Waties Island Nest Count

Wednesday, July 10, 2019

Nest #19 on Tuesday and Two False Crawls on Wednesday


 Yesterday, up at the very Eastern end of the island, next to the Jetty, our Tuesday walkers and their visitors, including children, were rewarded with Nest  #19.  



It was a typical nest sight right up against the dune.  Our numbers are climbing and we are hoping to break our 2016 record of 28 nests.  As of this date we are on target with the number of nests at this
time in 2016
 

Today, Tuesday, Nest #2 had a small Ghost Crab hole.  Checked and found no crab, covered the hole up and since this nest is 48 days old today I did not put in a Ghost Crab Trap.  At Nest #3 (not shown)  we did catch a Ghost Crab in that trap.  We released him and reset the trap.  Nest #3 is now 44 days old

At the very Western end of the Island,  Facing Hog Inset and Cherry Grove, a group of very observant Wednesday walkers found this crawl in a very small alcove caused by dead trees.   Had they not walked as far as they could and had not been as observant as they were, they would have missed this crawl.  There was no sign of the crawl beyond the alcove. 


She tried and left to return to the ocean.

False Crawl #28 was found up in the dunes about 50 feet past the boat.  This crawl was very similar to False Crawl #29 in that it had the two drag lines in the center of the crawl.


She came up, butted up against the clump of Sea Oats, came in front, made a short U-turn, made a small attempt to nest, decided that it was not right for whatever reason, and headed back.  Note the hole in the middle of the crawl below the clump of Sea Oats.

Deciding which is the in coming and which is the out going crawl.   You can also see where the tide line was at the point that she left

A better picture of False Crawl #28


On our way back to the entrance two of our walkers found a spool of line on the beach.  Started to wind it up while another walker followed the line into the dunes and came out with a kite!

                                                A beautiful kite, in perfect condition.


Thanks to the group that continued to the upper island while I determined whether we had a nest or not.  


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