Turtle Weekend

Last weekend we took a ride down to Tuckerton and Great Bay Boulevard.  There were a lot of signs noting that this was a turtle crossing area.  We saw 4 of them.  This is the last one we saw who happened to be very slow and shy.  It was also the one closest to the middle of the road and didn't motor off towards the edges when we stopped for me to hop out for a picture.  

I believe that it's a terrapin that's usually found in the coastal marshes where we were.

The habitat is mostly like this.  Riding down the road you sometimes feel that you are below the water line.  This expanse is dotted here and there with not only birds, but occasionally people who have waded or walked out to crab.  

Back at the condo for the evening the sunset over the marshy area in the back.

Waking up to a small party of birds at the water's edge.

And then we hightailed it over to Barnegat Light for an early morning bike ride.  HWNSNBP rode ahead of me at one point to check out this little area of hidden beach and came back to tell me that there was a little turtle hatchery set up not far from the entrance.  So you know I had to go see for myself.

Each of those wooden stakes is marked with a date.

Along our bike route we noticed these Turtle Bucket containers.

Directions were either clipped to the side or written directly on the bucket covering.  

Inside were children's beach buckets which were to be used for marking turtle nests.  

We didn't see any turtles ourselves in that area this time.  We have in the past but they were elusive this day.