Nest Number 24

Perdido Key in the morning...



We've officially doubled last years nest total. With only 12 nests, 2007 was the worst year ever for sea turtles at Gulf Islands National Seashore. This year had to be better.



Today's crawl was rather hard to read because of rain and ghost crabs, but with a width of 39 inches, it's either a huge loggerhead, or a green (but only if the trampled crawl was opposite instead of alternate).



Check out those eggs! One of them had funny little knobs on the edge:



Nest PK6271 was a little close to the sea. The turtle even dug one body pit at the edge of the surf! The bottom of her nest was wet, so it had to be moved or we'd lose the entire clutch.



The nest is now safely nestled about 100 feet north, at the foot of the dunes in a post-Ivan dune restoration area, just east of the park's entrance.