I found a nest, I found a nest, hurrah, happy 4th, after dropping off two others to get the west end walked and getting on the beach just past 5:50 walking past the refuge looking camp, Camping on the Gulf, past Sandestin with their 3 rows a mile long of chairs, chairs up at Topsail Resort one row, I breathed a sigh of relief to be in 4 Mile Village, one area in 4 Mile has such short beaches you have to walk in the water, well I keep my head down at all times, you can’t look up and yes, oh yes, a track only a foot and a half long, found the “in “ track, which was 3 feet long and saw the long narrow mound. The tide was coming in and almost onto the mound. So I called Pam to come and do the last part of my walk and I began to dig. Started near the incoming track as that is where the eggs should have been. She had hit the escarpment and could go no higher, so there was lots of thrown sand in a long narrow area. I continued to dig and sure enough they were there 14 inches down and 1 foot away from her out track. Right where they should NOT have been. So by this time Pam was there to help, I had 74 eggs in my bucket and we scaled the cliff and put the nest in a walkover area . The only place we could. The folks have a walk area and a nest. Lucky them. I tell you if I had looked up for even a minute I would never have seen the tracks, and I know tracks and nest area is gone now. It was a Loggerhead, a small one, only 26 inches wide track. 3rd house from the west end in 4 Mile. Only place she could have nested was there, I am not complaining we have a west end nest.
UPDATE!!
Nest #21 at 4 mile village was dug into last night by a dog. 14 hatchlings lost their lives and I found broken eggs, blood and tracks this morning, The nest now has a screen over it and the broken eggs are buried away from the nest. People don’t seem to realize what their dogs can do if allowed to run. What a shame. Heart breaking to find early in the morning, That is 4 nests this year to be screened or caged, to many!
UPDATE!!
Nest #21 which was predicated
57 escaped
2 no obvious
1 dead embryo( an albino)(my first)
14 depredated
77 % success