Commonwealth Boulevard, Tallahassee, Florida 32399. A beautiful color sticker or poster depicting either a hawksbill or logger-head turtle is available for each donation of five dollars or more. Hatchlings emerge from nests throughout the months of June, July, August, September, and October. It is a myth that hatchlings emerge only around the time of the full moon. Hatchlings ready to emerge wait just beneath the sand surgace until conditions become cool.
Hatchlings possess an inborn tendency to move in the brightest direction.
On a natural beach, this brightest direction is most often the open view of the night sky over, and reflected by, the ocean. Hatchlings also tend to move away from darkly silhouetted objects associated with the dune profile and vegetation. Hatchlings that crawl toward artificial light sources follow the same instinctive response that leads them seaward on naturally lighted beaches. It is the glaring light of artificial sources that leads hatchlings astray. At night, artificial light sources appear bright and glaring because they are close by, producing light that appears intense but is not bright enough to illuminate the ocean.