable moment!
——- In a moment of Pompeiian
——- Chaos a tiny reptilian mob
——- Use plastron and carapace
——- To shape a living mosaic