Nest 35 – 2023

Congratulations to Ginny R on finding her first turtle nest ever on her last ATV run of the year!  It was a spectacular morning on the beach, and a nice surprise as we near the end of our nesting season for 2023.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The tracks are relatively small for a Loggerhead turtle.  We had a similar small Loggerhead track earlier in the season.  Could this be the same turtle mom?  Luckily we are part of a large sea turtle DNA study.  This study tracks sea turtle moms nesting along the southeastern US coastline.  If she is a match to the earlier nest in Corolla, this might have been the beach where she was born.  Or she just may have fallen in love with Corolla beaches like our local volunteers.

The responding team of Gigi K, James F, Cecelia F. Ginny R. and Debbie S quickly decided on where to start looking for eggs.  The turtle mom left a nice pile of thrown sand trying to hide her eggs.  Gigi found them rather quickly, all nicely tucked together in the egg chamber.  Sea turtle eggs look just like a ping pong ball.

It was great teamwork this morning as data loggers were programmed and inserted into the nest.  Other team members measured and recorded various data about the nest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The nest site was closed up, stakes marking the nest were put up, and the team took a final assessment that all was secure.  Now we wait as these eggs develop into little hatchlings.  Sea turtles are very temperature dependent.  How long it takes for them to develop, and whether they will be a male or female sea turtle are based on average temperatures within the nest.  Seeing as this is a late nest, we would expect cooler fall temperatures and maybe a large number of male sea turtles.

The Nest 35 Responding Team poses for a final picture.  But we will be back to hopefully see these little ones make their journey to the ocean.

 

 

 

 

• nest number: 35
• town: Corolla
• date eggs laid: 08/24/2023

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