Monday, August 5 - Nest 4R emergence

 Well, with a tropical storm Debbie on its way we thought we would encounter some bad weather this morning. Turned out to be a nice morning, cool, breezy and no rain.

Sherri and I checked N5R and found a folded egg shell on this emerged nest.  Thank goodness they emerged, that crab dragged a shell out and left it - nothing in it.

  Then Sherri walked the lower end. The other ladies high tailed it up the beach to check for a crawl.  I walked along the dunes and checked all the nests.

We were hoping that Nest 4R would emerge before the storm, and it did. There were beautiful hatching tracks that fanned out all the way down to the water. They got out before the storm, woohoo!

Lots of hatching tracks heading for the ocean! 

This nest was laid on June 12th.  It was found in the middle of beach so 117 eggs were relocated up higher on the dune due to the high tide line on Waties.

This was a bright part of the day. Many thanks to Bonnie, Claudia, Jewel and Sherry for carrying buckets, poles, and extra cages back to storage.   Many volunteers will be going  back out this afternoon to prepare for Debbie!

Text and pictures by Sharon

Waties Island Performs research and management activities regarding sea turtle conservation in accordance with SCDNR permit number MTP500.