We had a very eventful night walk on June 10th! As soon as I went out onto the beach, following the presentation, I could hear movement over shells. We had a turtle heading back to the water after false crawling. We got to witness her return to the ocean, with the hopes she would return to nest successfully! Then another short walk down and there was another turtle ashore. Some wonderful campers had seen her come ashore and kept their light off and kept a distance as to not spook her. However, she could not find that perfect spot to nest, so she ended up returning to the ocean without laying her eggs. Walking just past the campground, another incoming track was spotted but no outgoing track, which meant the turtle was still ashore! She was laying her eggs so we got to witness her lay, cover and return to the ocean. This carapace measured in at 98.4cm and no PIT tag was found. As we were watching the turtle nest, another turtle started to emerge behind our group! She did not crawl too far before deciding this place was already taken! Luckily she did not expend too much energy and would have tried a different spot to nest. The following morning, our interns Chase and Ashlyn, along with our volunteers, Lea and Derek, found 6 new nests and 5 false crawls. The turtle we watched nest is nest 74 on our beach! See below for more pictures taken from the morning patrol!
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Leah SchwartzentruberSea Turtle Biologist Archives
June 2024
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