Our last night walk of the season was held on Tuesday. We only run the night walks in June and July as that is the peak of the nesting season as well as our interns are leaving shortly. They have been a lot of fun and fairly successful this season!

On our last night walk, we got to see one straggler leave from nest 92. Cadey, our intern, helped it out as it was stuck in the roots and got left behind from the rest of the hatchlings. A little bit further down the beach and we got to see nest 94 emerge! They were already heading from the nest and unfortunately were having a hard time finding the ocean as it was near the new moon and the horizon was not the brightest point. Our volunteers and myself were able to reorientate them and save them from heading back towards the lights across the marsh.

The following morning, our patrol team found that 6 nests had emerged! 

What a great way to end our night walk program this year! Thanks for all of the support for our turtle program. 

What an amazing season it has been and we could not have done it without the help of our interns! They did an amazing job of marking nests, leading patrols, leading night walks and educating the public. They are almost done their internship as they head back to school soon. Shown in the picture below is our two sea turtle interns, Cadey and Chloe and our environmental learning center intern, Hannah. Thanks again for your enthusiasm and hard work this season!

It was the last night walk for our intern, Chloe, and she was in charge of leading the presentation and the walk. She did a great job in finding us hatchlings! We got to see hatchlings make their way to the ocean. Unfortunately with the new moon, the horizon was very dark and was not the brightest point so our hatchlings were getting disorientated. Thankfully everyone was helping out and letting us know when they found a confused hatchling. 

The following morning, our patrol team found four nests had emerged!