And Number 14 This Morning!

Directly in front of Nest #4 between Marker 4 and 5 was today's nest, #14 of the year.  This mother must have come up early last evening - we noticed that her incoming track was covered by ATV tire tracks.  But check the outgoing track; it isn't covered.  She must have been on the beach when those vehicles drove by her.

This one wasn't too hard to find, although it was a little deeper than we expected.  The sand is soft and maybe she had to dig her chamber a little deeper so it wouldn't collapse on itself.

Chris holding the egg for the research project

This is the third nest of the season for this Monday group and they are just loving it!

Thanks Sherry, Sandy, Donna, Bob, Chris and Kim - keep 'em coming...

The Family Photo!

Nest #11 up at the upper end has had a ghost crab problem, but today the crab actually got an egg out of the nest and it was on the surface.  That was enough:  We removed the cage, packed the hole tightly with sand and chased this big guy back into the dunes.  Hope he stays there.

And, last, but not least, a puzzle:  Way down on the lower reach was another crawl.  Where the sand was wet, we could see the two tracks, one much longer than the other.  But at the wrack line, the tracks were totally blown over - absolutely no sign of them at all.  It could have been a nest, but no way to tell.  We did a little probing, but weren't able to find anything.  So we're calling this one a "possible nest" and will need to check it closely when it is near time for emergence.  You will see a question mark on the post (?) along with today's date.

Nest #1 was also full of sand again - at least a foot had accumulated overnight.  Mother Nature is doing exactly what she wants with the sand and we just have to try to stay a little bit ahead of her.

Removing more sand from Nest #1

Thank you Valerie for all these great photos!  Barb