The story of Ella the sea turtle who came back to nest

BY MIKE REYNOLDS Share the Beach
Posted 6/26/14

GULF SHORES, Ala. — For those of you who don't yet know, "Ella" nested on the Gulf State Park, east of the pier on June 6, 2011.

She had wandered all over the beach that morning. We don't know if she was disoriented or just exploring. Anyway, …

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The story of Ella the sea turtle who came back to nest

Posted

GULF SHORES, Ala. — For those of you who don't yet know, "Ella" nested on the Gulf State Park, east of the pier on June 6, 2011.

She had wandered all over the beach that morning. We don't know if she was disoriented or just exploring. Anyway, she was still on the beach at sunup and was found by the morning turtle patrol. Just by coincidence, Kristen Hart of USGS had arrived in town to tag some of our turtles for some post oil spill studies.

We called Kristen and she came right over and put a satellite tag on the turtle and gave her the name Ella.

Ella was the first turtle tagged by Kristen in Alabama that year.

That transmitter lasted for 476 days before she knocked it off.

At about 1:00 a.m. on Monday, June 16th she came back to our shores and nested again and again Kristen was here for a few weeks tagging some more turtles.

Long story short, Ella got a brand new satellite tag.

You can track Ella at the following link to the tracking website: http://www.seaturtle.org/tracking/?tag_id=137775