Not more than a tenth of a mile into her run, ATV rider Britney called in this morning with the exciting news that we have our first nest in Corolla! KC and other Nesting Response Volunteers quickly descended onto the scene. After locating the nest and doing a few quick measurements we concluded the nest was in a good location and would not need to be relocated. The team of responders safely covered the nest back up and fenced off the area.
Because her incoming crawl matched the high tide line, we know that she was on the beach at or before high tide which was midnight. There was also a good distance between her outgoing crawl and the ocean which means she finished up well before we were patrolling the beach.
Depending on the temperatures this summer brings, we’ll look for some action on this nest sometime mid to late July.
By looking at the tracks of the crawl, we determined the species to be a loggerhead. The path can easily be seen as well as the area where mom nested.
NESTers show beachcombers the turtle's crawl.
The team discusses the path of the sea turtle into the nest site.
Once the egg chamber is located, NESTers collect a DNA sample from the site. This sample will be used to help increase our understanding of nesting trends in our local population and hopefully help to give biologists better means of estimating population trends which will help in their management and conservation efforts.
DNA sample collected
Measuring depth to the first egg.
After collecting samples and measurements, the Nesting Response Team covered the site back up and staked off the area to protect it for the next two months.
Nest #1 Nesting Responders