While I love this blog, I now pretty much only write on my other two blogs: BirdingBlogs.com and 10,000 Birds - I would love to see you there!

Thursday 12 November 2009

Sea Turtles hatching in Ostional, Costa Rica



Before moving on to the Honduran Caribbean and then on to the Alps of Austira, I lived in Costa Rica for three years. I was employed by a small parrot conservation organisation Amigos de las Aves. Because I loved my work, I would tend to work 7 days a week for a few months and then take a string of days off get out somewhere new.

One of the places I loved visiting was Playa Ostional in the north west of Costa Rica (but still two FULL days journey in chicken busses) - it is a famous spot for sea turtles, particularly the Olive Ridley Turtle (Oliv-Bastardschildkröte Lepidochelys olivacea). Here are some photos I took in my time on the beaches of Playa Ostional:





There is so much I could say about shrimp fishing. Not very much of it positive. In the time I spent on Playa Ostional's beaches, I probably averaged about 1 dead turtle found per day. And this is just the damage we see on the beach, not to mention the millions of dead turtles washed out to sea or the huge scars on the ocean's floor.

Turtles are lovely ... I think I might post some more turtle posts and photos some time


I publish this post with a smile on my face and a joy in my heart. I hope you feel this too.

Dale

2 comments:

Gaelyn said...

So you're a workaholic. ;-)
But how great to take multiple days off from a job you love and visit an exciting place to see turtles. Very sad about the shrimping bussiness' effects on ocean life. Yet I can tell you post was written in a happy frame of mind.
Great captures.

Chris said...

Hi Dale,
Fantastic documentary with gorgeous shots! It is also nice to try to make people realize the effect of fishing on noon-targeted fishes. By-catch have terrible effect on several species and not only turtles!