Monday, September 2 Labor Day

Nest #13 Inventory and Emergence of Nest #18

Nest #13 next to the entrance was inventoried today by the Monday Walkers. We missed the actual emergence and had to wait until today (day 70) to dig it up. The outcome was quite good: 90 hatched and only 6 unhatched (no dead or live turtles).  This lady turtle is new to Waties Island.  She laid a nest on Ocean Isle on 6/8/2019 and than laid our nest on 6/24/2019.  The hatch success was 90.9%

Donna and Sherry start the digging,
the nest chamber  was not easy to find

Arlene assisting the digging and giving suggestions 

We had a small audience

Arlene did an excellent job of sorting

This was a shallow nest to start with,
 but it was deep due to the amount of blown sand

 

Results of Nest #13 Inventory

Monday Walkers, Sherry, Leslie, Donna and Arlene
Kim behind the camera

The news from today was that Nest #18 emerged at day 57. The three day waiting period would take us to Thursday, so we know that inventory won't take place (SC DNR does not permit inventories to be conducted early - "it provides a skewed picture of what the hatch and emergence success of that nest truly was." Happily those little turtles are out of the nest and into the ocean where they have a chance to survive.

Emergence Holes for Nest #18,
 no tracks due to wind and high tides

The ocean was churning

Nest #18

We did have several nests that were over-washed - #18, #19, #20, and #22.

In getting ready for Dorian, the Mile Markers and plastic nest signs and poles, along with ghost traps on the island have been removed from the beach. At each of the remaining nests, a wooden stake will substitute for plastic (less pollution if they do get washed away). Hoping the nests themselves don't wash away too!  Many thanks to Steve and Kim who assisted in this prep work.

The Monday Walkers walked the lower end and were saddened to see the erosion to the dunes,.  Pictures of the  items located there - car chassis, the sailboat, trees, etc were taken, who knows what it will look like after the passing of Dorian.