Ricky, Sharon and Linda came across a faded crawl after NMB Sanitation passed the word of turtle activity on the beach.
YES, a faint crawl coming out of the ocean
went up the beach, stopping close to the life guard chair
Half way up the beach, turtle stopped and dug a hole. For sime reason she didn't like the spot os abandoned the hole and crawled another 5 or 6 feet before digging again
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Linda probed. Soft sand found, Ricky and Sharon carefully dig |
One lone egg is found, just under the sand
Ricky moves to the left, searching for soft sand indication the egg cavity.
Yes, Eggs finally found
The reason for the lone egg, Ghost Crab had moved it out of the egg cavity. 3 additional eggs were also destroyed by the crab, only empty and curled shells remained
Since the nest was in the middle of a very busy beach, the eggs were moved back to the dunes. Rob moves the eggs as Sharon counts
One egg looked more like a chicken egg, oval shaped instead of the classic round, ping pong size egg
Finished moving the egg, only the original hole dug by the mother remains
NMB Nest #2
130 eggs, 3 eggs destroyed by Ghost Crab, 1 egg compromised by Ghost Crab and used for DNA Sample, 126 relocated back to the dunes
We stayed at the condo right behind the new nest and had walked the beach before and after the move. Very cool to find this while looking for info on these amazing creatures.
ReplyDeleteWe stayed in the condo behind the nest this past week and actually got to see them crawl to the ocean. It definitely was an experience I'll never forget.
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