Tracking Kimberly, Llewellyn, and Ehrhart

Editor’s Note: In 2022, the STPS Board of Directors provided funding for satellite transmitters for Dean Bagley, a researcher with the University of Central Florida’s Marine Turtle Research Group. STPS has supported Bagley’s work researching male green sea turtles for several years. She has been providing periodic updates to STPS as she tracks the turtles.

By DEAN BAGLEY

UCF Marine Turtle Research Group Researcher

July 10, 2023

I’ll be looking for Kimberly again starting tonight. She’s eluded me at 4 nests so far but I’m still hoping to be able to find her and download data from the transmitter. Given that I haven’t been able to find her yet, I’m not very optimistic, but I’ll be trying…

Kimberly has been tracked since 17 May and has stayed local, only venturing north outside the Refuge a few times, twice to lay nests 3 and 5. Her last GPS location as of yesterday (July 9, 2023) around 9:53 AM was south of the Aquarina complex in south Brevard.

Llewellyn, tagged on 7/3, has remained in the vicinity of the St. Lucie Power Plant, swimming as far north as the Ft. Pierce inlet before returning south and passing the deployment location, seemingly on his way home. His last GPS location was on 7/8 at 11:51 AM. Ehrhart, released on 7/7, has been meandering north. His last GPS location was yesterday (July 9, 2023) at 11:22 PM about halfway to the Ft. Pierce Inlet.

July 14, 2023

Sending a quick update on the males because Llewellyn appeared to be on the move and he is! The last map I sent showed that he had just passed the power plant and was on his way south. He’s continued that path, and as of yesterday, 13 July at 4:45 PM, he was just south of the Ft. Lauderdale inlet/harbor between Ft. Lauderdale Beach and Dania Beach. Ehrhart has stayed local and is spending his time north of the power plant. The last GPS location was on 11 July. I pulled the Argos data and although it’s not as accurate, it shows him further north but still south of Ft. Pierce Inlet. The Argos location was from yesterday, 13 July at 10:25 PM.

July 24, 2023

Llewellyn has possibly completed his migration and is currently residing east of Elliott Key for the last week or so. We’ve seen turtles take up residence in this area in the past. Only time will tell for sure whether he’s staying or just taking a break. At the last update on 7-13, he was between Ft. Lauderdale Beach and Dania Beach. He continued south, passing Miami on 7-15 and arriving at Elliott Key on 7-17. I will look closer at the data before the next update to see if he has set up a night/day pattern, but I didn’t have time now to convert all of the times.

Ehrhart has begun his migration. He left the Ft. Pierce area on 7-15, traveling down the coast and arriving in West Palm Beach on 7-19. His last location was east of Pompano Beach on 7-21 at 2:15 PM. I know that was three days ago, but his transmitter is still transmitting. I just haven’t received any GPS locations since then. I’m sure that data will be coming soon. I was able to find an Argos hit that put him east of Dania Beach on 7-23 at 7:41 PM.

Now for the news on Kimberly. You know that I’ve been searching for her each time she’s returned to nest. Friends and I have spent countless hours looking for her over the last two months or so. Well, on July 10^th, Janet and I were able to find her at nest #6. Against all odds, we found her before she laid so that she was still enough to download the data from her transmitter. We now have detailed information about her time here at the nesting beach (which I still have to have help uploading into the Wildlife Computers Portal in order to use). I don’t want to get your hopes up, but I’ve been on call since we deployed Ehrhart, hoping my colleagues at Inwater Research Group will be able to capture the last remaining male green turtle in their research site early enough for me to attach a transmitter before end of day. I’ve cancelled trips and changed appointments and plans in order to be close to home when they call. It is time sensitive. They’d have to capture him by 2:00 PM to allow enough time for me to drive the 1 ½ hour distance and attach the transmitter before they leave for the day. I’m hoping to hear from them soon.