Gordon’s Surprise for Alabama Point
Can I get a do over? This was not my day at all. We got a call this morning telling us that the USGS tag team had found some nests in our area. They are unaware of our route breakdowns but we were told one was west of Beach Club (Rt 2)? The other was west of Ebb Tide (Rt 8). I was walking Rt 4, Morgantown East myself this morning. After clearing my Rt I went to locate the nest on Rt 8. It was up in the dunes and did not require relocation but we were waiting until 7 am to start processing. In the meantime Cindy Stewart who was walking Rt 8 this morning called in with a false crawl also on Rt 8. Debbie Harbin arrived and took over the Rt 8 nest sight. Mark left the search on Rt 2 to process the false crawl. The nest near Rt 2 had not yet been located so I then called Mike for more information. He must have thought i was someone else and told me the nest was east of Mobile street. Debbie told me Mobile Street was on the Refuge. Okay then, not ours. I called Mark to tell him about the mix up and there was no other nest in our area. He said Mike had sent him a copy of the text from the USGS tag team. He said the nest was on Rt 4. It couldn’t be I cleared that route already. OOPS! Mark said he has located the nest and I missed it. I missed both the in crawl and the exit craw. WHAT? I Missed It!!!! That can’t be right. I hurried over to see how I could possibly have missed this crawl. So embarrassed how could this happen? I came up with a bunch of excuses but bottom line, I missed it and I am going to have to own that one.
Now back to the nests, A10 is the nest on Rt 8. This poor mother turtle had a worse day than I did and I haven’t yet told you about the pocket text message I sent out to all the team leaders including Mike Reynolds. My voice recorder was turned on taking down everything i was saying. It was funny, Not! Okay This momma went into a hole about 8 to 10 inches deep. She was able to crawl her way back out up over the mound of sand created by digging the whole right into the side of another hole on the other side of the mound. Thankfully she didn’t get stuck in either of these really large holes and was able to find a place in the dunes that met with her satisfaction.
Nest A11 on Rt 4 (still embarrassed) was also up in the dunes and didn’t need relocating.
What a Great Team! I can’t tell you how proud and thankful I am of this team. We had a great turn out for both nests. Thanks!!!
Cindy Stewart and Nancy McGowan found the eggs on A10. Other team members at this location were of course Debbie Harbin, Joi Hubbard, and Marathon John Butterick.
The eggs at A11 were found by Terry Ratigan. Others participating at this nest include Justin McCrory, Mary Boatman, Sheryl Ratigan, Lauren Hill, Elaine Beacham and Mark and Tina Scott.
See You at the Waters Edge
Related posts