Turtlesinger, Inc.


is a Federal 501(c)3 Public Charity - New Jersey Charities Registration # CH2998200
Mission Statement: To educate and entertain the public about turtles with original songs and/or live turtles.



December 14, 2025



We named her “Mercy”



"Mercy" was discovered at the same time we saw Bree (mentioned in the last blog) on June 23rd. Mercy was also helped by the kindness and mercy of strangers driving along Stone Harbor Blvd. I put her on the middle of the sand pile in the shade (very hot out—87 degrees at 9:30 a.m.) and she also began nesting right away.


Mercy laid 7 eggs.


Want to see one of her hatchlings? Just SCROLL DOWN…



December 14, 2025



Mercy’s Hatchlings



Mercy’s 7 eggs hatched on August 29th. Note that these are/were very tiny turtles, only about an inch long (about the size of the advent calendar turtle ornaments).


To see the 13th advent sea turtle ornament, Just SCROLL DOWN…



December 14, 2025



The 13th Day of December



On the 13th day of December, we found an ornament of an all-white sea turtle riding a snowboard!


Real, live southern New Jersey turtles are not active in winter like this day’s ornament, although there are records of snapping turtles moving about in the winter under ice and leatherback sea turtles also can live and dive in cooler waters than other sea turtles. Also, as far as all-white turtles, examples of albinism (a white turtle lacking normal pigmentation) and leucism (reduced pigmentation) occur in sea turtles. It is a rare condition to see a “white” turtle, which is good, because their lighter color makes them extremely subject to being spotted and therefore to predation.


To see the 13th diamondback terrapin to lay eggs in our yard, SCROLL DOWN…



December 14, 2025



We named her “Dawn”



"Dawn" was named for our earliest nester so far, and probably she nested so early because it had been incredibly hot and also this was high tide and a new moon the next day. She crossed the road by herself and it was a miracle that traffic slowed without Charlie's intervention she made it to the white line/breakdown lane near our house! She nested on her 4th try on June 24th.


Dawn would produce 10 eggs.


To see one of her hatchlings, SCROLL DOWN…



December 14, 2025



Dawn’s Hatchling



Dawn’s eggs hatched on September 7th: a rainy period and the Full Harvest Moon!


To see the 14th advent sea turtle ornament, SCROLL DOWN…



December 14, 2025



The 14th Day of December



On the 14th day of December, we found an ornament with a sea turtle wearing a Santa hat and ringing a bell for the holidays!


Speaking of turtles and bells, we have at least 3 different turtle wind chimes hanging around our house!


To see the 14th diamondback terrapin to lay eggs in our yard, SCROLL DOWN…



December 14, 2025



We named her “Shelly”



"Shelly" got her name for trying more than once to lay her eggs in our clamshell driveway. Charlie put her on our sand pile while she was attempting her 2nd try in our driveway and she only took a minute to start nesting. She was the second of four terrapins who nested in our yard on June 24th!


Shelly's nest #14 is on the right and is separated by only one nest from Dawn's nest #13--laid only an hour before!


Unfortunately, Shelly’s is another nest that has not yet hatched, so we don’t have any of her hatchlings to show you.


But we CAN show you one of our many terrapins interested in nesting on our property! To watch her, just SCROLL DOWN…



December 14, 2025



A Restless Terrapin



I always like to try and capture on video as many terrapins as I can near our turtle ramp. You can see this beauty is alert and eyeing our property...but when she wants to move, she can really move!


Thanks for celebrating Advent and the 12th, 13th and 14th days of December with our sea turtle advent calendar AND our celebration of the turtles that were laid and hatched in our yard! We’ll be sharing more days of December and this past terrapin season with you…thanks for reading!





Contact Us:



turtlesinger@hotmail.com | Phone: (609) 205-9248