Today might go down in the record book for the Waties Island Patrol: Six crawls this morning! The Tuesday volunteers were all very excited because a number of the crawls looked like nests. Could we beat the "three nests in a day" record??
After discovering the first crawl, the decision was made to continue to patrol the beach and then return to document this crawl. It was a good thing we did, because five additional crawls also needed to be documented.
Near the top of the island we found this set of tracks: she almost got caught in a trench by the dune face. Alas, a false crawl.
Next up heading back down the beach were two more false crawls mid-island. Steve was working hard this morning!
Finally to the ones that looked like the real thing: Again Steve (18 years of experience) did not find the egg chamber - another two false crawls, although we did call one of them a possible nest. Time will tell.
But BINGO! The last crawl we examined (the first one found) was the real deal - Nest #10. The team was excited to see crawls and even more excited and relieved to see that we had a nest this time. This one was about 18 inches deep and in a spot where it didn't need to be moved. Just have to wait now while those eggs incubate.
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| A long and fruitful crawl |
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| Our good luck visitor helping |
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| Tuesday Turtle Team is happy! |
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