Saturday, August 31, 2024.
It was as very nice morning. Slight breeze and no bugs.
We had about 13 students from Coastal Carolina University's Sea Turtle Club come to the beach to help with an inventory nest 20.
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A scope of the area and the 2 large gc holes on each side didn't present any hatchlings or eggshells so we are hopeful that all the hatchlings made it to ocean. After finishing walking to the last few nests, we made a quick trip back to the shed to get a nest cage to help protect any late-to-the-boil-party hatchling that may still need to emerge.
I am thankful to have patrolled today with Leslie P, Leslie Y, Kathy, and Chris, and share in the joy of finding the wild nest.
The trip back when all was finished felt heavenly to be in Leslie P's AC and truck, especially when she looked up and spied an Osprey in the same tree as an Egret. Just one more reminder what a blessing it is to be a part of this Waities Island Turtle Patrol.
by Leslie P and Kim P. Text by Kim P.
All sea turtle monitoring by Waties Island Sea Turtle Patrol is permitted and authorized by the SCDNR Marine Turtle Conservation Program under Marin Turtle Permit MT500
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It was another cool morning and the breeze kept the bugs away.
Billie Jo, Tammy, Jan and her granddaughter Greenlee dug the nest up and got the egg shells out for sorting, while Karen, Kathy and Kim sorted though the eggs.
There were quite a few hatched egg shells found before the exciting moment of finding 3 live hatchlings. Overall the results were: 90 hatched, 14 unhatched & 3 live hatchlings. The nest had a 82.5% hatch success and 78.8% emergence success.
After all the eggs were gone through, the whole group walked the hatchlings down to the wet sand and let them go.
We all watched as they navigated their way to the ocean while using their natal homing instincts to take note of where they came from.
Narrative by Erin
Photos by Leslie and Erin.
Waties Island performs research and management activities regarding sea turtle conservation in accordance with SCDNR permit number MTP500.
It was a “bonus” kind of morning for members of the Friday Waties Island Sea Turtle Patrol.
First, a big thanks to our tireless project leader Leslie for joining our limited team today, marking her third early day in a row on the beach- bonus #1 for us!
After a season of sometimes challenging weather in terms of heavy rains and thunderstorms, intense heat indexes, crazy winds, errant king and storm driven tides, incessant insect invasions, it was a pleasant morning on the beach. Cool- dare we say- almost chilly, breezy, calm seas, with few bugs and a spectacular cloudy-ish sunrise - bonus #2.
After concluding our beach survey, checking and completing some maintenance on our remaining nests, we settled in to complete the inventory of Nest 18- a bonafide “bonus” nest. This nest started out as Possible Nest 5 on June 25, because no egg chamber was located on the day the crawl was discovered. That day we had a record breaking 6 crawls on the island. Four were deemed false crawls, one became Nest 10, and this one, PN 5. Fifty-six days later, on August 20, the survey team observed numerous hatchling tracks heading from the dune near the PN marker to the ocean. PN 5 became our 18th nest of the season- bonus #3.
The joy in finding a previously unlocated nest was tempered by the fact that it showed definite signs of coyote depredation, which, thankfully upon further scene investigation, appeared to occur after hatchlings had evacuated the nest - bonus #4. Because it had hatched, the dug-up nest was re-covered, caged to protect against further depredation, and scheduled for inventory. Seven hatched egg shells were collected from the sand surrounding the nest.
Pics by Leslie and Kim. Text by Kim
Waties Island performs research and management activities regarding sea turtle conservation in accordance with SCDNR permit number MTP500.
Another cool morning for the Volunteers today. Crisp cool temps, light breeze, beautiful - if only the mosquitoes were not along with us. Thankfully, we lose them on the beach due to the light breeze we enjoyed.
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| Sunrise over the marsh |
Nest 12R was laid on Sunday, June 30th. She laid her original nest close to the jetty area of the island. The Sunday Volunteers moved the eggs to higher ground on a wider area of the beach. Her crawl width was 30 inches, and she laid 109 eggs. The new nest chamber is 18 inches deep.
It was a nice classic emergence hole and lots and lots of tracks to the ocean. The Thursday Volunteers scoped out the surrounding area for stragglers, and it seems all of the hatchlings made it safely to the water.
Lots of tracks to the ocean, they had a ways to crawl to reach the water.
