Waties Island Nest Count

Sunday, October 22, 2017

Beach Sweep on October 21

Yesterday, in conjunction with the SC Sea Grant Consortium and SC DNR, we had a final beach cleanup out on Waties. Thank all of you who came out to help! Many hands made the job a little easier. Again, THANK YOU! And a very special thanks to Bob, Leslie and Bill who volunteered their trucks to haul away an amazing amount of "stuff."

Trash in the cabana

And in those nasty barrels

Don found the toilet seat lid

Wonder what was in that barrel?

The end...

Three trucks of trash and out great volunteers

Bob dug out the mid-island barrel


 Still tallying up the data on what we collected and will share that with you when it is complete.

Barb and Steve

Sunday, October 1, 2017

Sunday October 1 Inventory of Nest 13 additional pictures

Here are more pictures from our inventory today.
Thanks, Abby for the picture of the hatchling.
Hope he makes it!!
Paulette
This nest was shallow when laid, but very deep when inventoried


Sam and Todd  helped by Sharon and Kim

One live hatchling marches to the sea!!

THANK YOU!

☺JUST WANT TO SAY THANK YOU BARB AND STEVE FOR TAKING THOSE FIRST STEPS ALL THOSE YEARS AGO.  IF NOT FOR THE TWO OF YOU, WE WOULD NOT HAVE A WATIES ISLAND TURTLE MONITORING PROGRAM.  I AM IN AWE OF YOUR QUIET DEDICATION, THE HOURS YOU HAVE PUT IN AND YOUR PATIENCE IN TEACHING US ALL.  I'VE GONE FROM NOT KNOWING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A GHOST CRAB TRACK AND A HATCHLING TRACK TO UNDERSTANDING THAT WHAT WE DO EFFECTS OUR ENVIRONMENT.  YOU HAVE ENRICHED MY LIFE! 
VALERIE

The Last Inventory - Nest 13

This morning we set out to inventory our last nest of the season and it was a strange one!  (And also a cool one; it was 57 degrees this morning!)

Sam and Todd did the digging and it was one of those nests where we felt we were "digging to China" again.  Lots of sand got moved before anything happened. Then a live hatchling was found on the side of the hole. But still more and more digging before the first egg was found. Finally!


Sam and Todd digging and digging
After it was all said and done, there were only 4 hatched eggs and 13 unhatched. Those, plus the 4 lost to DNA and ghost crabs, makes this the smallest nest we have ever had.

In the end, almost 30 inches deep


The whole nest contents


Burying the nest contents
There were four eggs that were possibly viable, so we reburied them closer to the surface.



Maybe they will hatch
Heading home

We'll check those last 4 eggs over the next several days to see if anything happens.

Barb and Steve