Waties Island Nest Count

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Hold on to Your Hat!

Another new nest this morning - Nest #28 of the season was discovered at Marker 9. This was originally marked as a "possible nest" but last night, there was an emergence -- and now that we know exactly where it is, it is marked with a PVC pole.

Nest 28


The other discovery was that Nest #19 also emerged overnight - as we approached the nest, there was one turtle still crawling out of the hole. It easily made it to the ocean while we all watched.

Nest 19

 Can't quite see the turtle but that's where it came from.

Then on to the main event of the morning, the inventory of Nest #27 which was found on Saturday. It too was a possible nest which became a reality when tracks and a crater were discovered. Hatched eggs were 112, unhatched only 12 and one dead turtle which we used for the DNA sample. A very good outcome!

Sorting the pieces






 More inventories in the next few days!

Thanks to Valerie and Steve for sharing their photos today,

Barb

Saturday, August 27, 2016

Nest 16 Inventory and a New Nest!

The record breaking continues with Nest #27 discovered today - This was previously labeled a "possible nest" (PN) and this one was right by Marker 8. This morning, we were only a few feet away getting ready to inventory Nest #16 when hatchling tracks were found at the PN.



Next, the inventory of #16 - as we've seen this summer, a good bit of sand had accumulated over the nest, but we found 114 hatched eggs, only 10 unhatched, along with two dead and one live turtle. The Coastal Sea Turtle Club was on hand to dig and photograph at the event. 


Coastal Sea Turtle Club members on hand today

It was pretty deep and a little hard to find

On the lower end, more excitement -- Nest #20 (the last one on the island) had a ghost crab hole and also a dead hatchling on the surface. Bet they've hatched and are just waiting for the right time to come out. Maybe tonight??

Nest 20

Thanks to Valerie, Leslie and Jeanne for sharing their photos.

Barb and Steve

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

August 24 Another Emergence!!

On Wednesday, August 24, we discovered that Nest # 16
had emerged overnight, Day 53 of incubation. This nest is
at Marker 8, and the hatchlings were smart and made their
run during high tide!! Lots of miniature tracks!!
Pictures by Leslie P.
Post by Paulette

Perfect
 

Lots of hatchling tracks

This was a major emergence

Another beautiful sunrise on Waties

Sunday, August 21, 2016

Inventory of Nest #10

There we were again this morning, "digging to China" - Nest 10 was 41 inches deep (beat the last really deep one which was only 39 inches).

But a surprisingly good outcome with 79 hatched eggs and only 5 unhatched. One dead and six live hatchlings were also recovered.

See how deep the sign post is


Starting the excavation

Some live ones!!
Swimming away


Watching them enter the ocean
Still digging

And digging...

And sorting...

This one was "pipped" - didn't make it out of the shell

Thanks to Valerie and Leslie for sharing their photos from this morning!

Barb

Saturday, August 20, 2016

Nest #13 Inventory

Saturday morning inventory of Nest #13 - 96 hatched - pretty good outcome - and 38 unhatched. Always the best part is helping any live hatchlings left in the nest on their way. Today we found three and all seemed to do just fine (we also found one dead turtle).

Thanks to Valerie for sharing her photos...

There it goes!



The first live one







More Pictures from Friday, August 19

Leslie P shared these pictures of our exciting
Friday.


Inventory  of Nest 14

The hole was a normal depth.

A pipped egg and two other undeveloped
embryos

Lil guy from Nest 10 hits the surf

And this guy observed overhead!!

Friday, August 19, 2016

August 19 Inventory and Nest 10 Update

Friday, August 19
We walked up to Marker 9 to inventory Nest 14. This nest emerged
after 52 days of incubation. We found 74 unhatched eggs and 44 hatched
eggs, a puny 36.6% hatching success. We were bummed, but as we 
approached Nest 10 on the way back, we were delighted to be able to
escort 20 hatchlings as they made their way to the sea. Our day was
now officially awesome!!
Pictures by Deb and Paulette
Post by Paulette
Weak but making their way


Sandy but moving!!

Now he knows!!


The surf was gentle and the hatchlings were excited!!

Update from Thursday on Nest 10

It was what Bill called his "best Thursday morning, EVER" and it is understandable - beautiful sunrise, birds, jellies, a snake! and lots of baby loggerheads too.

The volunteers first saw more tracks leading toward the ocean but as they were there, they saw that more turtles were still making their way to the surface. This nest has at least an extra 1 to 2 feet of sand that accumulated on top of the original nest making it a hard job of getting out. While they were there, they saw about 22 baby loggerheads start their journey.

It isn't very often that loggerheads emerge during the day, so this was a very special morning for sure!


The buried sign but an emergence hole in the sand

Hatchling tracks

They had a bit of a walk to the ocean

One of the 22 they got to see come out
The long walk
Not poisonous thankfully
 Post by Barb D, photos from Thursday team

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

August 17 Nest # 13 Emerges

Wednesday, August 17 our walkers found that Nest # 13 at Marker 9
had emerged, Day 53. We also had one hatchling leave Nest #10!! 
More to follow, we hope!!
Post by Paulette
Pictures by Leslie and Paulette
Nest #13 emergence


Hatchling tracks!!

Nest #10 one hatchling leaves!!

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

August 16 Activity and Inventory

Nest #14 Emerged, Day 52


Crab Hole at Nest #10 

Possible nest (between marker 5 and 6 has a crab hole!!

Pictures by Valerie
Post by Paulette
Nest #15 crab hole