ON THE MOVE

By Dean Bagley, UCF Marine Turtle Research Group

   Jack is on the move. After spending almost all of his time in Central Brevard, he made a couple of forays down into the Archie Carr Wildlife Refuge and back, but on June 19, 2019, he made a move northeast of the mass of location “hits” that he has accumulated and began a migration south. He passed Sebastian Inlet and made a 24-hour loop shortly after on June 21 before continuing his journey south. He passed Ft. Pierce inlet, the St. Lucie Power Plant, and gave us his last location at 11:59 p.m. on June 23, just 8.5 km north of the St. Lucie inlet.

   Apollo has remained at the tip of the Cape, moving back and forth between the north and south sides. This week he was on the south side when we got his last location at 9:30 a.m. on June 23, 2019.

   Stay tuned for the next update, as we watch Jack continue his trip south. If past tracked turtles are any indication, Apollo should be starting his migration soon. Although it will not apply for all males, the previously tracked males have all left our area by the end of the first week in July. I’ve never had my tracked males spend this much time north of the refuge consistently, so we’ll see if departure time holds true. It did for Jack; we’ll have to see if it will be true for Apollo, too.