Cold, blustery day! The temperature was reported as 52 but feels like 49. It felt colder than that to today's walkers! We will think about this day on our walks in July and August!
It was, as usual, beautiful on the island. No trash. Sand was windblown. The tide was going out.
Some beauty:
Very cold and windy day!
Our first day started out dark and dreary but by the end of our patrol Waties was in its full glory. Bill and I walked the short end and Kim and Brenda walked the long end.
Not much trash. Not too many ghost crabs scurrying around. It was windy. I think they were hunkered down in their nests for the most part. Except for these guys who were hanging on.
The first nest of the season on the north strand was laid yesterday afternoon on North Myrtle Beach. AND IT WAS A KEMPS RIDLEY, the most endangered of the sea turtles. Also one of the smallest - adults usually weigh about 75 to 100 pounds. Another somewhat unusual fact is that they are often daytime nesters and this turtle was no exception. She came onto the beach in North Myrtle Beach around 5 pm last evening in front of a large high rise building.
The Beach Patrol was on hand to keep bystanders back while she laid her nest. The NMB Sea Turtle Patrol was on hand too and were able to relocate 95 eggs to a safer location along the beach.
These turtles are similar to loggerheads in that they can lay a new nest every 2 to 3 weeks. We should keep this in mind when patrolling on Waties; if she were to come in during the day and it went undiscovered until the following morning, the tracks could be hard to see. Look sharp!
Just a beautiful day on the island today, warm, gentle breeze, no bugs. I walked the short end today, so thought to show some pictures of the erosion happening on the short end of the island.
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| Sunrise with lacy clouds |
We had a discussion on the jellyfish that wash ashore, right now we are seeing the Cannonball jellies.
We also noted a seaweed that we were not familiar seeing. Using Goggle Lens it could be "Nereocystis", which is a subtidal kelp that in English has a variety of names; edible kelp, bull kelp, bullwhip, ribbon kelp and/or bladder wrack. The other item Goggle Lens found is "Ulva Intestinalis" which is a green algae and goes by the common name sea lettuce, gutweed, and grass kelp. We do see sea letttuce on our beach, and the "Ulva Intestinalis" is a tubular member of the sea lettuce genus Ulva. If anyone knows for sure, please let me know.
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| Do you know? |
CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C. (May 2, 2022) — One day after the ‘official’ start of sea turtle nesting season in South Carolina, a team spotted the first nest of 2022.
Sea turtle staff and volunteers with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service were scouting in Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge when they saw telltale tracks in the sand on Lighthouse Island. Abigail King (“AK”), Billy Shaw and Gina McQuilken, who also found the season’s first nest in 2020, identified the tracks as belonging to a loggerhead sea turtle, by far the most common nester in South Carolina.
Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge sits approximately 45 minutes north of Charleston and hosts one of the densest sea turtle nesting locations along the eastern seaboard north of Florida. Refuge staff join South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) biologists and over 1,500 coast-wide volunteers in regularly patrolling beaches from May 1 to October 31 to count, monitor and protect sea turtle nests.
"We're excited and optimistic for a great nesting season for sea turtles along our coast," said SCDNR biologist Michelle Pate, who leads the state's sea turtle nesting program.
For the last two years, nest numbers have held steady at 5,644 nests in 2021 and 5,560 in 2020. Typically, nesting fluctuates from year to year, as female sea turtles lay in a cyclical pattern – it’s not unusual for record-breaking years (like 2019; 8,795 nests) to follow low nesting years (like 2018; 2,766).
Overall, sea turtle nest numbers across the Southeast have trended up over the past decade, making biologists across the region optimistic that these threatened reptiles are beginning to recover after several decades of conservation efforts.
Four sea turtle species nest on South Carolina beaches: loggerheads, greens, Kemp’s ridleys and leatherbacks. All four species are classified as endangered or threatened and are protected under the Endangered Species Act in addition to local and state ordinances. Loggerhead nests comprise most of the state’s total number of nests each year.
Sea turtle clutches average 120 eggs and hatch after approximately 60 days. Nesting females may remain in South Carolina waters and continue to nest every two weeks, laying up to six nests per season. Throughout this stressful time, the turtles also abstain from eating.
South Carolina beachgoers can help the state’s sea turtles by keeping beaches clean, turning beachfront lights out to avoid disorienting turtles and giving all sea turtles and nests a wide and respectful berth when encountered on the beach.
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| A sea turtle 'crawl' is the track left by a female coming ashore to find a suitable place to dig a nest and lay her eggs. This crawl on Lighthouse Island led to the state's first nest of the season. (Photo: Gina McQuilken) |
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| Cape Romain Wildlife Refuge sea turtle technician AK smiles in front of the newly protected first-laid nest of the season. (Photo: Gina McQuilken) |
Started the first walk of the season with beautiful weather and gorgeous sunrise.
