Steve Swinburne

Sea Turtle Scientist

Part of the award-winning Scientists in the Field book series, Sea Turtle Scientist introduces Dr. Kimberly Stewart, “the turtle lady,” and describes her work on St. Kitts with endangered loggerhead sea turtles. The book provides extensive information on sea turtles and Dr. Stewart’s research, as well as the efforts of WIDECAST to preserve and protect these amazing creatures.

View a pdf of the first chapter

View the Discussion and Activity Guide

How to Tell the Story of Sea Turtles?

Two New Sea Turtle Programs for Schools!

Grades: k - 2
Length: 30 - 45 minutes

Grades: 3-8
Length: 45 minutes - 1 hour

Swim, Sea Turtle Swim!

Steve takes students into the heart of a sea turtle adventure. We’ll patrol a moon-lit beach and watch as a 800-pound leatherback female digs a nest and lays her eggs in the sand. We’ll meet a scientist who is hoping to save this endangered creature and we’ll look at the 21st century dangers a sea turtle faces. The program is action packed and full of great information. Steve concludes the session with a song on his ukulele called “One in a Thousand.” Did you know only one in a thousand hatchlings will survive to adulthood?

Teachers and librarians can find lots of ways to use sea turtles in your school curriculum by visiting the WIDECAST Educators page.

Photo Gallery

Posters and Leaflets

How to Adopt a Sea Turtle

Kimberly says, “There are two ways to adopt a sea turtle. You can adopt a nesting turtle or you can adopt a rehabilitation patient. Either way, you get a certificate with a photo of your adopted turtle along with information about sea turtles and the St. Kitts Sea Turtle Monitoring Network.”

It costs about $50 to adopt a turtle and it is a great way to support sea turtle conservation. You can learn all about sea turtle adoption here.

Videos to enjoy

Join the renowned author and photographer Steve Swinburne on a journey through history to learn how sea turtles came to be endangered, and what scientists like Dr. Kimberly Stewart are doing to save them.

I had so much fun making this video of my song, "One in a Thousand." My wife, Heather, filmed it using her brand new iPhone 5S...pretty cool device. We shot the video on Galveston Beach, Texas. Did you know that only one out of a thousand hatchlings will survive to adulthood?

One in a Thousand

I’m one in a thousand and I’m on my way
I’m one in a thousand and I’m leaving today
Give me a chance I’ve got to reach the sea
Give me a chance it’s a leatherback I want to be...

(Chorus)

One in thousand,
One in thousand,
I’m one in a thousand, that’s me!

I’m one in a thousand and I’m homeward bound,
I’m one in a thousand, I swam the world round and round
To leave the ocean and to crawl on the land
A set of tracks, plenty of eggs in the sand...

One in thousand,
One in thousand,
I’m one in a thousand, that’s me!

Give me a chance, I’ve got to reach the sea,
Give me a chance, it’s a leatherback I want to be...

One in a thousand,
One in a thousand,
I’m one in a thousand, that’s me!

Websites to Enjoy

• Archelon (giant turtle of ancient seas) — Black Hills Institute of Geological Research
• Euro Turtle
• Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission — Sea Turtles
• Florida Marine Research Institute — Light Pollution
• Georgia Sea Turtle Center
• Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch
• Sea Turtle Postage Stamps of the World
• St. Catherines Island Sea Turtle Conservation Program
• St. Kitts Sea Turtle Monitoring Network Kimberly invites everyone to check out the St. Kitts sea turtle website, join the network’s Facebook page, adopt a sea turtle, and learn more about the exciting plans for a sea turtle interpretive center
• The Ocean Conservancy — International Coastal Cleanup Day
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — Sea Turtles
• U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service — Sea Turtles
• WIDECAST — Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network
• WIDECAST — Basic Sea Turtle Biology
• WIDECAST — Threats to Sea Turtle Survival
• World Wildlife Fund — Climate Change and Sea Turtles

Please help sea turtles and their habitat by adopting one today.

Help WIDECAST protect sea turtles Caribbean wide by making a donation today!

Books to Enjoy

• Davies, Nicola. One Tiny Turtle: Read and Wonder. Illustrated by Jane Chapman. New York: Candlewick Press, 2005.
• Marsh, Laura. National Geographic Readers: Sea Turtles. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 2011.
• Monroe, Mary Alice, and Barbara J. Bergwert. Turtle Summer: A Journal for My Daughter. Mt. Pleasant, S.C.: Sylvan Dell Publishing, 2007.
• Pirotta, Saviour, and Nilesh Mistry. Turtle Bay. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1997.
• Rhodes, Mary Jo. Sea Turtles (Undersea Encounters). Photographs by David Hall. Danbury, Conn.: Children’s Press, 2005.
• Stevenson, Andrew. The Turtle Who Ate a Balloon. Flatts, Bermuda: Bermuda Zoological Society, 2007.
• Swinburne, Stephen R. Turtle Tide: The Ways of Sea Turtles. Illustrated by Bruce Hiscock. Honesdale, Pa.: Boyds Mills Press, 2005.
• Tara, Stephanie Lisa. I’ll Follow the Moon. Illustrated by Lee Edward Fodi. Dallas, Tex.: Brown Books Publishing Group, 2005.
• Yee, Tannmy. Baby Honu’s Incredible Journey. Waipahu, Hawaii: Island Heritage Press, 1997.

Check out how Bruce Hiscock made the art for my book, Turtle Tide - The Ways of Sea Turtles