Big Bertha
I typically survey my "nesting beach" 2-3 hours at high tide waiting for females to come onto shore and nest. The nesting beach is the area I found last year with over 180 terrapin egg shells. If I see a female nesting I will wait until she is finished and then follow my permit and take measurements and give her an ID number. Every other nest will receive a nest protection device to keep the predators from eating the eggs.
On May 20th I finally saw my first terrapin, at the nesting beach and she was beautiful! I saw her in the water poking her head up to get air, she has striking white skin with black specks and a beautiful green shell. I sat and I waited for her to come onshore and nest. After about 30 minuets and no sign of her, I decided to walk down to the waters edge and see if I could spot her again.
Turns out she was right there about 4 feet from the waters edge, she saw me before I saw her and she zipped right into the water before she could nest. Or so I thought.... 2 days later right where I saw her a nest was dug up and eaten. I believe that in those 30 minuets she nested. I named her Big Bertha because of her size, to date she is the largest female I have seen. She will forever be, the one that got away :)
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