Waties Island Sea Turtles: May 2012

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

A Rare Find on Waties

This Scotch Bonnet was found by Truman Williams on the lower side of Waties this morning just up from the low tide line. The Scotch Bonnet is the official shell of North Carolina.

MONDAY, MAY 28, 2012....MEMORIAL DAY

MEMORIAL DAY SURPRISE!! NE MARKER #8 2nd Crawl (False)..."too much!"..celebration for Mom!

Our 'LADY' enters and tracks across @ Dunes

Attempts to select a nest here

Leaves nest... crosses back.......turns........exits to ocean!!.

Nest area probed and probed...negative!!!!!

EXIT ...returns to SEA!!!!

Monday Walkers: Kim, Nancy, Sandy/Bob, Sherry
Carrie and Jenny
HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!!
Keep a Watch ???? for her return to WI!!

witurtles@hotmail.com

Sunday, May 27, 2012

The Beauty of the Beach

No nests this morning, but the beach is beautiful. It is a wonderful way to spend time in the morning.

The lower end of the island looking toward the sunrise

The beauty of walking on Waties

Checking out the local whelks (we put it back in the ocean)

Brown pelicans and seagulls

What a pretty leopard crab!

A really BIG whelk in the surf - still alive too

Friday, May 25, 2012

The Season Has Started at Waties

As we were headed to the island this morning, Dave says "I think we' ll find something this morning." We walked almost to the end and I said "Doesn't look like we have anything today." With that Dave said "Looks like we've got something ahead." Sure enough!!!! Right at the end of the island there was a crawl.
Dave and Linda say "Hmmmm, do we have a nest?

She was probably going back into the ocean when we entered the beach. Note the dragging marks on the inside of the of the crawl.

She really wanted to lay those eggs because she travelled all over the area.

Barb and Steve analyzing the site!

Paulette in training!!!

She was a good size! Her crawl was 37"

Friday was a good day this week for Dave, Valerie, Arlene, Linda and Paulette! Even if it was a false crawl. The season has started for Waties!!!!

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

QUIET MORNING TODAY 5/22/12

This morning, the air was still and the beach was clean as a whistle, except for the wrack line. The tide line reached just below the dunes above marker 6 and all the way to the jetty.

Monday, May 14, 2012

Weekend Photos

Saturday was whelk day - lots and lots of live whelks just under the sand at the low tide line. Everyone got to see what the animal looks like in its shell. We also saw moon snails in their shells. Our regular volunteers, Jackie and Chris were there, as well as Brianna and Samantha from Coastal, We also had a visitor from Ohio walk with us and a Coastal employee and her daughter who plan to join us on our Saturday walks. Welcome!

A live whelk

Saturday crew

Sunday was a bit cloudy and threatening rain, but we did get both trash cans emptied (I'm still amazed sometimes at the things that wash up on the beach).

There were both great egrets (all white) and endangered wood storks (black and white) far out in the marsh. The US Fish & Wildlife Service describes wood storks -

" Wood storks are large, long-legged wading birds, about 5O inches tall, with a wingspan of 60 to 65 inches. The plumage is white except for black primaries and secondaries and a short black tail. The head and neck are largely unfeathered and dark gray in color. The bill is black, thick at the base, and slightly decurved. Immature birds are dingy gray and have a yellowish bill. "

Barb

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

'The Crew' Tue. May 8th

Seriously, who ever finds a note in a bottle?

The beauty of Waties!

Sunday, May 6, 2012

A Quiet Week...

Here are a few photos that people have shared over the last week.

The old shack now refurbished

Overall, a beautiful week on the beach. No sea turtle activity on Waties, but we are up to 14 nests in South Carolina - the closest to our beach is on Debidue in lower Georgetown County.

Early nesting all along the coast. Could be us soon!