This past week has been a little quiet for this time of year for nesting females, but then on Friday night we got a surprise of a new nesting female (a neophyte). Usually at this time of year in the nesting season, there are several new nesting turtles that show up in a late pulse of activity. These new turtles are likely new recruits to the Sandy Point nesting population and have no flipper tags or PIT tags (microchips). This new turtle was named Ginger and got equipped with flipper tags. Then on Sunday night, another new turtle! This one is named Grace. She arrived during the last patrol of the night, a long wait for a turtle! Thanks to Tony and Ellen for naming these two turtles.
Since last Monday, we’ve seen Seri (her 5th nest), Rica (her 5th nest), Ginger and Grace (their first nest) and two nests by unidentified turtles (they nested outside of our patrol areas). We had ten nests that hatched as well this week. The nests were laid during early April by Kanga, Kay, Ruby, Petal, Sheila, Squiggles, Rapunzel, Sabrina, Rica, and Joy!
The St. Croix Sea Turtle Project 