Loggerhead Nest at Perdido Point!

Monica and I responded to a sea turtle nest call this morning. One of our volunteers had a suspicious crawl and body pit at the point on Perdido.



This loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) crawled all the way up, over the top, and back down a dune to find a nesting spot near the base. She picked a stunning location!



It almost looked as if she slid back down the steep dune face.



Unfortunately, we had to move the 106 egg nest. We avoid relocating eggs whenever possible, but this particular point erodes rather predictably.



It builds back up with lots of new sand over the winter, but may lose sand over the two months required for the hatchlings to develop. Pensacola Pass is just a few hundred yards east. The deep water and fast currents can wash away sand in a heartbeat.

This is a little unusual, but it's very seldom that someone catches me on the wrong side of the lens.



From time-to-time, I do wear something other than park service green, and put down my Canon. Lisa was acting sneaky before all the girls headed out for "Sex and the City" the other night... Now I know why! I'm just glad she got me out of uniform; that green and gray makes me look like an over-aged girl scout.