Satellite Tracking Update: ‘Mateo’ and ‘Gabriela’

September 27, 2023

After swimming over 900 nautical miles (1,666 kilometers), ‘Mateo’ has reached her home at Jardines de la Reina. Since a few days she has stopped swimming long distances and she has stayed in the same area. This makes us believe that she has reached her second home. ‘Gabriela’ is still swimming along the north Colombian coast. We think that it is safe to say that they have both found home!

September 25, 2023

‘Mateo’ has slowly moved along the coast of Cuba. She is officially in the Jardines de la Reina and is slowly moving into the northern direction of the coast. Will she stay in Cuban waters? Or is she even going to pass this beautiful marine park to move to more northern waters? We will have to see this week!

September 20, 2023

The nests that were laid during the deployment of the satellite transmitters, have hatched! ‘Mateo’ her nests was a particularly deep nest with a depth of 1.04m! She also laid a very big nest with a total of 162 eggs in the nest. Some of these eggs were infertile, resulting in a total of 123 hatchlings that made it out of their egg. That means that the nest had a hatch success rate of 70%. Some of the hatchlings were still left in the nest by the time that we excavated it. We made sure all of them made it safely to the water! We think that the nest hatched on September 13.

‘Gabriela’ her nest has also hatched! We estimated that her nest hatched a day earlier than ‘Mateo’ her nest on September 12. Her nest was quite a bit smaller (which is normal for a loggerhead nest) with a total of 84 hatchlings making it out of the nest. She had a very successful nest with a hatch success rate of 87%!

September 19, 2023

After a short break along the coast of Haiti, ‘Mateo’ has made her way to Cuba! At this moment, she is very close to Jardines de la Reina. Jardines de la Reina has been a protected national park since 2010. It has an area of 2,170 square kilometers, consists out of 600 cays and islands and is one of Cuba’s largest protected areas. It is a very healthy ecosystem with many different marine species, coral species and mangroves. Just like on Bonaire, the marine park is an important nesting and foraging ground for green, hawksbill and loggerhead turtles. The Center of Fisheries Research (Cuba) has been conducting capture-mark-recapture research since 1989! So far, there has been no data of a Bonaire turtle being recaptured in Cuban waters. But ‘Mateo’ has shown us again that this marine reserve is an important area for the green turtles nesting on Bonaire.

‘Gabriela’ is still happily swimming up and down the Colombian coast!

September 12, 2023

‘Mateo’ has officially reached Haiti last night! She swam a total of 500 nautical miles (a little over 900 km) in two weeks time! Anneke, our green turtle from 2012, also passed Haiti on her way to Jardines de la Reina in Cuba. Would ‘Mateo’ join Anneke in this beautiful and healthy ecosystem?

In the meantime we think it is safe to say that ‘Gabriela’ has found her home foraging grounds in the northern peninsula of Colombia.

September 7, 2023

‘Mateo’ has been swimming for 10 days and has changed course in the direction of Jamaica. So far, we have not followed any green turtles to Jamaica, so this would be a new foraging ground for our green turtles.

September 4, 2023

‘Mateo’ is still moving further north. She swam almost 300 nautical miles so far, and is moving in the direction of Haiti. Will she follow Anneke, the green turtle from 2012 who stayed in Cuba? Or will she show us one of the new foraging grounds? We are eager to find out!

‘Gabriela’ might have just found her home in Colombia. She has been swimming along the coast of Colombia. And where we first thought that she might just rest to move to a different, further location, it seems as if she has found her home in Colombia.

August 31, 2023

After laying her fifth and last nest of this season, ‘Mateo’ has officially left Bonaire! She swam a little over 90 nautical miles north-west of Bonaire and is on her way to her foraging home!

There have been five green turtles that have been tracked by STCB before ‘Mateo’. They have shown that our green turtles have several different foraging grounds. Two of the tracked green turtles went to Los Roques, one to Jardines de la Reina in Cuba, one all the way to the Mexican coast and one to Nicaragua. Will ‘Mateo’ see one of these turtles at her foraging grounds? Or will she swim to a different foraging ground? We will have to wait and see!

‘Gabriela’ is still enjoying her stay along the Colombian coast.

August 29, 2023

One of the survival strategies of sea turtles is philopatry. Philopatry is the tendency of an organism to return to their home area for reproduction. This means that sea turtles will return to the beach where they once hatched from. They are capable of returning to the same area within a few kilometers! There are a few reasons why sea turtles go back to their natal area.

1. Returning to the same area every nesting season gives them a better guarantee to find a mating partner in the area.

2. By returning to the same area they will know that there is a suitable area to lay their nests: a sandy beach that has enough sand for the depth of their nests.

3. And returning to the same nesting area every season will create a strong genetic pool in which there is more resistance to diseases and viruses. In this way, natural selection creates a stronger survival chance for the sea turtles from certain areas.

Both Mateo and Gabriela have not moved much over the last week. Gabriela is still swimming along the Colombian coast while Mateo is still in the area of Playa Chikitu.

August 21, 2023

Both ‘Mateo’ and ‘Gabriela’ seem to really like the area they are in right now. ‘Mateo’ is starting to get restless and started to swim more and more. So far, we have not been able to confirm a 5th nest from ‘Mateo’.

‘Gabriela’ on the other hand seems to really enjoy her time in Colombia, she has moved slightly further west and is staying in the same coastal area of Colombia. It could be that she has already found her foraging grounds. ‘Doris’, a female hawksbill turtle that was tracked in 2009, also has her foraging grounds in Colombia. We will have to see and wait if ‘Gabriela’ is staying so close to us, or if she still has some energy to travel further.

August 14, 2023

Friday afternoon we received the message that ‘Mateo’ had left Bonaire. We expected her to start moving north after laying her fourth nest on Playa Chikitu on August 10. However, it looks like she did not go far and already has returned to the Playa Chikitu area! Since she returned to Bonaire, we are expecting her to lay her 5th nest around August 18.

August 4, 2023

Since the end of July, we know that ‘Gabriela’ had left Bonaire and started her journey west towards Colombia. However, when taking a closer look to her exact path we can see that she actually swam along the east side of Bonaire before leaving the island. We can even see that she has passed right by ‘Mateo’ on her way to Colombia!

August 3, 2023

After a few extra days of swimming, ‘Gabriela’ has reached Colombian waters and is staying close to the shore of Colombia at this moment. She has already swum 205 nautical miles (380 km) towards the west. We think that she might be resting before crossing bigger waters. We are very curious to see where she will be going next!

‘Mateo’ is still in Bonaire waters. She is staying close to Chikitu and has not moved much. We are still waiting for here to lay her next nests.

July 31, 2023

‘Gabriela’ is on the move! After the nesting season, adult females will return to their foraging grounds. These are often deeper reefs with more food sources than the shallow reefs. After ‘Gebriela’ spent a week resting after laying her last nest, we saw today that ‘Gabriela’ started moving away from Bonaire. She is on her way west and has already passed Aruba! She is now close to the border of Venezuela and Colombia, and we think she will soon reach Colombian waters. 

‘Mateo’ on the other hand is staying close to Bonaire. She is still in the area of Chikitu and we think that she might come onto shore soon to lay another nest.

July 24, 2023

On Friday, July 21, a satellite transmitter was deployed on a green turtle named ‘Mateo’ at Playa Chikitu. We watched ‘Mateo’ lay her nest and waited until she was done covering her nest before placing the transmitter on the top of her carapace. With this satellite transmitter, we will be able to follow her in real-time during her migration routes.

The satellite transmitter was placed at 1.00am by STCB staff and volunteers. We immediately received a signal and could see that ‘Mateo’ stayed around Playa Chikitu. We think that she is resting from laying her nest and think that this is her third nest of the season, meaning that she might come back onto shore to lay another nest this season.

On Sunday, July 23, another satellite transmitter was deployed. This time on a loggerhead turtle named ‘Gabriela’. This satellite transmitter was placed at 11.00pm at the Atlantis beach after she was done with the covering of her nest. ‘Gabriela’ has stayed close to the beach in the south and is still close to Bonaire. 

We cannot wait to see and find out where ‘Mateo’ and ‘Gabriela’ will travel!

Thank you to Joshua Mateo Fortes-Jordan, who loved the sea turtles of Bonaire and who has been the inspiration for ‘Mateo’ and ‘Gabriela’. 

Satellite Tracking Update: ‘Flappie’

27th August 2020
We have some great news to share! STCB staff and volunteers have patrolled Bonaire’s nesting beaches several nights during the 2019 & 2020 nesting season to deploy a satellite transmitter, sponsored by ContourGlobal, on a nesting turtle. However, we didn’t find a female turtle… until Wednesday 26th August, when a female hawksbill came ashore at Harbour Village Bonaire! After ‘Flappie’ (named by ContourGlobal staff) finished laying her nest, we deployed the transmitter and she was released again around 3:00am. We would like to thank ContourGlobal for sponsoring this satellite transmitter, Harbour Village security guards Reyes & Jose for informing us and STCB’s volunteers for their enthusiasm and support (even at 3:00am!)!

4th September 2020
Last week we deployed a satellite transmitter on a hawksbill turtle named ‘Flappie’. We’ve been receiving signals from her transmitter and we’re happy to share that ‘Flappie’ is still on the west coast of Bonaire and may lay another nest sometime next week. We’ll keep you posted!

15th September 2020
Approximately three weeks after we deployed a satellite transmitter on ‘Flappie’, a female hawksbill, she has left Bonaire and is now heading west! Where do you think she’s going?

Satellite Tracking Update: ‘Bonni’

25 January, 2019

After four months, ‘Bonni’s’ satellite transmitter stopped working… This could, for example, be the result of a mechanical issue with the transmitter, because the device fell off ‘Bonni’s’ carapace, or because she drowned as a result of fisheries or was poached.

Although it is a shame that we can no longer follow ‘Bonni’s’ movements, we are extremely happy with everything we’ve learnt about green turtle migration behaviour in the past months! ‘Bonni’s’ active behaviour during her nesting intervals, swimming back and forth between Bonaire, Las Aves and Los Roques, is something we had not seen before.

Normally, female turtles nest once every two or three years, because the migration from the foraging home to the nesting site (often hundreds of miles) and the nesting itself is exhausting work. However, since ‘Bonni’s’ foraging home is located very close to Bonaire, which means that the nesting migration only takes her about two days, we are hoping that she’ll return to Bonaire again this year for another successful nesting season!

8 January, 2019

‘Bonni’ started the new year in the Los Roques Archipelago. She continues to forage in the most western part of the island group. On the map you can see where ‘Bonni’ has been for the past 10 days.

15 November, 2018

A quick update on ‘Bonni’s’ whereabouts!

‘Bonni’ is really enjoying the Los Roques Archipelago. As you can see on the map, ‘Bonni’ has lately been spending most of her time in the western part of this beautiful Archipelago.

‘Bonni’ first arrived in Los Roques on October 15, then quickly returned to Bonaire to attempt to lay another nest, and – when that proved unsuccessful – swam back to Los Roques where she’s now been since October 27.

We’ll continue to monitor her movements and will update you again in December!

30 October, 2018

On the evening of October 23rd, ‘Bonni’ came ashore once more! She attempted to lay her sixth nest of this season, but – unfortunately – did not succeed. Right after she started digging, ‘Bonni’ hit a large rock, which prevented her from digging any further. She then decided to turn around, to go back to the ocean.

When sea turtles attempt to lay a nest, but for some reason are unsuccessful, they may try again either the same or the next night. We were therefore hoping that ‘Bonni’ would return to the beach again to try once more. ‘Bonni’, however, had her own plan: after the attempt, she went back to the sea and started swimming towards the east again. She did not come back ashore to lay a nest…

The last signal from ‘Bonni’s’ transmitter shows that she’s back in the Los Roques Archipelago.

We’ll continue to monitor her movements and will update you if anything changes!

23 October, 2018

Guess who’s back! ‘Bonni’ continues to surprise us… she has once again returned to Bonaire!

Friday evening, at 10:34pm, ‘Bonni’ started her journey from Los Roques to Bonaire. She covered approximately 86 nautical miles/159 kilometers in 56 hours, and arrived on Bonaire in the morning of October 22. The yellow lines on the map show where ‘Bonni’ sped; the blue lines, on the other hand, indicate where ‘Bonni’ swam a little slower.

Although we have fitted 26 adult sea turtles with satellite transmitters over the past 15 years, we have not seen migration behavior like ‘Bonni’s’ before. This shows us that we can learn valuable lessons about foraging and breeding habits from each individual sea turtle fitted with a transmitter.

We believe ‘Bonni’ may have returned to Bonaire because she felt the urge to lay another nest. We now have to wait patiently to see what her plans are. To be continued!

16 October, 2018

Yet another surprise! ‘Bonni’ did not stay in Las Aves, as we suspected, she instead decided to continue her journey eastward to the Los Roques Archipelago – an area rich with coral reefs and seagrass.

‘Bonni’ is not the first turtle tracked by STCB to travel to the Los Roques National Park. In 2006, STCB deployed a transmitter on a female hawksbill named ‘Heit’. ‘Heit’, who had already been tagged on Bonaire in 2004, traveled to her foraging waters at Los Roques after completing her nesting season on Bonaire.

Los Roques, a National Park since 1972, is located just to the east of Las Aves. In 2006, after it became clear that ‘Heit’ lived in Los Roques, STCB’s Manager Mabel and Field Specialist Funchi went to the archipelago to see if they could spot ‘Heit’. And… Funchi did see a glimpse of her! In 2008, a diver spotted ‘Heit’ again on Bonaire (see photos above).

We look forward to find out whether ‘Bonni’ will stay in Los Roques, just like ‘Heit’…

9 October, 2018

After laying her fifth nest, ‘Bonni’ left Bonaire and started to swim eastward. As we did not receive a signal for approximately 36 hours, we weren’t sure whether she had returned to the Las Aves Archipelago or had gone elsewhere. Luckily, we received a signal again on the evening of October 3rd: ‘Bonni’ had arrived at Las Aves!

For the past five days, ‘Bonni’ has been going back and forth between Isla Aves de Sotavento and Isla Aves de Barlovento. The Archipelago consists of a grand total of twenty-one islets and islands, it therefore seems to be a perfect place for our adventurous traveler ‘Bonni’!

3 October, 2018

‘Bonni’ continues to amaze us! On Monday night, ‘Bonni’ came ashore again to lay her fifth nest of this season… And by now, her first nest is already close to hatching!

After laying her nest, ‘Bonni’ began her journey eastwards, possibly towards Las Aves again. The last signal we received from her transmitter was yesterday morning at 8:22am and we’re now waiting to see where her journey will take her this time.

We will update you when we receive a new signal!

28 September, 2018

‘Bonni’ has once again returned to Bonaire and we believe she may be laying another nest in the coming days!

The migration behavior of previously tracked sea turtles on Bonaire has been different from ‘Bonni’s’ journey. ‘Bonni’ has been toing and froing between Bonaire and the Las Aves Archipelago, returning to Bonaire multiple times to nest. Since we have not seen a migration pattern like this before, we contacted sea turtle expert and former STCB manager Robert van Dam to better understand ‘Bonni’s’ actions.

According to Robert, a possible explanation for ‘Bonni’s’ migration behavior is that, after laying a nest, ‘Bonni’ may feel ’empty’: she thinks that she has finished her nesting season and therefore starts her journey back home. However, after a few days she once again feels the urge to nest.

In this case, sea turtles can show different behaviors or strategies. When a turtle feels the urge to nest, but is not at her nesting site, she can either make her way to a nearby nesting site to lay a nest, or – if she does not find a suitable nesting place – she can abandon her eggs in the sea. Another strategy, one that ‘Bonni’ seems to be using, is to leave her foraging home to return to her nesting site once more.

We’ll find out soon whether ‘Bonni’ will be laying another nest, and we’ll keep you posted!

Thank you Robert for sharing your knowledge with us!

25 September, 2018

‘Bonni’ is turning out to be a perfect match for Corendon: she’s a true traveller!

After laying her fourth nest on September 21st, ‘Bonni’ once again returned to Las Aves (she swam 31.7 nautical miles in less than 24 hours!) and spent three days at Isla Aves de Sotavento. This morning, however, she was on the move to Bonaire AGAIN! At 9:43am, she was just 16 nautical miles east of Bonaire…

We’re anxiously waiting to see whether she’ll visit our island again to surprise us with yet another nest!

21 September, 2018

We are excited to share with you that ‘Bonni’ came ashore last night and laid her fourth nest of this season!

After returning to the sea, ‘Bonni’ started swimming east again, possibly towards the Las Aves Archipelago. We are curious to see whether ‘Bonni’ is indeed going back to Las Aves; or will her journey take her elsewhere? And, if she is making her way to Las Aves again, will she actually stay this time or will she return to Bonaire once more to surprise us with another nest?

We hope to find out soon!

18 September, 2018

This morning, signals showed that ‘Bonni’ has definitely returned to Bonaire! We’re very eager to find out whether she’ll lay another nest…

September 17, 2018

Yesterday morning at 11:00am, ‘Bonni’ was still in the Las Aves Archipelago. However, when we checked the map this morning, we found out that ‘Bonni’ is swimming towards Bonaire again! What a surprise!

STCB has satellite tracked twenty-six sea turtles so far and ‘Bonni’ is the first tracked post-breeding sea turtle that ‘has done a loop’ like this after leaving Bonaire. This information supports STCB’s ongoing satellite tracking program, as there is not a ‘one fits all’ formula. Each tracking experience enhances our knowledge about migration patterns and thus gives us a better understanding of how to best protect sea turtles within the Caribbean region.

‘Bonni’s’ migration behavior does pose several questions. For example, is it common for green turtles to travel this far during their inter-nesting periods? And, will ‘Bonni’ return to Bonaire to lay one or more nests or is she merely passing by to continue north? Or is it possible that ‘Bonni’ lives on Bonaire, even though Bonaire’s habitat is a developmental habitat and not a feeding ground for adult turtles?

To be continued…

September 14, 2018
Signals from the satellite transmitter show that ‘Bonni’ is currently cruising along the eastern part of the Las Aves Archipelago. It is known that female sea turtles don’t eat, or eat scarcely, while migrating from their feeding grounds to their nesting beach and commonly not at all once the laying has started. This in order to save space for the eggs to develop in their bodies. Hence, the turtles lose the fat reserves that they built prior to their reproductive migration. For this reason, if suitable habitat is found in their migration back home, sea turtles may stop to eat and regain some energy for their journey. It may be that ‘Bonni’ is doing that right now in Las Aves, where mangroves and seagrass beds are part of the marine ecosystem providing a good feeding site for green turtles. It is also possible that ‘Bonni’ lives in the Las Aves Archipelago; we can’t wait to find out during the coming days!

September 13, 2018
On Monday, September 11, a satellite transmitter was deployed on a green turtle named ‘Bonni’, right after she finished laying her nest. With this technology we can track ‘Bonni’ in real-time during her migration to her feeding habitat. This information guides best management practices for the conservation of sea turtles in the region. For more information, please visit our website.

The satellite transmitter was fitted at 4:00am by STCB staff and volunteers. We started to receive signals immediately and we could see that ‘Bonni’ left Bonaire right after returning to the sea, which indicates that this may have been her last nest of this season and she started her journey back home under a beautiful night full of stars.

‘Bonni’ is now 43 nautical miles from Bonaire, on the most eastern part of the Las Aves Archipelago. Las  Aves is located north of Venezuela, between Bonaire and the Los Roques Archipelago. The last signal was received at 10:29am this morning and we’re eager to find out where she’ll go next!

Thank you Corendon for funding ‘Bonni’s’ satellite transmitter! For more information about the Corendon Foundation (in Dutch), please visit their website.

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