The Beast Lives!

Kat and I ran the 10 am shift this morning and found a lost friend. We spotted turtle 1 out in the open underneath a live oak and decided to catch up with her on our way back in from the rest of the telemetry circuit. Upon return, turt 1 was no longer visible so we used good ol' telemetry to narrow her location down. While checking possible burrows by carefully (and blindly) putting our hands in them, I felt the smooth carapace of a turtle and told Kat that I had number 1. Shortly thereafter, Kat probed another burrow and came back with "well if that is number 1 then who is this?" referring to another turtle's carapace in a burrow a couple of meters away. Turns out, my turtle was THE BEAST, that's right- turtle number 8 who's transmitter has fallen silent for some time now. What are the odds? The beast is now sans transmitter and officially off of our telemetry circuit. Turtle number 1 was palpated for eggs which were absent, indicating that she has laid. We are pretty sure the nest is in the vicinity of the poison oak pit near the pump house.

Turtle number 5 has moved a bit but is still at the bottom of the bank behind the barracks. And turtle 7 is behind the rock wall in the same location as the last visit. Turtle 2 is up under the fallen gray pine, and the rest of the girls are in the pool.