Big puddles on the road to the beach
As we approached mid-island, we observed a very faint crawl that appeared to have a viable body pit just at/above the high tide line. The crawl was 32-33” and may have, indeed, been our returning momma. The previous night’s wind and rain made it difficult to map out the body pit and determine where to probe/dig. After some time probing, we believed we had found the chamber, but before we could dig for the eggs, the weather got even worse so we returned to the truck to complete our survey of the beach safely from the cab of the trusty 4 wheel drive.
We hadn’t travelled far when we came upon another crawl also almost obscured by the harsh conditions. This was an obvious false crawl. Momma crawled directly up to the face of the dune, turned around, falling into one of those crevasses that sometimes form at the base of the dune, then returned directly to the ocean. This was a different, larger turtle than our nester. 34”-35” crawl width.
There was no evidence of any emergence activity at Nest #1, so we headed back to our first crawl.
We dug in the area of soft sand identified during probing and found the eggs about 10 inches deep. 96 eggs laid, 95 relocated away from the high tide line. One egg, found broken in the nest was used for the DNA sample. The new nest cavity was dug, the eggs relocated and the nest marked - all in record time.
With the rain and high humidity, we were happy to be wearing our new moisture-wicking material shirts with the modernized design. Thank you tee shirt committee!
Pictures by Leslie and Kim. Narrative by Kim
Waties island performs research and management activities regarding sea turtle conservation in accordance under SCDNR Permit Number
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