Thursday, July 13th - Our Little Lady came back, False Crawl #14

 The morning started out warm, humid and thankfully a nice breeze.  Early morning sunrise did not disappoint.

Kim and Sandy heading to the jetty

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here comes the sun

 

Leslie walked the short end and Kim and Sandy took the long end to the jetty.  Kim called and we have another crawl right at the jetty.  When I arrived, Sandy informed me the crawl was small.  When you first see the crawl it does not look like a Loggerhead, and due to it's small size, 27 to 28  inches shell width (depending on where you measure), is it  possibly a Loggerhead with a physical issue or a Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle?  Is this the same sea turtle who visited us last Friday? (False Crawl #13)

We will need to have SCDNR help us with species confirmation. 

Looking from the ocean toward the jetty

Loggerheads typically have a "V" shape in their crawl

Her incoming to outgoing tracks are about even

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She worked hard while she was on land.  Crawled over the rocks, started an area, moved on, made another more defined body pit, and crawled back over the rocks, slid down the bank and left.  Her incoming and outgoing tracks were about the same.  We did probe both areas, but ran into rocks and vegetation - you could hear the vegetation  crunching when probing.  Sorry to say we did not find any egg chamber.

This is the most promising, her second area

 

Her first stop, after crawling over the rocks

Picture taken from above, her second stop, body pit?

Probed the second area

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She crawled to edge of rocks and slid down

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Woodstorks bid us goodbye

Pictures by Leslie & Kim, Text by Leslie

Waties Island preforms research and management activities regarding sea turtle conservation in accordance under SCDNR Permit Number MTP500.