turtle tracks
Emerald Isle Sea Turtle Patrol
Sea Turtle Season is Here Again
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everal Emerald Isle Sea Turtle Patrol volunteer walkers were rewarded on May 28 and 29 when they found tracks in the sand that were determined to be nests! Nest 1 was discovered on May 28 by walker Charlie McCurry and his visitor Annelies Gentile. Nest Response Team (NRT) members reported to the nest. In addition to Charlie, NRT Liz Cox and Zone Coordinator Diana Yeames were able to locate the pit of eggs. NRT Cheryl Balthrop explained the process of taking the DNA from an egg to Charlie. This was a very good start to the 2021 Sea Turtle season. Nest 2 followed quickly the very next morning. Lore and Bob Gottberg and Laura Sylvester were the walkers who discovered this nest. Zone Coordinators Charmione Marcell and Teresa McAteer reported to the potential nest to assist. Once the nest was discovered, the decision was made to relocate the nest because it had been laid too close to the tide line. Moving a nest is a very careful process. NRT Cindy Henry carefully removed the eggs from the initial pit. Meanwhile, NRT Patty Foley assisted in creating a new pit (made to EXACTLY replicate the original pit) further up the beach and closer to the dunes. NRTs very carefully transferred the eggs into the new location. Tom Gill, our volunteer and resident author, has had several more books in his series of children’s books published. These cute books follow Tom and his granddaughters as they learn about local marine life/happenings. “Tuesday is For Turtles” has been followed by “Fridays are for Fish.” Additionally, “Saturdays are for Seashells” should also be available now. You can find these books at the Emerald Isle Bookstore, Beach Book Mart in Atlantic Beach, Dee Gee’s in Morehead City and on Amazon. Part of the mission of the Emerald Isle Sea Turtle Patrol is educating the public. This summer, magnets and doorknob hangers will be provided to oceanfront homes to inform residents and visitors of ways they can help protect sea turtles too. Our thanks to donations that made it possible for us purchase these so we can improve communication with visitors. Emerald Isle Sea Turtle Patrol operates as a nonprofit organization. We have various fundraisers throughout the year to help pay for the supplies needed at the nests all summer - fall. Several local business’ generously support our program ... and we very much appreciate it. Each month this season, we will let you know about businesses who help us out. THANK YOU to Ace Hardware as they have been selling our “I Saw a Sea Turtle Nest” shirts since last year (pink or blue tie dyed). The shirt sizes range from kids sizes up to 3XL adult sizes. Our fun shirts are a wonderful souvenir of your visit to Emerald Isle AND helps our program raise money for supplies, education etc. We also want to thank Hwy 58 Bikes for the very generous donation they recently gave to the Emerald Isle Sea Turtle Patrol program. After getting all new child seats for their bikes this year, the bike shop sold the ones they had before and donated all that money to our program! Thank you to these owners, and others, for supporting our program. Always remember: When you leave the beach please leave nothing behind on the sand but your footprints! Valerie Rohrig E.I. Sea Turtle Patrol
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ISLAND REVIEW • July 2021
