Beautiful morning. Sun as seen from the Briarcliffe Beach seems to be coming out of the ocean.
Off shore storm clouds add to the beauty of the sunrise.
Sunrise as seen from the Bridge over the marshy area, looking north east toward the beach, water from the pond reflecting the sunrise and cloud cover.
Larry and Cindy quickly come across another crawl.
Incoming crawl, this turtle just crawled to the base of the dunes.
Outgoing crawl.
The mother seemed to do a little victory dance, going around in a small circle before continuing down to the water.
A short U-turn false crawl was found just south of the much longer crawls.
Body pit at the base of the dunes, just at the Spring High Tide Line. Very small and neat. Not much evidence of any digging, no thrown sand.
Did she or didn't she lay eggs? Hard to tell until probing revealed a soft spot. The turtle must have crawled to the base of the dunes, turned, parallel to the dune and then dug her egg chamber. The only real evidence was a tall piece of broken dune grass which was half covered by sand.
YES>>>>>EGGS
Decision is made to move the eggs further up the dunes. 104 eggs less one egg taken for DNA Study.
DNA Egg
Toni, a visitor to the beach, stops by to see what is going on. She is excited to see the eggs and to hold the DNA Egg.
Rob processes the DNA Egg
while Judy watches
Several people gather while Rob explains what we are doing and why.
Marking and protecting the relocated nest. Larry and Pat put up the final touches, the Lights Out for Sea Turtles Sign.
NMB Nest #7, the fifth nest on the Briarcliffe Beach.
Thank you Larry, Cindy, Judy and Pat.
And another Thank You Larry for your pictures.
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