Sherman off to find another sea turtle nest
Sherman has done it again (sorta) . On 8/10 he discovered a turtle nest in in Kill Devil Hills and shortly after discovered two false crawls nearby.
The telephone call from Karen Clark (KC) NC Wildlife Commission announced that find to the at the ready response team. The DNA egg was quickly found by Les and the team marked the site to await the arrival of little Loggerhead tur-tels in about 55 days.
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Les finds the eggs.
Nest 45 sea turtle response team.
All false crawls are recorded and checked to confirm that they are false crawls. Les and Peg were astounded when they arrived at the first false crawl site. They found that a mama Loggerhead turtle crawled or fell into a man made pit in the sand. They were also astounded that the sea turtle made it out of the pit. After that trauma, it is no wonder that she returned to the ocean without laying her nest.
A dangerous sand pit left on the beach overnight. Note the incoming and outgoing crawl track.
The incoming and outgoing sea turtle track.
The outgoing Loggerhead sea turtle track. You can help our turtles out! Fill in holes, take in gear and toys, and leave the beach natural and flat.
The second false crawl had the start of a nest pit, but it was soon determined that there were no eggs.
It would be no surprise to all the sea turtle nest response teams if the total sea turtle nests were 50 more for 2016. Of the current 45 sea turtle nests managed by (N.E.S.T.) Network for Endangered Sea Turtles there are two Kemp Ridley, Two Green and the rest Loggerhead.