Sunday, August 11th Nest 07R Emerged Day 55

It was a hot one on the island this morning, slight breeze.  The Sunday Volunteers, Billie Jo, Karen, Tammy and my niece Stacie were with me today.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Excitement in the air, they found that Nest 07R emerged - Day 55.  Lots of tracks to the ocean.  This poor nest has been harassed by those pesky GCs.  Tammy and Stacie followed a track up into the dunes and found a dead hatchling in a GC hole, they removed it.  Billie Jo found another hatchling on the flat portion of the beach outside of a GC hole.  We thought it was dead, but we would see a slight  movement by its legs.  I walked him down to the water line to see if the water would shock him to movement.  At first nothing, we started walking back up to our stuff and the way I was holding him, belly side up, I could feel his heart beat.  We took him back to the water and low and behold he raised his head a couple of times, and his back flippers moved.  We left him there, at least he made it to the ocean.  I do not think he will survive, but we at least gave him a chance.

This nest was laid on June 17th and was relocated to higher up on the dune.  This lady laid 117 eggs.

 

Nest 07R

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lots of tracks heading to the ocean

Two hatchlings, one deceased

 - the one closet to the GC hole was released into the ocean

It looked like many hatchlings made it to the ocean

 Another surprise on the beach - a deceased eel.

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

A large storm was coming, and thankfully we made it back to the truck in time.  An email will be sent out advertising the nest inventory.

Text by Leslie    Pictures by Leslie and Stacie

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

Thursday, August 8th - Inventory of Nest 04R

 Another adventurous crew of Volunteers made it out to the island to perform the inventory of Nest 04R.  We did not go out until after the late morning high tide.  We wanted to see how far up the beach the tidal surge came up, thankfully most of our nests are still high and dry.  Our volunteers tolerated blowing sands and we were watching the skies, thankfully we did not get rained on while on the beach.

 Kathy and Pam started the digging, but soon ran out of soft sand and the hole looked like we were digging to China.  I started digging toward the dunes and still no eggs.  Kim then took over and finally we found eggs.  This nest had two reeds - and the reeds were nowhere close to where we found the nest chamber.  I have no clue on why, they may have been moved, possibly knocked over by the wind.  Thank goodness we were determined to find those eggs. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Diggers - Kathy and Pam, Kim supervising

Digging away

 The nest inventory went well after we found the eggs.  This nest was laid on June 12th, 117 eggs relocated, Emerged on August 5th on Day 54.  The inventory results, 98 hatched, 12 Unhatched, zero dead hatchlings and we were blessed to find 4 hatchlings.   One of the hatchlings had a bum flipper but after we got him in the water he did better than crawling on land.  Unsure if he is going to make it far.  The results are a Hatched Success of 83.7% and Emergence Success of 80.3%.  We did the counting back at the shed.  I was not going to chase eggshells again.
 

Four Hatchlings

 

 

Pam gets to hold a hatchling

After digging we released the four hatchlings into the ocean.  Safe travels little ones.

You can see its tracks

We finished up the inventory back at the shed, so we did not have to case eggshells in the wind.

Egg count on the tailgate

Text by Leslie Pictures by Leslie

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

Wednesday, August 7th Inventory of Nest 05R - TS Debby

 Its nice to have adventurous friends who are willing to follow and assist in sea turtle activities such as performing an inventory of a nest while the ocean is angry and the wind was picking up on the beach.   Thankfully, both Kim T and Kim Pf have those credentials and were available to investigate going out to the island.   Thankfully, the Causeway was clear and had not been flooded.  The beach access road after the CCU gate was partially under water in places, but still passable.  We were able to drive over the dunes to the beach.  With the tide coming in, I parked my truck on the beach road.

We came out to do the nest inventory of Nest 05R, which was located just left of the beach access road.  This nest emerged on Sunday, August 4th, day 53.  This nest was originally laid down on the flat beach area close to Hog Inlet.  We moved the eggs to a nest we dug that was located on higher ground.  She was a big girl with a 38" inch crawl.  She laid 123 eggs, sadly we found 5 broken eggs in the nest she laid.  We used one of these eggs for the DNA study.  This nest was laid on June 12th, the same day that Nest 04R and PN03 - it was a three-for a day for the Wednesday Volunteers.

When Kim and Kim2 dug up the nest earlier today, I was going to do the sorting.  However, the wind came up and started blowing the eggshells around.  As I was chasing hatched eggshells, I hear "we got a hatchling".  I stopped chasing eggshells and took the one little hatchling down to a runnel which helped the hatchling swim out to the ocean.  Walking back up to the nest, there were more hatchlings.  They were energetic and ready to start there lives and heading to the ocean.  We helped them down, and even with the rough ocean, they  made it out.  We had a total of 15 hatchlings.  We took the eggshells with us and completed the counting at the shed.

The nest results are 109 eggs hatched, 10 Unhatched eggs, no dead hatchlings, and 15 live hatchlings.  This nest had an 88.6% Hatched Success, and an Emergence Success of 76.4%.  Nest 04R emerged on August 04, so we will be performing this inventory soon.

First Hatchling

Hatchlings crawling toward the ocean

The angry sky and ocean - thanks to TS Debby

Wonder if this tree will be still here after the storm?

The wind blowing the sand, time to go

Results of the Inventory

Text by Leslie Pictures by Leslie, Kim T and Kim Pf

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

Monday, August 5th - Preparing for TS Debby

Received the SCDNR email Sunday night to apply the guidelines in Section 8 Major Storm Response Guidelines distributed and managed by SCDNR.  These guidelines recommend that all of our supplies be removed off of the beach, and to mark our nests with wooden stakes, and they recommend taking pictures of the nests, including the background that may help locate nests, if our wooden stakes are washed away from storm surge.  We do this so our plastic or metal items are not washed away by storm surge - we do not want to add to the ocean pollution.

On Monday afternoon, during high tide, there were two teams of volunteers who removed our items from the beach.  We also experienced several showers while out on the island.  I had mapped out our nests and split the island into two teams.  Thankfully, we have two trucks, one team headed up to the upper end, and worked on items from Marker 5 to Marker 9.  The other team managed the lower end, from Marker 1 through Marker 4.

The "Mile Marker" poles were replaced with tall red painted wooden stakes.  All DNA posts, cages, screens, Ghost Crab traps, secondary marker poles, and buckets have been removed.  We used red painted wooden stakes to mark our nests.  We added a secondary stake that we put higher in the dunes to help us re-locate our nests.  At each nest, GPS coordinates were taken again, and pictures were taken to help us locate our nests and our Possible Nests (PNs), just in case they are impacted by tidal surge.  Now we just need to wait for the passing of Debby.

Many thanks to the LOAs - Steve and Barbara Demusz, Sharon Turek and Kim Toney.  We can not do this without the great assistance from some of the Monday and Wednesday Volunteers.  Many, many thanks to our wonderful Volunteers - Kathy Golden, Sherry Kelley, Claudia Beaty, Chris James, and Jewel Mellas.   The worked entailed with putting up getting wet, drying out, digging out stubborn poles which felt like they had been set in concrete, digging out cages from hard and through shifting sand, climbing up dunes, hammering posts through concrete like sand and searching for things to paint, carting back and forth to the truck poles, cages, paint and any tool needed to do the job - Ladies you ROCK!

When Debby passes, we will replace what we moved off of the beach.  We had a bright spot of the day.  A hatchling was found on top of the sand at Nest 05R which emerged on Sunday.  The little hatchling was taken to the ocean and placed in a tidal pool.  We wished him the best. 

 

Text and pictures by Leslie

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

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.

Sunday, August 4, 2024 - Nest 5R emergence

 A storm overnight with strong wind and pounding rain threatened to continue into the early morning as we arrived at the beach to begin our daily patrol. Seeing a break in the conditions, we quickly headed up to the far end of the island with a plan to first look for any crawls from the night before then check our existing nests on our way back. The storm gods were in our favor, as we were able to complete both objectives with just some light intermittent rain. No new crawls were discovered.

Our activities on the way back consisted mainly of maintenance items at some of the nests, relocating some ghost crabs caught in our traps, and assessing any potential issues we may have with the tropical storm predicted to come our later in the week.

                                                 Tammy reburies a crab trap near the nest

      Karen adds more sand to the cage bottom to stabilize it against possible coyote intrusion

As we approached the last nest to be checked back at the beach entrance, Nest 5R, we noted a large hole within a few inches of the reed marking the egg cavity. At first glance it appeared to be a crab hole like many of the others that had been plaguing our nests lately

. Because of the heavy rain the night before, we were unable to find any hatchling tracks. However, there were some other indicators that this was, indeed, an emergence. The hole had an appearance more in line with an emergence hole vs a crab hole.  A dead, fully formed, yolk sac absorbed hatchling was found near the hole. A shell, “folded” in a manner typical of a hatched shell was found nearby. There was no evidence that a crab had invaded the nest. The incubation duration of the nest - 53 days, was another factor that led us to believe the nest had, in fact, emerged. 

Nest 5R was unusual in that it was laid on the lower end of the Island on June12. We do not get many nests in that area. It was relocated to higher ground  further up the beach because of the high water table in area where it was laid. One hundred twenty three eggs were uncovered. There were 5 broken eggs in the nest. One was used for DNA research. One hundred eighteen eggs were relocated. 

So happy to see they made their way into the ocean before the arrival of the storm approaching our coastline. Safe travels little ones! 

Pics and text by Kim

Waties Island performs research and management activities regarding sea turtle conservation in accordance with SCDNR Permit Number MTP500. 

Friday, August 2, 2024 - Inventory Nest #3R - Part II

 Things are heating up on our island beach, and it’s not just the temperatures. Our hatchlings are emerging at a fast pace and beginning their life’s journey into the sea.

Today’s main attraction was completing the inventory of Nest #3R - our second attempt. The Friday volunteers were joined by our ultimate veterans Barb and Steve and two of their Saturday volunteers, Cherie and Bob. All contributed to complete this vital operation carried out as part of our sea turtle patrol duties. We appreciate the extra help! 

Nest 3R was laid on Wednesday, May 29. This mamma brought a gal pal along, as this one and Nest 2 were discovered within several feet of each other on the same day. Due to this nest being laid close to the high tide line, it was relocated in the same area, just further up toward the dune. One hundred-thirty five eggs were laid; 134 (one sacrificed for DNA research) were relocated. 

Crawl just up to the high tide line

134 eggs relocated into their new home 

The nest emerged at 59 days on July 27th. It was reported to be a “picture perfect” emergence.

As per DNR guidelines, the inventory was scheduled for Tuesday, July 30th. As we began digging into the egg chamber, several live hatchlings were found near the top of the nest before we reached any eggs or egg shells.

                                                      Several live hatchlings at the top of the nest

When this occurs, the guidelines state we are to “quickly cover the nest cavity with moist sand and return the site to its original condition. Wait at least three additional days before entering the nest again.” 

It’s always disappointing when we have to recover a nest, but it’s important to allow the hatchlings time after they hatch to absorb their external yolk sac, strengthen their flippers and rest before leaving the nest, giving them a better chance of survival as they start their journey. It’s always best to allow the hatchlings to emerge naturally when they are ready. 

Today, we were able to proceed with the inventory. Bob and first timer Summer dug into the nest, while the others inspected and sorted its contents. One hundred twenty hatched eggs, 10 unhatched eggs, one dead hatchling, and, to the delight of all, one live hatchling straggler were excavated from the nest cavity. A great result with a hatch success rate of 88.8% and an emergence success rate of 87.4%

Hatched, unhatched eggs and 1 dead hatchling sorted and counted to assess the success of the nest.

We all enjoyed watching this little one making its way into the ocean. 

                                                                   See ya’ll later

Pics by Cherie and Melissa. Text by Kim

Waties Island performs research and management activities regarding sea turtle conservation in accordance with SCDNR Permit Number MTP500.