The Hatchlings

The turtle's eggs are off-white, about the size of a ping pong ball but leathery in texture. After approximately two months, the eggs hatch at night and the tiny new turtles head toward the sea guided by the light of the moon. (People living and working by the ocean are warned not to have outside lights on or the hatchlings get disoriented. Some have disastrously headed toward the highway instead of the sea.) Nests hold from 50 upwards to 200 eggs but only a small number of the hatchlings survive to adulthood. They are surprisingly tiny. Though this photo is not one of my own, it gives you an idea of their size. The hatching process is a wondrous sight with the tiny turtles digging out of the sand scurrying over the beach. Their itty-bitty little tracks in the sand are a tiny mirror of the larger ones I thrill at seeing when the adult comes to shore to nest. I'm already looking forward to May when the nesting season begins again.