We started the night last night with hatchlings on the beach! They had just emerged and most of them had made it to the water already, apart from a few stragglers. Our team (Emma and Kenny) rounded them up and made sure they got safely down the beach and into the water. This last week we’ve been kept on our toes by many turtles! We’ve had a mix of old and new turtles and a few keeping us up past sunrise, including Sunday night when we had turtles from midnight all the way through 7 am!
New and named turtles this week –
SPP348 – named Eliza by Gail Joice for her friend Eliza! Eliza laid her first nest of the season, but she’s been nesting at Sandy Point since 2009. She was seen 11 times in 2011, but had not been seen since then.
SPP319 – she’s nested once before this week but is now named Spot by Ellen McCormack-Ament in honor of her animal welfare thrift store and the hardworking and dedicated volunteer staff there! Thank you!
SPP421 – came to Sandy Point for her first nest ever. The lovely students visiting from Winona State University got together and adopted her – and named her Winona 🙂
SPP392 – Keelie made her second nest this week, and was the culprit for keeping the team up past 7 am! She’s named by our friend Louisa Porter for a certain someone who has studied turtles for some time 😉
Returning turtles this week –
The following turtles all made an appearance this week:
BB2 – third nest; Milly – second nest; Rose – fifth nest; Culebra – third nest; Joasia – fifth nest; Laurel – fourth nest; Spot – second nest; Nathalie – third nest; AAV640 – second nest; Dorothy – second nest; Nikki – second nest; and finally Keelie – second nest.
This week we’ll be joined by our final two volunteer research assistants for the season. We’ll be introducing you to them soon! They are doing a stellar job taking care of the turtles and protecting nests. More soon from us!
The St. Croix Sea Turtle Project 