Dennis and Jill measure the outgoing tracks.
After what felt like a dry spell (all of two days… when did you ever think we would say that?!), Dennis S. called the hotline with the report of a crawl in Duck. He wasn’t sure if there was a nest site, no distinct body pit to speak of, so Jackie went to check it out. He was right, not much of a body pit but there was definitely thrown sand over the incoming tracks which told us one thing… there are probably eggs!
Deinnis's first nest!
Based on the tides, it seemed that the turtle probably was on the beach from 1AM and 3AM. She laid up above the average tide line and drivers said that part of the beach doesn’t experience too much erosion outside of storms so the nest was left where mom picked.
Louise and Dennis dig to find the eggs.
Working hard to find eggs, the Nesting Response team plowed through the sand, working hard to keep the sting of sweat out of their eyes (it’s going to be another hot day!).
Louise collects a DNA sample.
Once the eggs were located, Louise helped to collect the DNA sample which will help us determine how frequently our nesting population lays nests.
The team finished by marking off the nest site and heading off the breakfast. (Happy birthday nest, mom!)
Nest #17