2013: Update from the Beach

It is great to be back walking on Waties again -- surprisingly, there is less small trash on the beach this spring, but the large pieces seem to balance that out.  Pat is checking out part of a floating dock on the upper end of the beach.

There was one lone Portuguese man o'war on the Hog Inlet end of the beach this morning.  We don't usually see these creatures until the water is much warmer in late summer.  Wikipedia has some info that makes interesting reading.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_man_o'_war

Don't touch their tentacles!

Lot of jellyfish on the beach too, both cannonball jellies and moon jellies.  This was a big one; see the sand dollar for size comparison.

Please post your own photos and tales on the blog for others to share.  Thanks,

Barb and Steve

Love Of Waties

Sat. Oct. 27th was suppose to be our fall beach clean up. 'Sandy" postponed that. So on a rainy day I put together a few of my favorite pics, (too many to post here). Follow this link, and click on slide show. Enjoy!https://picasaweb.google.com/100968854289938621648/LoveOfWaties?authkey=Gv1sRgCPSYuNDknK-maw

Two I forgot

                                 Not by much, but still alive!

                                Hope it makes it!

Inventory Nest #8

                                            Inventory Nest #8, Tue. Oct. 2nd, 2012

                                            Digging up the nest

                                            By Paulette's count, "100 hatched, 2 unhatched, 2 unaccounted for.
                                          Very neat nest,shells were easy to count, very few shards".

                                           Oh look, It's still alive!

                                           Come on, buddy, you can do it!

                                           Yea! he/she made it! What a great way to end a season!
                                                      (kind'a sad it's over though!)
                                                              

Nest 7 Inventory



Barb providing guidance before the digging begins.





Karen's friend, Whimpy, finds a live hatchling.





Krisin holds the 2nd hatchling found in nest. 

This one took an interesting route at first!

Amanda holds the 3rd and 4th live hatchlings found in Nest 7.

All of them made it to the ocean!




The final count of eggshells revealed 107 hatched eggs, 3 unhatched (a very good outcome!), along with the 4 live hatchlings and 1 dead. Only 1 nest left - Nest # 8.





Nest #7 Update

Quite a morning on the island - first, a message in a bottle - and a beautiful sunrise.  Lots of shells on the beach too.

Then some beautiful endangered wood storks were feeding in the marsh.  Lyndsey took some great photos and was kind enough to share them.

The most exciting discovery this morning was finding a hatchling just struggling out of the nest.  There was one set of tracks leading out of the cage (or maybe two sets, hard to tell).  We could see more hatchlings in the nest, but they were just resting.  Thought they would emerge overnight.

BUT -- we told Merrill Boyce about the event as we were leaving the island.  He came upon the scene of a major hatch!  The first photo shows lots of the hatchlings spread out over the beach - if you click on the photo you can see more details.

All spread out on the way to the ocean

No ghost crabs in sight...

No birds either....

These little turtles picked a good time to make their way out.

On the way - still sand covered

Heading out to sea

Big crater and lots of tracks

Merrill wrote describing them as "scrappy little rascals making their way down the beach, carefully separated so as not to all get eaten at once and moving with such determination on those oversized flippers" - sound just right!  Thank you for sharing these great pictures!

Barb and Steve

CCU Family Weekend

Chelsey explaining the Waties Island sea turtle monitoring program to freshmen and their families.

Steve, Chelsey and Barb talking with families.

Valerie explaining the loggerhead's life cycle.

Barb's afternoon visitor!

This butterfly was attracted to the loggerhead.