Nesting turtles Fourth Kemp’s ridley clutch found on Boca Chica

BOCA CHICA — Don Moore and his wife, Christine, were driving down Boca Chica beach Thursday morning when they saw a Kemp’s ridley sea turtle digging her nest.

"She was right in the middle of the tracks," the Brownsville resident said. "She was a nice looking turtle."

The two blocked the roadway and watched for an hour as the Kemp’s ridley slowly dug into the sand and laid 132 eggs.

The nest marks sighting No. 4 on the Texas coast between South Padre Island and Boca Chica beach, said Jeff George, curator of Sea Turtle Inc.

"It’s the biggest nest I’ve ever seen," George said, before moving the eggs to a corral site where biologists will monitor them.

It’s been a good week for Kemp’s ridley sea turtles along South Padre Island. Biologists also found a nesting Kemp’s ridley sea turtle Wednesday at County Beach Access No. 5 and turtle tracks leading to a nest Sunday.

George said biologists were able to tag the sea turtle they found Wednesday after she laid 97 eggs. They safely moved the eggs to the corral site farther south on South Padre Island, joining two previous nests of 94 and 102 eggs, respectively.

Since the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle season along the Texas coast started in April, biologists have found 10 nests, Donna Shaver with Padre Island National Seashore said.

Five of those were found on Seashore property, one north of the national park, three on South Padre Island and the latest on Boca Chica.

The nestings signal a positive upswing for the endangered sea turtles, whose numbers were once so low they stopped laying eggs on South Padre Island.

Pioneers such as Dearl Adams and Ila "The Turtle Lady" Loetscher reintroduced Kemp’s ridley eggs in the ’60s and ’70s from beaches in Mexico, naming their camp 9 miles north of Andy Bowie County Park "Ranchita Tortuga."

Two of the sea turtles that returned to lay eggs this season chose a spot near the historical camp, prompting Loetscher’s niece Mary Ann Tous to say they were the grandchildren of those first hatchlings.

Whatever the case, they are part of a success story.

"How many come up and nest and are never found," Tous, founder of the Turtle Lady Legacy Inc., asked. "Hopefully there’s a lot more out there."