We hit the beach this morning full of optimism that, after 5 false crawls and one possible nest, our mommas were finally ready to finish the job and get that first nest laid.
It was another beautiful morning to be on the island.
The short end was covered, then we walked and we walked and we walked. Our enthusiasm waned somewhat as we approached the far end of the island with nothing but a spiny sea urchin to show for our efforts. (Which is cool and a major food source for the Loggerhead turtle, but not all we wanted to see.)
But wait! As we were running out of beach, a crawl! Unlike our previous visiting mommas-to-be early this season, this lady came ashore, no exploring or messing around. She left what appeared to be a perfect body pit. Thrown sand, torn up vegetation, textbook crescent. Then she turned and headed directly back to the sea even retracing her “steps” overlapping her incoming crawl. She was the model of efficiency!
We were certain this time we had an actual nest. We probed and we probed and we dug and we probed, 5 determined turtle ladies willing it to be there.
Momma did her work of disguising the nest chamber so well, we, reluctantly, were about to designate it as yet another possible nest. But we couldn’t drag Keela away. She gave it one last push on the probe, and there it was. 120 beautiful eggs!
Because of the high water table and short beach that far up the island, we elected to move the eggs down island to protect it from repeated high/king tide wash overs.
New walker Summer and 2nd season walker Jan help turtle patrol veterans Keela and Melissa carefully remove eggs from the chamber and into a bucket for transport to their new home. First nest for both Summer and Jan!
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