A blustery morning greeted our fearless walkers who had lots to report - 4 nests and 2 false crawls!
Karen Preston, Lynne Madison and Pixie Hider first called with a crawl on Zone 3 just north of Boardwalk 6. Sandy MacCoss and Weny Holschuh responded and found the shallow nest. The wind blown sand tried to disguise the nest but the mama turtle helped the process by leaving a broken shell on the top of the nest. The 126 eggs were moved further back on the dune as Nest 41.
Zone 3 then called with a crawl near Boardwalk 5. The crawl could be seen below the high tide line. Unfortunately, above the high tide line the crawl was obscured by the wind. Judy Morr, Leslie Gore, then Sandy MacCoss all searched for evidence of a pit but with no clues to follow, it was labeled as a false crawl. Not much further down the beach, they again called with a promising crawl 100 yards south of Boardwalk 4. Judy Morr and Leslie Gore responded. Nest 42 was found and the 111 eggs were moved further back on the dune.
Meanwhile, Zone 2 walkers JoAnne Lewis, Nancy Chomel, and Kathy Noel called with three crawls between Boardwalk 7 and the yellow house. Mike Vinson responded to all. The first crawl at the first house past the club was a false crawl into the rocks. The next one north of that was a rather artistic mama that decided to draw a bow with her tracks while deciding where to lay her very deep nest. She went to great pains to disguise the location of the nest but ultimately put Nest 43 up on the dune. It was able to be left in situ.
Zone 2's third and final crawl resulted in Nest 44 with 98 eggs. The nest was moved further back on the dune.
