We had just started our walk when we had a turtle emerging down the beach. We were hopeful she would find a good spot. Unfortunately, she ended up turning around after she crawled up to the high tide line. After we made sure she was heading back, we witnessed her as she snuck beneath the waves. Further down the beach there was a turtle that had already come ashore, nested and left by the time we got down there. We were still keeping our turtle spirits high for our walk back and sure enough, we had a turtle that started emerging again. We watched through the night vision monoculars as she made her way up to the dunes. She proceeded to dig an egg chamber and start to lay. We witnessed her lay, cover her nest and head back to the ocean. It is such an amazing sight! The following morning the dawn patrol team documented 8 new nests and 5 false crawls. The nest we saw on the night walk is marked as nest 226 on the state park beach. See more photos taken during the morning turtle patrol below.
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Leah SchwartzentruberSea Turtle Biologist Archives
September 2023
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