Watch out for turtles: It's nesting season at the shore

Oblivious to the traffic, a female diamondback terrapin crossed the road at the corner of 38th Street and Kneass Street in Sea Isle City.

She made it safely.

After climbing over the curb, she crawled into a side yard covered in decorative stones. Then she began digging in the stones with her sharp claws while searching for a suitable place to lay her eggs.

This ritual is repeated countless times during the summer at the Jersey Shore as female diamondback terrapins emerge from their marshland habitat to look for sandy soil and other good nesting spots. It is a perilous journey that takes them across busy roads and often leads to deadly encounters with traffic.

Nesting season usually lasts from May to late July – a time that, unfortunately for the turtles, coincides with the heavy roadway traffic arriving at the shore for the busy summer tourism season.

Despite the ever-present dangers for the diamondbacks, the nesting season this summer has been a busy and successful one for the turtles, experts say.

“One hundred percent. I would say that it’s been successful,” said Brian Williamson, a research scientist and herpetologist at the Wetlands Institute outside Stone Harbor.

The Wetlands Institute is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and protecting the shore’s ecosystem and wildlife, including diamondback terrapins.

    Sea Isle City's new digital sign on John F. Kennedy Boulevard reminds motorists to watch out for turtles.
  

One of the conservation programs at the Wetlands Institute involves recovering the eggs from the carcasses of diamondback terrapins killed on the roads and placing them in incubators until they hatch. The turtles are released into the wild later on at the appropriate age.

“I think it’s one of the most exciting things we do to give these turtles a second chance,” Williamson said.

The importance of turtles at the shore is underscored by the “Watch for Turtles” and “Turtle X-ing” signs that are scattered around the beach towns to remind motorists to be careful about the diamondbacks lumbering across the road.

Sea Isle Terrapin Rescue, an organization founded by Steve Ahern and his wife, Susan, in Sea Isle City 15 years ago, helps diamondback terrapins that are in need of rescuing from the roads, storm drains and other hazardous places.

Steve Ahern called this summer’s turtle nesting season “very busy” overall, but unusual in the sense that the diamondbacks seem to be moving in waves based on the weather.

When the weather was cool, rainy or foggy at the start of summer, the turtles seemed to stay in the marshlands. During the warmer, sunny days, they came out in droves to lay their eggs, Ahern noted.

    A pedestrian rescues a diamondback terrapin on Park Road in Sea Isle City.
  

In general, the turtles also seem to emerging from the marshlands later in the day, coinciding with the high tides, Ahern said.

“This is the most unusual season we’ve ever experienced,” Ahern said of how the weather has affected the turtle movements.

The Wetlands Institute has also observed “odd” spikes in turtle activity based on the weather, Williamson pointed out. Warmer weather seemed to bring them out, while cooler days resulted in much less egg-laying activity, he said.

The number of crushed turtle shells littering the roads each summer offer grim evidence of just how dangerous nesting season can be for the diamondbacks.

Sea Isle Boulevard, the main gateway into Sea Isle City, was elevated in 2019 to protect traffic from flood waters seeping out of the surrounding marshlands. The project included mesh fencing installed underneath the guardrails to block turtles from entering the road.

However, there have been some spots where the turtles have been able to get through – or over – the fencing this summer and crawled out on the boulevard. Predictably, some have been killed.

    Mesh fencing underneath the guardrail helps to prevent terrapins from being crushed by traffic on Sea Isle Boulevard.
  

Sea Isle Boulevard is a county road. Ahern said Cape May County will likely have to inspect the mesh fencing near where the dead turtles are found to see if there were any breaches. He also said vegetation should be trimmed along the fencing to prevent the turtles from possibly climbing up and gaining access to the road.

There is a temptation for pedestrians and motorists to pick up the turtles to save them from traffic. Williamson and Ahern stressed that people should only do that in areas where they are safe. They should also make sure to place the turtles in the same direction that they were heading – otherwise the diamondbacks will turn around and go back in the road.

Diamondbacks can live to be 30 to 40 years old if they are lucky enough to make it into adulthood. But they face incredibly long odds of survival. Only a tiny number of baby turtles reach adulthood, Williamson said.

“There’s no parental care,” he noted of how the adult females simply leave after laying their eggs.

Researchers won’t know the mortality rate for the turtles this year until after the nesting season, when they study all of the data that has been compiled.

Williamson explained that diamondback terrapins aren’t considered “endangered” or “threatened” in New Jersey, but fall under a classification known as “special concern,” which suggests that their population is falling overall.

    Female diamondback terrapins emerge from the marshlands during the summer nesting season.
  

In addition to the typical roadway hazards, the turtles face danger from getting caught in crab traps and drowning, Williamson said.

Predators such as raccoons, skunks and crows feast on the turtle eggs, creating another danger for the diamondbacks, he said.

Sea Isle Terrapin Rescue oversees two turtle nesting boxes overlooking the marshlands behind the Sea Isle City Library at 48th Street and Central Avenue. The boxes contain sand and are covered with netting to give the turtles a safe place to lay their eggs. The boxes are protected from egg-stealing predators.

However, Ahern said that some good-intentioned people have been placing turtles inside the boxes and closing them up. The turtles are then trapped inside the boxes with no way to get out until someone comes to check on the boxes. Ahern is worried that the turtles may become stressed or vulnerable to the heat.

He is urging anyone who places a turtle inside the boxes not to close them up, which will allow the diamondbacks to roam freely once they lay their eggs.