Doing a bit of “catch-up” from yours truly. It looks like Orange Beach and Alabama Point have been busy:
First off from Lisa Graham on July 14th:
Well we made up for no activity with 7 false crawls this morning!!! Greg had 2 false crawls in B, Sheree and Boyd had 3 FC in D, Lance had 1 in E and the last which we thought was a nest was another FC in C. Thanks to everyone that came out to help as we really thought we had a nest.
As we were looking for eggs we heard she was harassed by a man and his son which explained why the crawl and nest area was disturbed. We think the 7 crawls were made by 3 turtles. 41″, 36″ and 30″. Al Pt and GSP had false crawls as well. Maybe a momma turtle will be back tonight!!!
Next up is from Peggy Lively on Alabama Point – July 16th:
H6 was laid abt 9:00 pm as the Hotline was called and OBPD notified. Officers Shannon Holland, Nathan Cane and Brennan Giles were there when I arrived . Momma T. Was covering her nest and since there was a lot of activity in the area we marked the area til we could process this morning. She was a big Momma with crawl width of 44″ but not tagged. 105 eggs were relocated this morning. Newbies, Vicki and Brent, Mallorie and Mary Y. did an awesome job moving the eggs!! Thanks to all that came out this morning!!!
While Officer Holland was helping me mark the nest a call was made to OBPD about a turtle at […Clip…]. We rushed to the scene and thank goodness another officer was there protecting Momma T. from at least 50 spectators. She came in about 6′ turned around because of the disturbance of people and nested at the shoreline!!! She was covering her nest as I arrived. The nest was moved immediately last night as it was dangerously close to shoreline. The crowd got to watch us locate the 74 eggs for relocation. Our Coastal Resources Night Crew helped us finish up the move. Crawl width 36″ and she was tagged. Thanks to Janet, Tiffnie, Cathy and Jerrie for helping finish up at H7 this morning!!
Good morning,
I was drying out after early nest check and getting caught in the rain when Karen called—–she had a long crawl!
Team was alerted and we gathered at the crawl sight. We dug and dug as the rain got heavier and heavier. The lightening was getting too close for comfort and after digging a huge area we called the dig off. We gave the site our best effort, but Mama evidently did not lay. There was thrown sand but not a body pit. We may attempt to further investigate the site later today, weather permitting.
A very SPECIAL thanks to Karen, Susie, Pat, Rick, Richard and George for hanging in there with me this morning. You are the best!!!!!! Good job, Karen on finding the crawl in the bad weather.
Turtle Mom