Waties Island Nest Count

Thursday, July 17, 2014

July 17, 2014 False Crawl #25

(Email Report incorporated)
We had a report this morning of a crawl up around Marker 7 - a bit of a surprise because there hasn't been any activity lately - but a good surprise. Unfortunately there was no nest found today; we've labeled today's activity as a false crawl. Unlike the many, many false crawls by our special needs turtle (DeeDee), this one needs to be checked. It might actually be a nest even though we weren't able to find the eggs. Look for the sign labeled "FC 25" and a date of 7/17.

The North Myrtle Beach Turtle Patrol reported a false crawl two days ago; it is possible that this is the same turtle but it may be another animal entirely - hope she will come back to one of these beaches and lay a nest soon.

Beach Action Soon: Nest #1 at the top of the island is 49 days old and Nest #2 is only two days behind. The first nest of the season historically take a bit longer to emerge (60+ days), but this summer has been exceptionally warm, so expect the unexpected.

Barb and Steve


(From the Thursday Turtle Patrol)
Today was a gorgeous morning. We had hoped to find baby turtle activity at Nest #1, but not yet. However, we did find what was determined to be a false crawl near Marker 7. It was high on the dune and looked promising, but we were not able to locate any eggs. (But we did find 15 pairs of sunglasses and other interesting items!)


It appeared as if she stayed quite a while trying to dig a nest on the steep dune.

Steve found what felt promising, so Karen and Elaine started to search.


Flossie and Lu taking measurements of the tracks
Just in case, Steve probed a little higher, but determined this as a false crawl
Flossie recording the data of the false crawl
Heading back to the Shack
Our work is done for the day

An egg case, known as a mermaid's purse or devil's purse, is a casing that 
surrounds the fertilized eggs of some sharks, skates, and chimaeras. 
This one has been around a while as it has barnacles starting to form on it. 
 We saw quite a few of these casings, but could not identify. 
If you know what it is, please write in the comments below. 
 Mr. Ghost Crab, as much as we don't care for you, you sure are a beauty.
 Very unusual find of the day.
 Fun finds. We probably found 30 sea urchin shells. Excited about that!
 Heading out, we stopped for a few nature photos


 Such a pretty little shack




Photo Blog by Regena Heilmann

1 comment:

  1. That casing is from a parchment worm who lives inside the U-shaped casing that is buried under the sand with only a "chimney" structure sticking out.

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