Hot and humid morning on the Island. Thankfully a beautiful partially cloudy sky and a good breeze helped make it more pleasurable and kept the bugs at bay.
As we approached the upper end of the Island, we discovered a large crawl (37-38”) against this amazing backdrop. Long crawl out of the wet sand and up the face of the dune. (Beautiful pic Melissa!)
Exploring further, we located a potential body pit on top of the dune, noted that momma slid down the back of the dune - a steep drop off, then crawled her way back up about 25 feet along the backside of the dune, crested the dune, back down the front and out to the ocean.
Potential body pit within the incoming crawl at the top of the dune
View from the top of the dune of the outgoing crawl. (Incoming on the left)
We probed for a bit in the area that looked most likely, but it became evident this was not going to be quick find- if at all. The remainder of the beach was covered, then we returned, determined to find a nest. We probed extensively, but the nest chamber eluded us. Difficult to locate due the contour of the top of the dune and the presence of a lot of dune grasses.
As our energy and enthusiasm for continued probing was waning, we did some digging. Encouraged by an area of soft sand, we reprobed an area previously covered, and this time, found the nest chamber. Yay Linda!!
The nest was deep. Persistence pays off😊
The decision was made to relocate the nest due to its precarious position on the dune (afraid we’d have a slew of hatchlings falling off the back of the dune); due to the abundance of grasses which appeared likely to inundate the nest; and due, in part, to our not so great results with dune-top nests last year.
139 eggs laid, two broken. Relocated 137 eggs to the base of the dune right next to the incoming crawl
Relocating to their new home
Nest 5R - Time to head back - hot, tired, but happy
Pictures by Melissa and Kim
Waties Island performs research and management activities regarding sea turtle conservation in accordance under SCDNR Permit Number MTP 500.
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