Adopt-a-Nest
Lucky duck! Another nest discovered today in Duck. ATV rider George came across quite a scene when he discovered the signs of a very anxious mother loggerhead. Turtle tracks showed she had crawled up the beach, nearly to the foot of the dune, only to decide after a little bit of clearing sand that this was not the place for her eggs. The tracks returned to the water’s edge but then all of 20 feet to the north, they returned where she hauled back up the beach and this time found the perfect place to leave her precious cargo behind.
Les, Louise, and Jill took track measurements and photos before beginning another big dig. The nest site was “elongated” so the team made guesses as to where the eggs sat but knew that they may be looking a while.
The nest site was another peculiar site with a rather "elongated" region of thrown sand. Where would you dig to find the eggs?
Location of the egg chamber is circled above.
Digging up to their arm pits, the team dug the first two holes. With no luck, others jumped in, carefully exploring the site along the projected path of the turtle. Just as they began to wonder where the nest could possibly be, KC felt the sand give just a little. The egg chamber was found… all of 6 inches to the southeast of the first hole they dug!
Top of the egg chamber.
The egg chamber was shallow, 22 cm below the surface of the sand.
After retrieving a DNA sample, the eggs were carefully covered back up and the nest site was quartered off. NEST Jrs. arrived just in time to help “erase” the southern portion of the crawl so that tomorrow’s rider didn’t think there was another crawl.
Karen helps NEST Jr.'s dig the south crawl to confirm it was not another nest.
Robbie flags off the nest site.
Frizzle keeps ghost crabs at bay at Nest#02.
To Adopt this nest, visit http://seaturtle.org/nestdb/adopt/?b=1 and select ID# 70890.