Nest #21 Discovered

Tuesday walkers and visitors discovered Nest # 21 this morning! All of us were thrilled especially our young visitors who helped Steve find the nest cavity and retrieve an egg for the genetic sample.

July 9: A Record Breaking Morning!!! Nest #20!!!

                              A crawl and potential nest are discovered between Markers 1 and 2.

   The female loggerhead chose an area with lots of large debris, utilizing it as camouflage for her nest.

                      Success!!! Absolute proof of Nest #20, the record breaking nest, is revealed!

                                                     Jackie removes the DNA sample.

                                              The DNA sample for Nest #20 is prepared.

               Pat, Steve, Marcelle, Nick, Jackie, and Barb with Jeanne as photographer
                                                 celebrate the record breaking nest!

July 8: Nest #19 Discovered--Tricks, Turtles and Tips from Ghost Crabs

     Excitement builds on Waites as we close in on what looks to be a record breaking season. Today Nest 19 was found between markers 5 and 6, on the long stretch of the island. The day began with a pink-gilded cloud-scudded sky, but this sunrise after last night's thunderstorm wasn't the only pleasant surprise awaiting us.

A topsy-turvy crawl from the ocean marked where today's turtle came ashore. There appeared to be an obvious body pit close to the dune wall (pictured below)...but why did she leave it, crawl parallel to the shore for about five yards, then go back out to sea?

Fortunately for turtles and walkers alike, Paulette and Steve Huggins have a detective's eye. After probing the "more obvious" body pit and coming up empty...

 ...
they noted a crab hole in the unusual sideways crawl fifteen feet away.

Though no sand was kicked up, and there was no clear body pit like in the originally probed space, Paulette and Steve thought it was unusual enough to give it a shot.

This is one of those very rare incidents where a ghost crab actually helps instead of hinders...even if its goal was to score one of the turtle eggs hidden beneath the sand. After probing and digging in with care, Arlene discovered the egg chamber under the surface.

Young Shane gets his first "crack" at aiding in DNA research, collecting the sample egg to be sent off for testing.

After assessing the situation, it was decided that the turtle nest did not need to be relocated. The track was measured at 34 inches (see below) the same as one of our previous turtles. Another interesting fact (noted by turtle detective Paulette) is that there are marks left in the track by barnacles that appeared in previous crawls..meaning this is likely the same turtle that came ashore earlier this week.

This turtle just lives to confuse us!

In the end, however, it's hard to confuse Steve and Paulette. They've seen it all.

From Left: Samantha,Arlene, Shane, Gail, Jingle, Lorraine and John, Larry and Paulette

Nest number 19 is marked, now on to nest 20! Oh, and that's not all. We even had a live turtle sighting...

...back at the shed. Hey, box turtles are cool too!

Thanks so much to all the Friday walkers, and special thanks to Steve and Paulette for making this possible! See you next week!

False Crawl # 13 Wednesday, July 6

Our walkers came across a beautiful crawl and body pit
this morning at Marker 8. The difference in length of
incoming and outgoing tracks indicated she had been
on the beach for awhile, but we could not find the egg
cavity!! 34 inch crawl.  We marked this nest with a pole saying "PN
7/6". We will keep an eye on this spot in about 55 days!!

Pictures by Sharon
Post by Paulette

Steve Huggins finds nests!!  But not this one!!

A great crawl

Nest #18 (One More to Tie the Record)

Steve and I joined the Tuesday volunteers this morning and we were also joined by Karen's husband Jim. On the beach we found that the wind was really blowing, but those nests need checking and we're still looking for new nests.

There was a false crawl around Marker 5 - short set of tracks but nothing that looked like a nest. The wind blew the sand so that we couldn't even see where she turned around. Probed and subsequently marked with a PVC pipe - FC #12, 7/5.

But further up the beach around Marker 6.5, there was a nice set of tracks. The incoming and outgoing tracks were different lengths indicating that she spent some on the beach laying a nest.

The area up by the dunes was wind blown but there was a hint where the nest might be. Sure enough, after a few tries, the eggs were found. Number 18!

Margie, Steve, Jim, Karen and Debbie

 My apologies for the blurry photo (Barb)

The view over the marsh is always beautiful

Post by Barb; photos by Jim

Saturday and Sunday, July 2 and 3: Two Dawn Walks with Success: Nests #16 and #17!!

             The Saturday patrollers were rewarded close to marker 8 with a crawl and Nest #16!

 

 

 

 

Here the Saturday walkers along with Caitlin, a representative from SC DNR, celebrate the discovery!

 

The Sunday patrol was treated to yet another crawl this time near marker 7.

The loggerhead mother attempted to scale the dune but returned to the foot of the dune to dig the egg chamber.

 

She returned to the Atlantic by the same path.

 

The egg chamber was easily located.

We had assistance from Robbie and her son Carter, visitors from Socastee.

The DNA sample was prepared with their help.

The Sunday patrol and visitors celebrate the second find, Nest #17, of this first July weekend!

 

Hopefully our archenemy will be foiled!