Last night on our night walk I spotted sea turtle tracks around 0.7 miles down our beach. As I followed them up into the dunes I spotted a nesting loggerhead! She was still digging her egg chamber so I sat still and listened to her digging. Once she starting to lay her eggs I grabbed the night walk group and we all watched her lay approximately 120 eggs. Everyone was amazed at how she covered her egg chamber just so to protect her eggs. Afterwards, we followed her as she made her crawl back to the ocean. It was a long journey back as she went above and beyond to find a high place for her nest. It was mentioned during her nesting process about the smell, which at that time I wasn't picking up. The next morning when I went to take pictures of this nest I realized what individuals were smelling...a dead bird not far in the dunes. I was wondering what it was I've never known a turtle to emit any strong odours. The following morning I went for a walk at sunrise to see the nest and to take photos as my intern, Amanda and our volunteer, Nona, worked the patrol shift. They found the egg chamber and took one egg for DNA research. This nest is number 72 on our beach! There were two nests and one false crawl found in the morning. If you would like to adopt the nest we saw last night, the nest ID is: 197172. Just click the button below to be taken to the adoption page!
3 Comments
6/16/2017 05:04:14 pm
Thank you so much for one of the most memorable family experiences we have ever shared.
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Lori Tisdale
6/16/2017 05:05:06 pm
It didn't look like the website posted -
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Leah Schwartzentruber
6/23/2017 10:11:04 am
Thank-you for attending our sea turtle night walk program and thanks for your comment. I am so happy to hear you all had a great time and that your daughter is so involved already! Thankful she is helping our turtles on the beach by filling in holes, picking up trash, knocking down sand castles and informing guests.
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Leah SchwartzentruberSea Turtle Biologist Archives
June 2024
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