Nest 9R Inventory and more

Over the dunes and what should appear?? A jet ski washed up on the beach! It was a little too big to fit in our usual plastic trash bags, so we took down the registration number and called SCDNR.

They were able to contact the owner who was visiting NMB with his family. They came out to the island with Steve and were able to get the ski loaded onto their trailer.

No new nests on Waties today, but the season isn't quite over yet - NMB had a new nest this morning!

Inventory time...  Nest 9R was just below the entrance. There were 105 eggs buried in the relocated nest on June 11. One was taken the very next day by a ghost crab. Today we found 61 hatched eggs, 43 unhatched eggs and no live or dead hatchlings.

Sorting the hatched from unhatched

Pulling the secondary markers

We also got to see a sea wasp - a box jellyfish - that was still alive. It was on the Hog Inlet end of the island and must have washed up in the last tide. Their 5 inch cube shaped bell is almost colorless and would be hard to see in the water.

Blair Witherington's book, Living Beaches of Georgia and the Carolinas, describes these animals as "our most venomous jellyfish, requiring hospitalization for some sting victims" 

Thanks to Valerie for the inventory photos!

Barb