Tuesday, August 2nd - Inventory of Nest #4 - the nest with a view

 The day started out with a stunning sun rise.  We split into two teams.  My team headed up the beach, we were to check on the nests from Marker 4 to the Jetty.  Kim and I took care of the nests which needed attention, such as Nest #14 which is being preyed on by Ghost Crabs.  We caught another one of those pesky GCs.  Jingle and Keela headed to the jetty, and when we saw them coming back we headed to Nest #4 to start the inventory - we waited for them. 

  

Kim is ready to go

 

 

 

 

Keela and Jiggle dug, Kim handed down the eggs, helped with the sorting along with Leslie.  The team who did the inventory on Nest #1, joined us to view our findings.

Keela and Jingle Digging, Kim is the Helper

The nest was very shallow

Leslie and Kim Sorting

The count of our nest inventory

Some of the eggs were brown, they looked burnt

Unhatched Egg - the brown spot is an embryo

Here's the outcome.  

Nest #4 - Was discovered on June 7, by the Tuesday volunteers.  This was one of our nests that was located on top of the dune at Marker 4.  This nest emerged on July 30th also, at day 53. This was a shallow nest.  The eggs on the top of this nest were discolored, they even looked burnt.  When we opened some of the unhatched eggs, the contents looked like scrambled eggs.  Many of the eggs at the top of this nest were discolored and a few had roots around the egg.  The other interesting thing about this nest, many of the unhatched eggs were filled with sand.  After closer inspection, we noted a small puncture hole where probably the contents had been sucked out probably by a Ghost Crab.  The outcome of this nest was 87 Hatched, 26 eggs unhatched, 5 dead hatchlings, and no live hatchlings.  The stats for this nest is 75.6% Hatch Success, 71.3% Emergence Success, and a total clutch count of 115 eggs.  Leslie managed this inventory.