WEDNESDAY 6/1/22 FALSE CRAWL

   Weather was warm and muggy with little to no wind which means mosquitoes. We made sure we were protected.  Sure enough, as we got to the parking area at the beach around 6:00 a.m., they were there to greet us. 

As we were headed to the beach we saw animal prints.  Looked like Raccoon, but at that point we were not sure.

We got to the entrance where we found a full print which we ID'd as Raccoon.

At this point we separated. Two of us headed up towards the jetty and two of us headed towards the lower end. It wasn't until the two on the lower end were walking back, that they saw the crawl. After some discussion and finding out there was no body pit, I determined we had a FC.  I, not realizing that the crawl was parallel to the beach and so close to the tide line, told them to make sure they get  pictures of the incoming and out going crawl as the tide was coming in.  We then  proceeded up the beach to deal with the crawl when we got back.   

 

"Crazy 8" crawl parallel to the tide line.

 

Crawl going back into the water.

 

Nest #1 laid on 5/25/22.

We placed black tape on the original black markings. Bottom mark is now slightly above original sand level.  Raccoon and Ghost Crab tracks at the nest site.  No sign that they even realized it was a nest.

 

Nest #3 had lots of Ghost Crab tracks running thru the nest site, but no Ghost Crab holes.

Nest #R2 looks great!

Lots of animal prints along the dunes.  Some coming from behind and some heading into the dunes.

Very little trash.