It looked like it was going to be a quiet day on the beach this past Tuesday - yes, I know this post is two days late :) - and then we had an explosion of 4 nests by the end of patrol!
The crawls and nests were up and down the beach this Tuesday, with two nests in zone two (between the lighthouse and the campground), one nest in zone four (towards the boneyard), and one nest on "Little Hunting Island" in zone five*.
There was one non-nesting crawl in zone four. This momma turtle crawled up to the top of a mound of wrack and tree debris that is in the process of becoming a dune. All that wrack and tree debris was covered in about 3-4 inches of sand, so it's understandable this momma thought this might be a good place to nest. After digging around and making a general mess of a body pit, she exited almost right on top of her incoming tracks. The body pit looked promising ... but after extensive probing (and a double-check probing by our boss on the beach, Buddy), it was determined that this turtle did not nest. The "sand" was just not suitable.
NonNesting Crawl, Zone 4
Nest #52, Zone 2
Nest #54, Zone 2 (no pictures)
Nest #51, Zone 4
As always, any morning spent on the beach helping sea turtles survive is a great morning!
Nest #53, Zone 5 (Little Hunting Island)
* To get to zone five, walk out the Nature Center trail, and then turn left when you hit the beach. If you've never been, it's a beautiful representation of a "boneyard" and is amazing at sunrise. Make sure you catch it at low tide for best access to the beach and water.