Moon is getting full, very windy on the beach, sand has blown down the beach and piled up in the dunes. High Tide is early so beach is narrow. Larry and Cindy find a faint track in the sand....possible turtle crawl?
Crawl goes up toward the dunes, but disappears
short distance away, another crawl, a little more distinct, but still appears to just end up close to the dunes
No defined body pit, we know this turtle turned to go back to the water but where?
Larry looks closely at the base of the dunes, appears to be scrap marks and covered vegetation.
Larry probes around this spot, YES soft sand is found
Egg cavity is uncovered
Eggs
Eggs are moved from base of the dunes to a location higher up, This beach has very high spring tides
Eggs are carefully uncovered and moved, one by one
A couple of eggs are more oval than round and extra large
Empty hole made by mother turtle, deep and full of plant roots
One egg is taken for DNA Study. Egg is opened
Yolk is taken out
shell is put in a preservative for study
Larry, Cindy and Claire
Great job....despite having little to work with, Larry wass able to find the eggs!!
125 eggs, less 1 for DNA, 124 eggs relocated to new home
NMB Nest #10- 4th Nest on the Briarcliffe Beach
Thank you all!!
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