Somehow, despite living in Florida for my whole life I had never made it over to the East Coast beaches during turtle nesting season. I rectified that this weekend. I saw 5 mama Green Sea Turtles covering up their nests and watched 3 of them make their way back into the water. There were so many turtle tracks on the beach. I didn’t get a chance to see any babies but hopefully can do that in the not too distant future also. Afterwards, I made a quick stop at a park in the same general area to see some Florida Scrub Jays. Florida Scrub Jays are Florida’s only endemic bird meaning they are found nowhere else. They are interesting because they are somewhat social and generally not too scared of people. They are a threatened or vulnerable species because their habitat, scrub habitat is fragmented and under threat of development.

Mama Green Sea Turtle burying her eggs at sunrise.

Turtle tracks

Heading back to the water.

Made it

More turtle tracks

Anticrepuscular rays are parallel bands of sunlight that appear to rise from the horizon and converge at a single point opposite the sun. They occur most often at sunrise or sunset and are an optical illusion caused by linear perspective.

Climbing out of the hole.

Mama needs a nap!

Mama Green Sea Turtle heading back to the water.

She made it!

Florida Scrub Jay in flight.

The majority of Florida Scrub Jays are banded.

This one shows off the colors a little better.

A typical perched shot.

From below.