5/30/2010 One Egg, Two Eggs, Three Eggs, Four…

I watched something amazing today! Probably something that not very many people get to actually witness. I mean really sit and watch!

Here’s what I saw today….

I watched this turtle dig this hole.



It’s little back legs reached down as far as they could go and just dug and dug and dug. I so wanted to go home and get my trowel and dig the hole for her but thought better of it since the hole I would have dug wouldn’t have met turtle specs.



One of the campers and I stood there and watched patiently. She laid two eggs before we knew it.

It wasn’t long and she laid her third egg. (the white thing)



I had called these turtles Loggerheads in another post and have since found out that they aren’t Loggerheads. These are Diamondback Terrapins. They are native to the area from as far north as Cape Cod, MA to Cape Sable in Florida. They are on the “concerned list” for Delaware but on the endangered list in Rhode Island. These are named for the diamond pattern on their shells.
Within just a few minutes she laid the fourth egg and I had gotten better at taking pictures of it.



After she delivered each one she tamped a bit of sand around it.



And then came number five!



The eggs appear to be soft, not hard shelled like a chicken egg. but it is definitely a shell. I would say they are just a tad smaller than the size of an oval ping pong ball.

Number six was out before we knew it.



More tamping of the ground took place …….



and then along came number seven.



By now a couple on their way to the beach stopped to watch and they watched her lay egg number eight.

 

I’m thinking that this hole has to be getting to be pretty close quarters by now but evidently there was room for eggs numbered nine……



…..and ten.



I know a dog has a litter but I don’t know what you call a hole full of turtle eggs so I’ll just use the term a hole full of turtle eggs.

Now it came time to get this hole full of turtle eggs packed in for incubation. Those little back turtle legs worked so hard and so fast to get these eggs covered. The turtles will hatch in late summer and will by instinct make their way to the marshlands in back of the campground. 
 








Eggs all covered with sand, tamped nice and flat, her job was done, so it was time to go back home.



I sat with two very nice ladies today, Shirley, above and her friend Sue. They are camping just behind us. They’ll be back in July so hopefully I’ll get to see them again.

We had some excitement in the area but not the kind you like to have. We watched a medical emergency helicopter land on the highway just outside the park to pick up someone who had a “beach accident” a possible spinal cord injury. We’re hoping whoever it is that they’ll be ok.

Bob went fishing this afternoon for a short while. He said it was so incredibly crowded. He may have learned today that his fishing is best done during the week. As beautiful as it was today with sunshine and blue skies I didn’t even entertain the idea of going to the beach. I watched the hordes walking with chairs and blankets and umbrellas and rafts and sand toys and radios and coolers….no, I’ll go during the week when it isn’t a holiday weekend.

What a great day this was. I was fortunate enough to see one of nature’s wonders, I met two very nice people, the birds didn’t get the eggs and it was a beautiful day. 

I am a happy camper.