"Every scale tells a tale!"
This site is dedicated to finding "Nani", a juvenile hawksbill we saw regularly for ~2.5 years, until she suddenly wasn't around anymore...
"Nani" (beautiful, splendid) was named by Anita Wintner, who photographed her first and had the closest "bond" to her. Since this turtle is too small to tell whether it's male or female, we don't know what its gender is, but for ease of reference we call it a girl. Nani acts "curiously" and seemingly "friendly", which hopefully didn't get her into trouble. I've never seen anything quite like it... My Nani photographs are on the top of each page on this site to showcase what a unique turtle this individual is. Hopefully Nani will be spotted again somewhere, someday!
Here's one of the Hawaiian hawksbills we've been monitoring since 2005, who truly lives up to her name: "Pueo".
My raptor biologist friend, Dr. Jeep Pagel, and I named her #MUI-018 "Pueo" after watching her soar over the reef like our native owl does over land. I have records of her being in the West Maui area nearly every year since 2005 (in almost every month throughout the course of all of these years) so you can imagine my surprise when they matched up to Justin Warner's photos of her in South Maui! The most recent sighting I have on record before Justin spotted her on 12/20/16 was on 9/6/16 by Shawn Caley. This is quite remarkable that she showed up in South Maui ~3.5 months later! Who knows where else she went before that, and where she could be now…
2017-2018 Update: Kimberly Allen photographed her on 4/26/17, resting ~2 miles north of where Justin saw her, Kelvin Dale saw her resting ~1/2 mile north of that on 5/7/17, and Miranda Camp saw her there too on 10/20/17. Lloyd Johnson saw her on 10/29 ~1/4 mile to the north of there, and then Curtis Geary spotted her swimming ~1 & 1/4 of a mile to the south on 11/9/17. Corry Jones spotted her on 12/30/17 ~3/4 mile to the north of there, and Ali Young saw her here as well on 3/15/18. Emily Silva, a kayak guide with Hawaiian Paddle Sports, saw her ~1 mile away from here on 3/30/18. Now that she's been around South Maui for over a year, we'll report here if she's spotted anywhere else besides this area. Mahalo for the sightings- keep 'em comin'!
2019 Update: A standup paddle boarder saw her struggling at the surface and called the hotline so Maui Ocean Center Marine Institute could disentangle her from fishing line, hook with fresh bait and floating jug. This could've been deadly, so fishers- please keep track of your gear and call the hotline immediately so we can help these animals: 1-888-256-9840.
2020 Winter Update: Our Turtle Transect Team spotted her foraging in Ma'alaea Bay.
2020 Summer Update: There have been two sightings of her back on the West Side (by Brian McDaniel and Lyle Krannichfeld)! Unfortunately, she has three hooks in her front flippers. None are necessarily life-threatening since there's no line attached, but it's still scary that she's had more fishing gear interactions... Update from 8/18/20: William Newhouse photographed Pueo on the West Side again, and the hooks appear to be gone so that's wonderful news!
2020 Fall Update: Ted and Donna Wolfrum saw her foraging on the South Side on 9/26/20 and 10/4/20 (no hooks). Curtis Geary saw her a month later in the same area. Lloyd Johnson saw her swimming on the West Side on 11/19/20.
2021 Winter Update: Jenn Szerlag saw her swimming back on the South Side on 1/9/21.
2021 Spring Update: Brian Selwood and Extended Horizons SCUBA spotted her on the West Side, trying to eat a frogfish on 3/30/21.
From what I’ve observed and recorded during the course of this entire project, this is the longest distance travelled by a female who wasn’t known to be nesting (nesting season is in the spring/summer/fall). It seems that her "home range" isn't as consistent as we first thought since she's been spotted in multiple regions around Maui over the years. It's even farther than we know "Psycho", an adult male, has traveled (see his story below). This just goes to show how much we simply don’t know about these animals. Pueo is surely living up to her name, so I’m especially intrigued to find out where she soars to next!
2017-2018 Update: Kimberly Allen photographed her on 4/26/17, resting ~2 miles north of where Justin saw her, Kelvin Dale saw her resting ~1/2 mile north of that on 5/7/17, and Miranda Camp saw her there too on 10/20/17. Lloyd Johnson saw her on 10/29 ~1/4 mile to the north of there, and then Curtis Geary spotted her swimming ~1 & 1/4 of a mile to the south on 11/9/17. Corry Jones spotted her on 12/30/17 ~3/4 mile to the north of there, and Ali Young saw her here as well on 3/15/18. Emily Silva, a kayak guide with Hawaiian Paddle Sports, saw her ~1 mile away from here on 3/30/18. Now that she's been around South Maui for over a year, we'll report here if she's spotted anywhere else besides this area. Mahalo for the sightings- keep 'em comin'!
2019 Update: A standup paddle boarder saw her struggling at the surface and called the hotline so Maui Ocean Center Marine Institute could disentangle her from fishing line, hook with fresh bait and floating jug. This could've been deadly, so fishers- please keep track of your gear and call the hotline immediately so we can help these animals: 1-888-256-9840.
2020 Winter Update: Our Turtle Transect Team spotted her foraging in Ma'alaea Bay.
2020 Summer Update: There have been two sightings of her back on the West Side (by Brian McDaniel and Lyle Krannichfeld)! Unfortunately, she has three hooks in her front flippers. None are necessarily life-threatening since there's no line attached, but it's still scary that she's had more fishing gear interactions... Update from 8/18/20: William Newhouse photographed Pueo on the West Side again, and the hooks appear to be gone so that's wonderful news!
2020 Fall Update: Ted and Donna Wolfrum saw her foraging on the South Side on 9/26/20 and 10/4/20 (no hooks). Curtis Geary saw her a month later in the same area. Lloyd Johnson saw her swimming on the West Side on 11/19/20.
2021 Winter Update: Jenn Szerlag saw her swimming back on the South Side on 1/9/21.
2021 Spring Update: Brian Selwood and Extended Horizons SCUBA spotted her on the West Side, trying to eat a frogfish on 3/30/21.
From what I’ve observed and recorded during the course of this entire project, this is the longest distance travelled by a female who wasn’t known to be nesting (nesting season is in the spring/summer/fall). It seems that her "home range" isn't as consistent as we first thought since she's been spotted in multiple regions around Maui over the years. It's even farther than we know "Psycho", an adult male, has traveled (see his story below). This just goes to show how much we simply don’t know about these animals. Pueo is surely living up to her name, so I’m especially intrigued to find out where she soars to next!
2015-2017 Satellite Tracking of 3 Maui hawksbills:
"Rocket Girl", "Barnacle Billie" and "Misty"
In scientific partnership with NOAA NMFS, ICAPO, HWF, LMC, MOC, AKM, Keith Baxter's vessel, and local hawksbill enthusiasts, we were able to successfully locate and catch these three adult female hawksbills and safely apply high tech transmitters to their carapaces (September 2015). Each device records their dive data and provides location information when the antennae breaks the surface of the ocean (as the hawksbill breathes) when the orbiting satellite intercepts the signals. Besides our work with post-nesting females, no other Hawaiian hawksbills have been equipped with this technology, so we're very excited to see what we learn!
These in-water captures were made by trained professionals under permit NMFS ESA10a1A 15685.
Tagging project update (March 2017):
Barnacle Billie's antenna has been gone since April 2016. Misty and Rocket Girl's have been gone since at least March 2017. These devices are designed to continue to log data, but they can't relay the information to the satellites so we will eventually need to catch them all to remove their transmitters.
Like all hawksbills, please report sightings of these turtles too since there's never a guarantee that we're receiving location data.
Tagging project update (September 2017):
We successfully removed all 3 transmitters, and tagged a new subadult named #MUI-058 "Little O". Now it's time to download the data to see what we learned!
More information from NOAA coming soon...
Barnacle Billie's antenna has been gone since April 2016. Misty and Rocket Girl's have been gone since at least March 2017. These devices are designed to continue to log data, but they can't relay the information to the satellites so we will eventually need to catch them all to remove their transmitters.
Like all hawksbills, please report sightings of these turtles too since there's never a guarantee that we're receiving location data.
Tagging project update (September 2017):
We successfully removed all 3 transmitters, and tagged a new subadult named #MUI-058 "Little O". Now it's time to download the data to see what we learned!
More information from NOAA coming soon...
Meet "Psycho", the male hawksbill who has a thing for frogfish...
When Mike Rudenko contacted me about his Hawaiian hawksbill sighting, he sent Levi Kinney's photos of this large hawksbill seemingly trying to eat a frogfish in August 2015. The initial excitement for me was that this was an adult male (a more rare discovery). Secondly, this was a unique behavior, as we didn't know that frogfish were a menu item for Hawaiian hawksbills. We named him "Psycho" due to his tenacity at fighting off a white tip reef shark that tried to steal the fish.
Psycho was spotted a few more times in the West Maui area, but I never heard about him attacking any more frogfish. Then, on 4/22/16 (Earth Day!), I got an excited call from Curtis Geary of Hawaiian Paddle Sports. He sent this great video, and I 100% positively identified this turtle as being Psycho! These two locations are ~23 miles (~36 km) apart (as the crow flies, which would be significantly more if he swam along the coast to get to this new location), and the longest distance I have on record for individual movements. Since nesting season is approaching, maybe he's on his way to his mating waters... Wherever he's going- beware, frogfish!
Psycho was spotted again on 5/11/16 by Jude Courmier ~2.75 miles (~4.5 km) north of the last sighting, trying to mate with a female Hawaiian green sea turtle!
Then, he was photographed nearby on 5/21/16 by Rachel of Maui Dreams Dive Company, just swimming along (not attacking frogfish or trying to mate with any green turtles). Davey Groth photographed him on 7/2/16 back where Curtis saw him, and Joshua Blue photographed him here again on 8/12/16. Bo Blinski and Kekoa Cramer photographed him 2.25 miles (3.6 km) north of here on 9/5/16 and 9/13/16, so he seems to have a decent-sized home range. Curtis and Christopher Nunez spotted him to the south of here ~2 miles (~3.25 km) on 9/25/16. Kekoa Cramer reported Psycho being back at the northern edge of his known territory on 10/2/16. Mark Malone saw him back in the southern area of his known territory on 2/1/17. Maui Ocean Center's John Gorman, Jim Luecke and Arik Dadez saw Psycho on 5/11/17 in an area that's ~3 miles (4.8 km) north of his southern-most known location. Then, Hawaiian Paddle Sports saw Psycho ~5 miles south of there on 6/22/17, so his known home range is expanding. Bo Blinski saw him right back in the middle again on 7/7/17, 7/15/17 and 8/30/17. Miranda Camp, Anita Wintner, Alan Espiritu, Bruce Weyermann, and I watched him forage on algae, the farthest north we've known him to be on 11/30/17. Laura Portscheller and Simona Clausnitzer saw him ~1.5 miles south of there on 1/27/18. Pauline Fiene of Mike Severns Dive Company spotted him ~1 mile north of here on 3/19/18. Scott Anderson saw him ~1 mile south of here with a large ulua hook embedded in his right front flipper on 4/29/18. Luckily, there's no line attached since that's the most dangerous part, unless the leader or swivel gets snagged on something... Bo Blinski saw him ~1 mile north of here on 7/18/18. Please let us know asap if you see him (808)385-5464!
May means that it 'May-be' mating season!
As you've learned from this site, Hawaiian hawksbills are very rare and we're still learning a lot about them. One part of their lives was a mystery before June 18, 2015: mating. This hadn't been documented (to our knowledge, so please send us photos if you've seen it!), but we know it has to happen before nesting begins (May, June or July depending on the nester). On this fateful June day, we just so happened to be snorkeling on one of our turtle transects searching for hawksbills off of Moloka'i, when I couldn't believe what I saw: 2 hawksbills mating! Typical of many hawksbills, they unfortunately swam off immediately so fast in opposite directions that I could barely photograph one of them once (I chose the male, for obvious reasons). I'm so lucky that these 2 photographs weren't fuzzy when I zoomed in for proof, since it all happened so fast... My snorkel buddy, Alana, was the only other person to see it, and we were beyond excited (but sad that their mating got interrupted, of course). We repeated this same transect two more times, but never saw them again so we're especially grateful to have made this important discovery! These are also the first 2 Moloka'i hawksbill photos in our database. We believe that hawkbills migrate to their mating/nesting areas, so we're hoping to trace them to their foraging waters that are likely around a different island. Maybe your photograph will make one of these matches!
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**2017 Update: As further proof of the importance of photo-ID research, we've identified this female! I didn't have much to work with since the above photo is all I got of her, but luckily the amazing Don McLeish had taken some comparable photo angles of "Kiniana"! I actually used her plastron markings (which do change over time, but in the short-term are useful), the ventral side of her left rear flipper and the trailing edges of her right rear flipper plus her right front flipper. Like in this case, photographing every angle of every hawksbill whenever possible can be super helpful in the long-term!
We have one of the longest-running histories on Kiniana, with her first sighting being in the year 2000 by Peter Bennett and Ursula Keuper-Bennett (founders of www.turtles.org). We've only known Kiniana to be in the West Maui area, but since she's grown to become an adult-sized female we knew she should be nesting somewhere. I'd semi-suspected that she was a Hawai'i Island nester since has a small hole in each of her rear flippers, where flipper tags are sometimes applied. The Hawai'i Island Hawksbill Turtle Recovery Project is the only one in HI that tags this way. She doesn't seem to have any tag scars from her front flippers though (where they're also tagged), so this was a conundrum.
Now that we solved her mystery, we just need to find out where the male lives when he's not chasing females on Moloka'i!
Now that we solved her mystery, we just need to find out where the male lives when he's not chasing females on Moloka'i!
There's "Hope"!
Our first sighting of "Hope" was back in 2004, and we've been able to find her fairly regularly every year since then except for 2008 and 2015. We've watched her grow (she seems to always be foraging!) and since she appears to have reached breeding size, she might've undergone nesting migrations during these missing years, but it's impossible to know for sure. We caught her in 2009 to apply small internal PIT (passive integrated transponder) tags within her rear flippers. These tags are the same ones that our pets get and can be read by other researchers' tag readers (like scanning a bar code). Nobody has documented her nesting yet, but over 40 different people have reported seeing her on our Maui reefs. Pictured below, the endemic Hawaiian saddle wrasse (Thalassoma duperrey) can often be found capitalizing on hawksbills' foraging habits since hawksbills tend to rip up the reef while trying to get to their food items in the reef pukas (crevices).
Anita Wintner wanted to name her "Hope" for symbolic reasons- she's our hope for the survival of Hawaiian hawksbills!
Anita Wintner wanted to name her "Hope" for symbolic reasons- she's our hope for the survival of Hawaiian hawksbills!
Just a few of the cases:
Three Maui & One O'ahu Hawaiian Hawksbill Deaths:
Turtles and fishing gear don't mix well... Whether the turtles are intentionally going for the bait or they accidentally get snagged in the hooks and get entangled in the line, this gear is very dangerous for sea turtles! It's thought that the line is the most dangerous part since it can tightly wrap around the turtles' appendages and cause the blood circulation to cease (and then the affected appendages slowly and painfully deteriorate and fall off). Turtles can heal from this and live without all of their flippers, but their chances for long-term survival decrease and tight neck entanglements are deadly. This line can also become so tightly wrapped that they can't actually swim to the surface to breathe or forage. Or, the line and/or other trailing gear (bobbers, weights, leaders, etc.) can get lodged under something, which has caused drowning since they can't reach the surface to breathe. If the turtles swallow the hooks, they get lodged somewhere in their digestive systems, causing many internal issues. Imagine swallowing a fishing hook...
There have been three recently recorded deaths of juvenile hawksbills involving fishing gear interactions around Maui and one around O'ahu:
#MUI-028 "Squiggles": Don Mcleish named this juvenile Squiggles in 2009 because of a noticeable squiggly line she had between her head scales. We collected a total of 19 sightings from 11 different people until she (her gender was discovered during the necropsy) washed ashore dead at Mala on 4/11/13 with fishing line coming out of her mouth. The necropsy determined that the actual cause of death was drowning, plus she had two fishing hooks lodged in her throat (causing an infection). She had been disentangled two other times (that we know of) prior to this, which isn't a surprise since Mala is a popular fishing area.
There have been three recently recorded deaths of juvenile hawksbills involving fishing gear interactions around Maui and one around O'ahu:
#MUI-028 "Squiggles": Don Mcleish named this juvenile Squiggles in 2009 because of a noticeable squiggly line she had between her head scales. We collected a total of 19 sightings from 11 different people until she (her gender was discovered during the necropsy) washed ashore dead at Mala on 4/11/13 with fishing line coming out of her mouth. The necropsy determined that the actual cause of death was drowning, plus she had two fishing hooks lodged in her throat (causing an infection). She had been disentangled two other times (that we know of) prior to this, which isn't a surprise since Mala is a popular fishing area.
#MUI-047 "Nike": We discovered Nike during our turtle transect off of Kama'ole III on 2/15/16. We named her Nike because he/she (too small to determine sex, but will await the NOAA necropsy report) has a marking that resembles the Nike swoosh in the middle of the top of her head. Nike washed ashore dead at Kama'ole III on 1/16/17 because it could no longer swim due to the amount of fishing line tightly wrapped around both of her front flippers, neck and carapace. A partial hook was present but not embedded so it's unclear how the capture initially happened. Otherwise, Nike seemed to be in good body condition. The NOAA necropsy determined that this was a female.
#MUI-051 "Dylyana": I responded to a call on the South Maui Turtle Strandings Hotline from a fisherman named Dylan who found this extremely small (30 cm curved carapace length) hawksbill washed ashore at Waipuilani Beach Park on 11/16/16. This hawksbill, the smallest one I've seen in Hawai'i, had a hook lodged in the side of its mouth and was dragging two 4oz weights plus a large bundle of fishing line. It was very emaciated and covered with algae, so likely had been struggling with this gear load for a while. The NOAA necropsy determined that this was a female.
Photos of both Nike and Dylyana when we were shipping the deceased turtles to NOAA for necropsy and sampling:
#OU-025 "LC": This juvenile hawksbill washed ashore on O'ahu on 3/23/17, and pictures of it were posted on Facebook. NOAA's Irene Kelly was tagged in the photos, but the turtle had apparently gotten swept back into the ocean by the waves so it couldn't be recovered.
*In cases like this, it's okay to bring the turtle to shore and call the Sea Turtle Stranding Network!
*In cases like this, it's okay to bring the turtle to shore and call the Sea Turtle Stranding Network!
What should you do if you see a hooked/entangled sea turtle in Hawai'i? Please contact our Sea Turtle Stranding Network right away!
Please encourage fisher people to fish responsibly. If a turtle is accidentally caught and it's safe to help for both you and the turtle, carefully reel in the turtle and remove all gear - or cut the line as close to the hook as possible to help reduce further injury. Please call the hotline for guidance. It's OK to help! http://www.fpir.noaa.gov/PRD/prd_fishing_around_sea_turtles.html
| fishingtipstoprotectseaturtlesandmarinemammals_noaafisheries.pdf |
Here's the scientific poster we presented on this topic (including both greens and hawksbills) at the International Sea Turtle Symposium in April 2017:
| 2017.04.13istspostervegas_cking.pdf |
Help us clean up our ocean!
The ocean has a lot of marine debris and discarded fishing gear that are negatively affecting our marine life. Let's clean it up, and study what we find! You can help by uploading your photos and the amounts you're picking up. It's really easy and fun, plus this information will be used for good. Just click on the button below to start (or simply email your information and we will enter it).
Mahalo!
Mahalo!
Meet the nudibranchs!
Nudibranchs are certainly some of the coolest critters in the ocean! One of the members of our Turtle Team, Karolle Wall, created a website that's an awesome resource for identifying what you've spotted:
http://www.karollewall.com/nudibranchs-of-hawaii/
http://www.karollewall.com/nudibranchs-of-hawaii/
And if you haven't gotten lost in this mind-blowing "Bowiebranchia" site yet... you're welcome!
