Waties Island Nest Count

Thursday, August 30, 2018

Thursday's walk and inventory of #8 nest

Nice walk today.  #9 did not emerge.  Depression still there.  Lots of ghost crab tracks.  #7 did emerge.  Barb will be following up with the details on that inventory.  All the other nests were relatively quiet with a few ghost crab trappings.


The inventory of #8 was held after our walk.  The group of walkers present worked together and all went well.  Our Coastal students worked to dig the eggs out, many of which were in the roots of the sea oats that had grown around the nest.  Getting some of the eggs out was not easy!  When all was done and accounted for we counted 68 hatched eggs and 24 unhatched.






And then there is the usual beauty of our island!



Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Wednesday, August 29

Had a lovely walk with the Wednesday crew.  Lots going on.  On the short end there was a dead headless hatchling in front of nest 8, our inventory for tomorrow. 
 
Nest 7 had a large hole that looked like a ghost crab hole.  We will know more tomorrow.

Nest 14 had one ghost crab in the trap which was disposed of.
There also were tracks that Barb guessed might be a bobcat.



On the upper end at nest 9 there is a depression so we may have a couple of things going on tomorrow.  The other nests were quiet.


We walked up to marker 8 to see if the stranded turtle had made it back to the ocean.  There were no remains so I think s/he had a proper burial at sea!

Monday, August 27, 2018

Monday, August 27th - Nest #6 Inventory - Nest #8 Emerges

A foggy start to the morning which made for an unusual sunrise - always something different out there!

This morning we conducted an inventory of Nest 6 which emerged last Friday. This nest was originally found by the Wednesday team back on June 27 and several members of the team were on hand this morning to see the outcome. Also with us this morning were several members of the CCU Sea Turtle Club and a videographer from Coastal to record the event, and some visitors from the North Myrtle Beach Sea Turtle Patrol.

The final outcome was very good: we found 103 hatched eggs and only 17 unhatched. Early on we did lose one egg for the DNA sample and four more to ghost crabs. This made for a total of 125 eggs in the nest which is just a bit above average. To the delight of the crowd, a lone but lively hatchling was recovered in the nest. It was carefully escorted down the beach and into the ocean.

The other exciting news this morning is that Nest 8 just below the entrance had hatchling tracks this morning. There has been a hole/depression for two days now but no tracks. But now we can call it "emerged" after seeing the tracks. An inventory will be conducted on Thursday morning.

CCU Sea Turtle Club members start the digging 

A lucky hatchling . . .

Jewel and Phyllis working on the sorting of egg shells

Finished the sorting

Final results - 103 hatched

Assisted to the ocean


The other exciting news this morning is that Nest 8 just below the entrance had hatchling tracks this morning. There has been a hole/depression for two days now but no tracks. But now we can call it "emerged" after seeing the tracks. An inventory will be conducted on Thursday morning.

Foggy Sunrise

Nest #8 Emergence Hole

Hatchling tracks
Blog update - Leslie P,  photos Linnea Knecht & Leslie P


Friday, August 24, 2018

Friday August 24 Nest 6 Emerges!!

Our walkers were delighted to find that Nest # 6 located below marker 4 had emerged overnight, day 58 of incubation!! Beautiful emergence hole and lots of tracks heading for the water!! Inventory on Monday
Post and Pictures by Paulette
Tracks leading from emergence hole



Emergence hole at reed 


The footprints were there from yesterday.The
hatchling tracks pass over them!!Lots of
human tracks on the beach every where
 today

Tracks leading to ocean. A couple of hatchlings left
the pack but their tracks seemed to end up near the
wet sand!!

They had a long march but hopefully many
were successful!!

Thursday, August 23, 2018

Thursday the 23rd

Not much going on nest wise.  #6 had a very large ghost crab hole (looks like something was dragged out of hole) and lots of ants.
No tracks whatsoever.  On our trip back in we looked at it again and the hole had started to fill with sand due to wind.  Signs are it is getting close.

When we finished checking nest #10 we decided to walk further down the beach and found our stranded turtle.  We went back in with our Thursday walkers and went back out with to record info on the turtle.  A vulture was having a fine meal as we drove up.  With a phone connection with Karen we gathered info and took pictures of the turtle.  It was very entangled in over 20 yards of 100 pound test fishing line with a lure and a planer (lucky Bill is a fisherman) and a couple of logs. We tried to ID the turtle but the form says make no guesses. So you can make your own guesses.  It is rank smelling though.  If the vulture returns it may be bones soon.  It is directly in front of the marker 8 sign.





Monday, August 20, 2018

Monday, August 20 beautiful morning

Nothing exciting on the island today, but a beautiful morning for pictures!  With the 20 mile an hour winds we have had the last few days, the blown sand has transformed the island.
Sand Avalanche 

Graceful Sea Oats

Storm clouds with a peeking sun

Storm clouds moving on 

Friday, August 17, 2018

Nest 5 Inventory

We had a large group who joined in on today's inventory of Nest 5!  It was a fairly deep nest

Several from the group helped with pulling out eggs from the nest, sorting and counting. Two dead hatchlings were discovered in the nest, but also a live hatchling which was released. Today's results: 87 hatched eggs and 1 unhatched for a 97.7% hatch success.



Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Tuesday, August 14 Nest 5 Emerges!!

This morning  Kinsey and the Tuesday walkers found that Nest 5 had emerged!! They found 
hatchlings still on the beach, a few dead and some struggling at the water line. This nest was laid on June 17 and emerged on day 58 of incubation. It is located below Marker 1. Sea oats had grown near and over the nest site. 
 Kinsey reported that many tracks led to the water, so the majority of the hatchlings made it through the ghost crab gauntlet. Inventory to be held Friday August 17.
Pictures by Kinsey
Post by Paulette
Nice emergence hole!! But tracks are everywhere!

Notice hatchling tracks wandering. Ghost crab
interference??

Hatchling tracks

Notice ghost crab tracks here

Circle of life but still...