Ok, if ever there was a time when we need good news, it's now. May I provide you with some? Finally? Yes, its true, we have our first turtle nest of the season on our beach!
Last night, under a glorious clear & star filled sky, with the moon shining bright, she came upon the shore. She was a 44" loggerhead adult female. She came out of the sea, climbed past sea weed, through shells & sponges, up a low rolling dune, through driftwood and tree stumps, and pushed her way back into the high dune. Almost into the sea oats. Far from the tide line. She pushed driftwood and stumps out of her path... she was on a mission, and wanted to get where she wanted to get.... not by going AROUND these objects, but rather by bulldozing them out of her way.
Once she pushed the undesired objects out of her way, she dug & dug & dug, probably for hours. There, she carefully deposited her clutch of eggs, and began the painfully slow process of covering her nest with sand flung from her back flippers, then packing the sand down by thumping her body hard against the fresh nest over and over and over. When that was finished, she crawled over to her right, and created a "false nest" which is something turtles do to distract would-be predators from the actual nest. When her false nest was finished, she headed back out to sea under that same clear & star filled sky, with a moon so bright it looked like dawn.
She will never come back to this beach to care for her babies, nor will she ever see them. Their fate is unknown to her, but she has done her job, and done it well.
The nest has been surveyed, and calculations done for the projected hatching. It's very well hidden, in an area not traveled by people, with no homes in the immediate area either. Its dark, very dark, where she has chosen to place this nest. Its a perfect spot.
Nature knows what is best, I'm sure of it. If only mankind would finally respect that fact.
Last night, under a glorious clear & star filled sky, with the moon shining bright, she came upon the shore. She was a 44" loggerhead adult female. She came out of the sea, climbed past sea weed, through shells & sponges, up a low rolling dune, through driftwood and tree stumps, and pushed her way back into the high dune. Almost into the sea oats. Far from the tide line. She pushed driftwood and stumps out of her path... she was on a mission, and wanted to get where she wanted to get.... not by going AROUND these objects, but rather by bulldozing them out of her way.
Once she pushed the undesired objects out of her way, she dug & dug & dug, probably for hours. There, she carefully deposited her clutch of eggs, and began the painfully slow process of covering her nest with sand flung from her back flippers, then packing the sand down by thumping her body hard against the fresh nest over and over and over. When that was finished, she crawled over to her right, and created a "false nest" which is something turtles do to distract would-be predators from the actual nest. When her false nest was finished, she headed back out to sea under that same clear & star filled sky, with a moon so bright it looked like dawn.
She will never come back to this beach to care for her babies, nor will she ever see them. Their fate is unknown to her, but she has done her job, and done it well.
The nest has been surveyed, and calculations done for the projected hatching. It's very well hidden, in an area not traveled by people, with no homes in the immediate area either. Its dark, very dark, where she has chosen to place this nest. Its a perfect spot.
Nature knows what is best, I'm sure of it. If only mankind would finally respect that fact.
Great news that you have a nest.
ReplyDeleteMs. Loggerhead picked a site with great vibes that can only give the offspring an extra boost to make a go of it.
Huzzah!