Sunday, August 25th- Inventory of Nest 12R

 It was another cool morning and the breeze kept the bugs away. 

The Sunday team was very excited to have the inventory of nest 12R because they found the original nest and relocated it back on June 30th. The original nest was laid too close to the jetty and there was not much beach to protect the eggs. When they relocated the nest, they moved 109 eggs to a much safer location.

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.