Conservation in Mexico – Monthly Update November - December 2011 With over 2050 nests collected in 2011, we are proud to say that the aims for this year regarding our turtle conservation program have been achieved.Despite the unpredictable weather that occurred in the latter part of the year, and thanks to the hard work of our volunteers, our efforts to help protect these wonderful creatures have really paid off.  The project was also lucky to receive assistance from the Government in the form of providing local residents with temporary jobs to help with nest collection on the northern beach during the high season of turtle nesting.

Conservation in Mexico – Monthly Update October 2011 As we are now reaching now the last quarter of 2011 I can`t believe how fast the time has flown by this year. We are proud to announce that we are still on target with our goals regarding the turtle conservation, and it looks like we may even surpass the achievements of last year, with over 1825 nests being buried in the corral (incubation area) so far.

Conservation in Mexico – Monthly Update August - September 2011 High season for the Olive Ridley turtles. Finally the high season for turtle nest collection is here, and at the Projects Abroad Turtle camp we feel really glad that we have a chance once more to be part of the effort to preserve large numbers of the Olive Ridley species.

Conservation in Mexico – Monthly Update June 2011 After a very long dry season, Mother Nature decided to deliver some much needed rain, and boy did she do just that!  By the third week of June the torrential rains commenced giving us a good soaking, and marking the official beginning of our high season for turtle nest protection.

Conservation in Mexico – Monthly Update May 2011 It doesn't happen very often, but a few weeks ago the PROFEPA (Federal agency for environmental protection) brought to camp an adult Olive Ridley specimen that had several injuries to its shell. It had been found lying on a northern beach barely moving so was brought to the camp to be kept under observation.

Conservation in Mexico – Monthly Update April 2011 We are getting close to the start of another exciting high season for the turtle nest collection work. We are hoping to have an excellent year. The planning and repairs have taken place, now we just have to wait for the rains to finally come.

Conservation in Mexico – Monthly Update February – March 2011 Turtle Conservation Program. Once again we are coming to that point in the year when we have to start to get all our equipment ready in order to maximize the results we obtain from the nest collection in the high season. The equipment must be ready to meet the adverse conditions and in order to do this a total check up is in order.

Conservation in Mexico – Monthly Update December - January 2011 Biodiversity Study To get more elaborate and detailed results of the data we collect in the lagoon, in February, we will have a visit from the Biologist and Bird Specialist Pablo Lobera. Pablo will be helping us learn more about new data bases as well as new sighting and catching/release techniques. We will then be able to obtain more accurate data to submit to the state delegation in Colima, with the aim of making the Chupadero Lagoon a newly declared bird sanctuary site.

Conservation in Mexico – Monthly Update November 2010 I can’t believe that we are approaching the end of the year again. At this moment we are glad to report that so far we have collected over 17 Leatherback nests this season. This is a very important number as we remain in the early stages of the Leatherback season. The nesting cycles of the Leatherbacks are very different to that of the Olive Ridley, as they lay in cycles of 3 or 4 years, making them much rarer, so every nest we collect is to be treasured.

Conservation in Mexico – Monthly Update September 2010 Biodiversity Study As part of the Independence Bicentenary Celebrations, the state of Colima through their SEMARNAT (Environmental and Natural Resources Delegation) is due to declare the Mangrove Area known as El Chupadero, as a Bicentenary Eco-touristic park. This will implement a new set of activities that will promote a conservationist consciousness in their visitors. There will be guided tours through a mangrove area which has been designed and prepared for motor boats with the aim of showing the visitors the marvels that the lagoon offers that are not well known so far.

Conservation in Mexico – Monthly Update June - July 2010 The Rains are here. There are not enough words able to express how grateful we are regarding the visits we have been having from the volunteers in the 2 Weeks Special program. The boost to the project is amazing, and the camp is improving dramatically. Sometimes it is quite hard for our visitors to see true change in the project while they are with us, as they are in camp only for a couple of weeks but I definitely assure you that the amount of help they provide has a great impact in the whole project.

Conservation in Mexico – Monthly Update April - May 2010 Waiting for the rains to come. We’re now almost half way though the year! The maintenance work on our camp facilities has been completed; this would not have been possible without the help of all the volunteers. Now we can enjoy all the improvements and are ready for the future volunteers to come and help us over the next few months.

Conservation in Mexico – Monthly Update March 2010 We have been concentrating on the restoration of all of our facilities this month, making life at camp a bit more comfortable. With an enthusiastic group of volunteers even the chores can become fun and as well as productive and it has become a custom that after a hard day's labor a volleyball match takes place.

Conservation in Mexico – Monthly Update February 2010 Hello all Once again we have had the amazing opportunity to release the very rare leatherback hatchlings, that came out from one of the nests collected by the end of this last year!

Conservation in Mexico – Monthly Update November 2009 At the beginning of November we received a very successful visit from one of our Overseas Recruitment staff, Laurens Vos, who runs our Projects Abroad office in Holland. His visit, though short, was very demonstrative of his crucial role in the recruitment of future volunteers. It was encouraging to be able to show another member of Projects Abroad how our camp works, the type of projects we offer and discuss our purpose for being here.

Conservation in Mexico – Monthly Update October 2009 Our Conservation projects are reaching their final stages for 2009. Our Biodiversity Study has received recognition and the Ramsar site declaration gave the Lagoon “El Chupadero” the acknowledgment it deserved. The State SEMARNAT office is now supporting the site with a temporary jobs program encouraging local people to come and help with cleaning and maintaining some of the most distant areas of the site.

Conservation in Mexico - Monthly Update September 2009 Mexico has had its fair share of dramas this year, and the beginning of September brought the second hurricane of the season to the Pacific Coast of Mexico. Hurricane Jimena hit land substantially to the north of where we are based in Baja California and the Northern States. However, at the camp, we still felt the affects of the hurricane and experienced a period of much stronger winds.

Conservation in Mexico - Monthly Update August 2009 2009 has been a very busy year. The activities at the conservation project have increased and we are now reaching the peak of our 4th turtle arrival high season in the area. There is a lot to do still and at the moment we are right in the busiest time.

Conservation in Mexico - Monthly Update June 2009 It is not too often that you can say "I saw a baby crocodile being born!" but last Friday at the crocodile farm we were lucky enough to see this happen. A couple of Acutus crocodiles had the first nest of the season to hatch out.

Conservation in Mexico - Monthly Update May 2009 With the high season for turtle nesting just around the corner, we are truly lucky to have the help of our volunteers at the moment. Their help makes the difference between a successful high season nest collection and a mediocre one. It is vital at this time that we carry out important activities like maintenance work, clearing areas, treating the sand in the corral and constructing the warehouse. Without the help of the volunteers this work would not get completed in the time we have available.

Conservation in Mexico - Monthly Update March 2009 Entering in a boat into a lagoon that is infested of crocodiles in the middle of the night sounds a lot like what the regular folk would call their "worst nightmare", but once or twice a year, just before the crocodile mating season start by the dark given by a new moon, we take the duty of monitoring the local population that inhabits the lagoon that surrounds the crocodile farm.

Conservation in Mexico - Monthly Update January 2009 Regarding conservation activities, one can just simply carry on and on and sometimes feel that all the effort that is put in is useless, as often the problems to a certain extent still remain. It is sometimes in these situations that you have to look at what you do in a retrospective way.

Conservation in Mexico - Monthly Update September 2008 Constant rain and strong winds are the main characteristics that tell us that the Sea Turtle high season is reaching its peak. We have now reached 1,500 nests collected, surpassing by far the number of nests that we collected this time last year. A very impressive achievement considering that at this point last year we only had collected 1,080 nests.

Conservation in Mexico - Monthly Update July 2008 The high season for turtles is here! With massive rains, lots of turtles coming out every night, lots of people around to help, and the addition of a brand new Quad bike to our equipment, we can only hope to obtain really good results by the end of this year.

Conservation in Mexico - Monthly Update May 2008 As the year passes by the activities at the Tecoman Biological center are increasing day by day. The high season for the turtle Conservation program is practically around the corner, so the maintenance and equipment purchase is due to be in order as soon as possible.

Conservation in Mexico - Monthly Update April 2008 By the end of the first trimester of the year, the activities at the Coastal conservation center have started to increase and the maintenance activities give the volunteers the opportunity to do some hard labor and at the same time join our conservation programs.

Conservation in Mexico - Monthly Update March 2008 As this year passes by, all our efforts focus on the maintenance of our equipment in order to be ready for the start of the high season for turtles. The patrols also remain constant as the presence must be kept in the area, even though the number of turtles coming out to lay eggs is low. It is still important to collect data from the low season which can help track the changes taking place over the years to the figures. Deterring the poachers is also still important and makes our presence essential.

Conservation in Mexico - Monthly Update January 2008 By the middle of the Leather Back season we are really proud to report the collection of 16 nests so far, and we have already released our first offspring of this season. We were pleased with the survival rate of the buried hatchlings and on Monday 4th February we had the opportunity to release around 45 small leatherback turtles!

Conservation in Mexico - Monthly Update December 2007 We finished our Olive Ridley season with impressive numbers, (2,192 nests collected). A good effort and many sleepless nights brought up great results, as these numbers do not reflect the amount of turtles that came out to lay their eggs on our beach, but our capacity to collect them. It has been a great effort from our staff and our volunteers, and has placed us among the most prolific beaches regarding Olive Ridley conservation in Mexico.

Conservation in Mexico - Monthly Update November 2007 As if she was trying to save us from the effort of patrolling the beach, a Black Turtle came out to lay her eggs right outside our incubation area! With more than a meter in length this gracious creature laid over 70 eggs and we had the chance to view the whole process since the nest was not more than a meter away from the corral (incubation area).

Conservation in Mexico - Monthly Update October 2007 The turtle season is reaching its peak at the moment, we have had some really rough nights with 50 or 60 nests daily, apparently the storm season is really helping out the turtles to come out and lay their nests, in any case, this means a lot more work for us!

Conservation in Mexico - Monthly Update September 2007 We have had a lot of recent turtle activity here as a result of the high season, including the nightly escapades of hatchlings to the building instead of the sea. In one night 100 nests were collected. These nests are set to hatch by the end of this month or the beginning of the next, so we will have our hands full with baby turtles!

Conservation in Mexico - Monthly Update August 2007 The peak of the high season is here and the volunteers are having great fun experiencing it! Throughout the month the number of nests collected per night has been increasing and on average we are finding 20 nests a night. Recently, however, we have had the perfect weather for turtles, which is strong southerly winds, and have collected a record for this season of 96 nests in one night. That's 9747 turtle eggs that we are protecting from poachers, animals and bad weather!

Conservation in Mexico - Monthly Update July 2007 July has been our busiest month so far this year with 21 volunteers helping our conservation efforts. As a result of their keen efforts we have discovered new species of birds for our species list at the lagoon including a wood stork Mycteria americana and a white throated swift (Aeronautes saxatalis). We have also been lucky by recently spotting many green iguanas (Iguana iguana) swimming and climbing on vegetation which was very exciting for the groups that saw them.

Conservation in Mexico - Monthly Update May 2007 With good results in the past two seasons, the Projects Abroad team along with CONANP (National Commission for Protected Natural Areas) are uniting our efforts to together raise significantly the results expected for this season. From 1,947 re-buried nests last year we hope this year to reach 2,500 nests!

Conservation in Mexico - Monthly Update April 2007 We have recently had the joyous occasion to release the Leather Back turtle hatchlings as a successful result from the nests last month. These hatchlings were treated with great fascination by the volunteers as they are much larger and stronger than the Olive Ridleys that are also hatching daily.

Conservation in Mexico - Monthly Update March 2007 The end of the Leather Back Turtle season gives us the opportunity to wait eagerly to see their offspring hatch out in our corral. This year we found 24 Leather Back Turtle nests, which surpassed our expectations, as this species has a two year cycle lay period and last year we were amazed to collect 63 nests!

Conservation in Mexico - Monthly Update February 2007 New Crocodile Project forms part of Tecoman Conservation Work. Whilst all the new activities are running well this year in our conservation program, we are particularly excited about the successful start of our Crocodile Project at the Crocodile Farm "La Colorada".

Conservation in Mexico - Monthly Update January 2007 Mexico Tecoman turtle camp: Our Conservation Project begins the New Year with many exciting challenges for our volunteers to face. With the arrival of the very rare Leather Back Turtles and new interesting programs that will expand our activities to a larger area, we can only expect more exciting times to come in the near future.