Things are Ramping Up

It's really starting to feel like turtle season now.  We had a total of 3 nests this morning, one which had to be relocated.

The morning started out as usual.  Kate and I were both up before the alarm sounded but neither of us stirred until it did.  We got extra sleep last night, me hitting the sack around 7pm and her around 8pm.  It was much needed.  Once we popped out of bed, had some eggs and packed up the Mule, we hit the Main Road, down to Willows Field Rd, over to Bradley Road and off onto Bradley (North) Beach.  We got there earlier than any previous day, 6:15am.  Normally, as soon as we hit the beach we make a right hand turn, and head a few hundred meters south to the blue kayak.  This morning however, I made a left.  Kate asked immediately, "What are you doing?"  She didn't see what I saw.  Not 15 meters from the road was a beautiful loggerhead crawl.

This mama turtle knew what she was doing.  She came up before high tide, climbed high on a nice sandy dune, right up to the top and put down a nest.  I wish I could have been there in the evening to see it happen.  She was a big one, and the track she left was perfectly textbook.  The dune she picked will stay high and dry until her babies are ready, and when they do hatch, they'll have a clear shot to the ocean with no obstructions, and no chance of going the wrong direction.  She did her job well, giving them the best start she could.

Kate and I briefly looked at the crawl, admiring the swirls, and confirming with each other it was not a false crawl.  Then I dropped Kate off at the kayak and we each headed off for our patrols.  The tide was low, and Kate didn't even use the kayak, she just walked across the inlet.  I started speeding North, eager to see the next crawl, and to check on our incubating nests.

It didn't take too long to come upon another crawl.  This one was in another good spot, atop a decent sized dune.  It looked like a nest, and if so would be left in situ (in place, as opposed to a nest needing to be relocated).  So I did a little circle with the Mule in the wet sand so I'd be able to see the spot on the way back, then continued north.  I came upon the third crawl of the day in an erosional part of the beach.  I looked at it for a little while, going back and forth between nest and false crawl.  My first instinct was nest, and if so, this one would need to be relocated.  Again, I marked the spot and sped off to finish my patrol.

I hit the north tip of the beach with no more signs of turtles.  I radioed Kate to let her know what I'd found and to find out if she had anything.  Luckily she didn't.  Though we want nests, I knew if she found one on the south end of North Middle, we'd have to get the gear and walk all the way to it, losing a lot of time.  We discussed our plan of attack before I turned around and headed south.  On my way back to get Kate, I stopped to check on the two nests (NB1 & NB2) we already had worked up in days prior.  All was well with those, no ghost crab holes, no egg shells strewn about, no hog or raccoon attacks.  I made my marks indicating so in the book and went back south.  I stopped off at the first nest we had discovered by the road and started working it.  I had just finished analyzing the crawl to determine her orientation and marked off the body pit with sea wrack when I spotted Kate finishing her walk.  I picked her up in the Mule, and together we really got working.

We marked the GPS location, and started probing.  This one was a little trickier than it seemed at first.  It turned out the turtle actually climbed up and over the very steep dune - I myself had trouble walking to the top.  Using this information, along with looking at the in track versus the out track helps us to guess which way she was facing when she laid the egg.  Other signs like thrown sand and uprooted vegetation aid as well.  It's important to know her direction, because that leads to a good guess at where the actual nest cavity is.  Overall, the mess she makes in the sand can be a six to eight foot circle, while the top of the nest cavity is only about six to eight inches.  Trying to find this small area, buried under all that sand, is the true art of this work.

Our first assumption was wrong, and I started to worry we'd be digging for hours like our first nest.  We used the shovel to skim off half a foot of sand and probed again.  Still nothing.  I skimmed down some more, but the dune kept collapsing and filling in my hole.  At this point it seemed we were too deep for the nest cavity, so I turned around and started skimming another area.  I felt and heard the shovel just rake over an egg.  I was a little worried I'd broken it, but it was intact.  It wouldn't really have mattered, because I took that egg for the DNA research.  Glad we found the nest in good time, we covered it back up, put on the protective screens, marked it with a post labeled NB3, and finished filling all the data into the book.  We put our supplies back in the Mule and headed to the northernmost nest, since the sooner we relocate the better.

We checked this crawl over and it appeared the turtle had tried two spots.  Looking at the tracks in the sand, we were able to determine which spot was second, and therefore the actual nest.  We marked off the body pit, made our guess at where the cavity could be, and probed away.  One spot seemed like it, but after Kate dug it out, found nothing.  We skimmed off some sand, and probed again.  This time we found it.  Once we were sure there were eggs there, we moved on to the relocation protocol.

We headed down the beach about 350m to the north were we found a reasonable place to build the new nest.  There was a small dune, but it had raccoon tracks all about.  We are a little worried about this, but it seemed the closest good spot, so we stuck with it.  We headed back to the nest and Kate started digging.  One by one she carefully removed the eggs and placed them into a 5 gallon bucket.  This turtle laid 158 eggs!  The average is only 115.  It filled over half of the bucket.  She must have been a big girl to be carrying all those eggs.

Kate checked the size and shape of the nest cavity, picked up the bucket and we slowly drove to the new spot.  Using a cockleshell, Kate created a new nest cavity in the approximate size and form of the original.  Then she slowly filled it up with the eggs.  We took our one, filled over the hole, covering it just like mama would do, throwing sand, sea wrack and vegetation to camouflage it.  Then we covered it with screen and marked it NB4.  It was now about 9:30, and we knew we wouldn't be able to relocate any nests on the south beaches if we had any.  The cutoff time for relocation being 10am.  We headed south to the last nest.

We worked it up just as the others.  I marked off the body pit, and made my guess at where the nest cavity was.  I probed once, twice, three times and then jackpot!  I probed a few more times around the area to be sure, but I barely needed to.  The wooden dowel we use to probe only goes so far down before it hits hard sand all around the nest, but when it finds the nest cavity, the sand is softer, and just when it should hit hard, it pushes through and you feel it give.  It's a little shocking each time, as you have to pull yourself back so not to probe all the way into the eggs.  I dug down where I felt the give and had an egg out and the spot marked in about 3 minutes.  I wish they could all be that easy, and I know they won't be, but I do have to say, I think I'm getting good at this.  NB5 was marked off and should be ready in 50-60 days.

We got off North Beach and went south to do those patrols.  No nests or crawls on either South or South Middle.  Kate retrieved an old fishing net we might use for something off her beach, as well as some whelks.  I brought back a crab trap and one big whelk from South Middle.  We headed home to shower and nap before meeting Andy at the dock for a ride into town.

We got three hours in town, just enough time to hit Walmart, Radio Shack and Kroger (the local grocery store).  We filled 4 large tupperwares and a cooler with stuff - mostly food.  At Radio Shack we picked up a pair of walkie tallkies that should be strong enough to use on the beaches.  Our state issued phones have a radio, push-to-talk, feature, but still require a cellular signal, which isn't available on all parts of the island.  We also brought back my bike from the RV.  Now we can do North Middle with some speed.

When we got home, we unpacked everything, stocked the fridge and pantry with enough goodies for a couple more weeks, ate dinner and jumped on the computers.  Tomorrow should be another exciting day, with more nests to be sure.  We are really settled in here now, and with fresh food and a few more supplies to round out what we'd been missing, we are ready to work, work, work.  Hopefully with a whole lot of play mixed in.