SURPRISE!

It was already day 66 for Nest 24.  We had already set an inventory date for day 70.  The day we would normally do an inventory when there were no signs of an emergence.  We took our time enjoying the morning.

As we usually do before we get to a nest, we automatically start to look for the shadow of tracks which we can sometimes see before we even get to the nest.  Nothing.

As we got to the nest, we saw all the hatchling tracks and I got the oddest feeling...it looked like all the tracks went toward the dune.  Instantly, I thought to myself, this does not compute.  It took me a second to realize that the tracks were actually coming from the dune and that the tide line which was just behind the sign had washed out the tracks leading to the ocean.

We checked the tide times and found that the highest tide was actually around 4 pm yesterday, Tuesday.  The next high tide was lower and there were no tracks between the two tide lines.  Thus we were able to determine that the hatchlings actually emerged sometime before the highest tide on the day before because the nest was checked prior to that high tide.

We took lots of pictures trying to show exactly what had happened.

In the picture below towards the bottom left, you can see one patch of dry sand with a hatchling track.  Again the emergence took place prior to the highest tide.

The bottom picture shows the the highest tide line from Tuesday and the next tide line after that.

Angelos, you said you remembered that the nest was below the dune.  You were right!!  It was in the bottom of the dune above where the circle was drawn.