As June gets into full swing here at Caswell Beach and our beaches get warmer, we at Caswell Beach Turtle Watch are seeing increased activity from our sea turtle mamas. The activity is not all that different from years past, but there are always cycles from year to year where we see fewer or more nests in a given season. Last year was a lower nest count year. This year, we are hoping for larger numbers. After all, our number one objective is helping to increase sea turtle population numbers!
This past week, we saw a number of false crawls from some very determined sea turtle mamas. They are working hard despite flipper issues, rough waters, torrential rains and significant beach erosion resulting in some very steep or unattainable climbs. False crawls challenge our team members turtle intuition skills to the max, and we work hard to make sure no nest is overlooked and that we find and mark every one.
We had one mama come very close to a boardwalk gate, working hard to keep her nest high and dry, and another provide a very creative pretzel shaped crawl. Check out the gallery in this post for highlights from the week!
We are grateful for all the updates from our beach community via our sea turtle hotline who helped to report crawls and mama turtles caught in the act! As always, please keep our distance at 20+ feet from a turtle mama, or we risk her running off without laying her eggs! Keep the updates coming, we appreciate all the feedback.
**This conservation work for protected sea turtles on Caswell Beach is authorized by the NC Wildlife Resources Commission (ES Permit 25ST03).
Please consider donating to our efforts as we build up our necessary resources for the season.
You can donate at Caswell Beach Turtle Watch Donations.