Sea Turtle Nest Watch — nest reporting for coastal patrols

What is Sea Turtle Nest Watch?

Sea Turtle Nest Watch is a mobile-first reporting tool for coastal conservation: a resident (or volunteer) on the beach can report a new unmarked nest, a disturbance, or hatching activity in a few taps — with GPS, optional photo, and an immediate alert to the people who actually respond.

It runs on Spot Reporter (spot-reporter.com) — the same “one tap → photo + pin → crew notified” product used for community maintenance — purpose-built for turtle patrol, not sprinklers.

See how it works: spot-reporter.com/how-it-works/sea-turtle

Why it matters

Nesting season is short, beaches are long, and the difference between a protected nest and a lost clutch is often speed + clear location.

When someone spots tracks at dawn, or a nest that looks disturbed, or hatchlings moving toward the water, they shouldn’t need a binder, a special radio, or a training manual just to *tell someone who can act*.

Sea Turtle Nest Watch is built so that:

• A resident or volunteer can report without creating an account
• The report type is chosen up front (new nest / disturbance / hatching) so dispatch knows urgency
• Location is the product — map pin, optional beach-access framing for patrols
• Hatching encourages no flash / keep distance and a report-without-photo path (light can disorient hatchlings)
• Alerts go to a turtle patrol crew with the context they need to move

This is conservation logistics software — not a novelty QR sticker.

What’s already built

• Resident reporter: type picker → capture / GPS → submit
• Report types: new nest, disturbance, hatching (with conservation-minded UX for hatching)
• Dispatch to turtle patrol (SMS/email channels on the Spot Reporter stack)
• Admin queue for foundations / coordinators to triage
• Beach-access context for responders (“near Access X · offset …”) where sites are mapped
• Patrol-zone routing so multi-beach orgs can send the right crew for the pin
• Marketing walkthrough at /how-it-works/sea-turtle

Live product brand: Spot Reporter · Operator: Four Plums / independent product work.

What support would fund next

Contributions on this page are voluntary support for product development — not equity, not a token, not a promise of returns, and not an official fundraiser for any named 501(c)(3) unless we announce a formal partnership.

Funds go directly to the Bitcoin (and/or Lightning) address on this page. GoFundYourself takes 0%. Network fees may apply.

Near-term work this helps me prioritize:

1. Nest registry (patrol-only) — private nest markers for responders, not public maps that advertise nest locations

2. Hardening beach + zone setup — faster onboarding for a foundation’s beaches and patrol crews

3. Field polish — low-light UX, offline-ish resilience, clearer volunteer instructions

4. Pilot support — helping a first conservation org run a real nesting season on the tool

If you’re a foundation or FWC-adjacent group and want a pilot, reach out via the contact links on this campaign — happy to talk workflow, not hype.

How to help (even without sats)

• Share this campaign — coastal friends and conservation groups are the point
• Walk the demo at how-it-works/sea-turtle
• Try the reporter flow if you have a demo org link (practice pins, not real nests)
• Feedback from patrol experience — what should the SMS say at 6:14 AM on the beach?

Important (please read)

• This is patronage / builder support for software that serves conservation workflows.
• Payments are peer-to-peer to the address shown. The platform never holds funds and cannot refund.
• Do not treat nest locations as public content to broadcast — real nests need protected handling; the product is designed for authorized responders, not treasure maps.
• If you send a material amount, verify the address against what I post on my social profiles.
• DYOR. I’m not claiming medical, legal, or FWC certification outcomes — I’m shipping tools so humans who already do the hard work can coordinate faster.

Thank you for caring about beaches, hatchlings, and software that respects both.