Another Saturday and another nest for ATV rider Jackie in Duck! Nest #09 was first called in by a beach goer who just knew what he was looking at had to be a sea turtle nest. The nesting response team came over and confirmed it, “we have a nest!” Jackie pulled up shortly after and began to take photos and measurements.
Jackie finds another nest for Duck!
Nest #09 just beyond the scarp. Louise and Peggy locate eggs.
The mom managed to climb up a 1 1/2 foot escarpment and lay her eggs just a little past. In such a precarious spot, that would be eroded in the next big blow, the team worked to relocate the eggs.
Eggs are carefully placed into the bucket for relocation.
Peggy and Louise put the eggs back in their newly dug nest site. 110 total
Once all the eggs were placed carefully in the bucket, the team moved the nest to a site away from the scarp where it will hopefully survive for the next two months.
While the team in Duck worked on nest #09, ATV rider Joe called in with an interesting crawl in Nags Head. It seemed that the turtle came crawling in, dug an egg chamber, but then left the beach before depositing any eggs. So, another false crawl but good signs that there are still turtles out there!
False Crawl #13 - Mom dug the egg chamber but abandoned the site.