It was dry this morning, thankfully, making our walk up to Nest 9R for the inventory an easy one. This was one of two nests laid on June 22 (a double header). The original nest contained 109 eggs - one was used for the genetic sample and one other egg was lost to a ghost crab in early August.
Everyone was reminded of the proper way to excavate the chamber and what
to expect. They had to dig pretty far down before reaching the first of
the eggshells.
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| Dig with the side of your hand |
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| Starting the dig |
We did eventually find four hatchlings further down in the chamber. All were released on the beach to make their way into the ocean.
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| Four live ones! |
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| On the way... |
The eggshells were sorted into four categories: hatched, unhatched, live and dead hatchlings. Final count was 100 hatched, 7 unhatched, 4 live and no dead hatchlings. A very good outcome with almost a 92% hatch success.
The beach always seems to have something interesting for us to see and today was no exception. We found lots of sea wasps (they sting; don't touch), a ghost shrimp partially out of the sand and some small brownish jellies.
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| Only about as big as a silver dollar |
Thanks to Erin for sharing her photos today!
Barb and Steve
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