WILD NEST MAKES OUR 25TH NEST

These are the pictures Mallory and Darby, Inlet Point Plantation, sent to us of the Wild Nest's (Nest #25) as it emerged at about 7 p.m. much to their surprise.

We would have never seen this nest if we did not come across people from the stable.  There were no hatchling tracks anywhere.  They were on the island at the jetty and at approximately 7:00 p.m. they saw about 30 hatchlings coming out of the sand.  There is a beautiful picture of the setting sun with the hatchlings making their way to the ocean that I will put up when I get it.

      There was no hole, only a crater like depression about 18 to 24 inches to the right and slightly above Nest 19 just at the base of the dune.  If you follow Jewels foot to the left and slightly up you may be able to see it.

We found egg shells equaling two eggs on the surface that we collected and buried. 

This is a better picture of what was left when we got there.  With only 30 hatchlings observed, there may be another emergence.  We put a crab trap flag approx. 12" in front of the crater to mark it.

Inventory of Nest 4

Nicki, Linda, John, Jewel and Irene opened the nest.

It was good to see Barb out there today along with Leslie and Cherie one of our Monday walker.

Jewel and Irene found two live hatchlings near the bottom of the nest.

Kaela, Linda and John helped with the count,

Final count - 131 eggs laid.

1 for DNA; 121 hatched; 9 unhatched including 1 pipped; 2 live hatchlings; 

A very successful nest!

While our visitors Darby and Carlton took the hatchlings closer to the ocean so that they could make their way to the ocean.

W

Monday July 29 Nest 3 emerges!!

On Monday, May 27 Angelos led the Monday walkers to find Nest 3 near
marker 8. Today he was there when the walkers saw the signs of an emergence.
Day 63!! This nest will be inventoried on Thursday. Join the walkers at the shed
at 6 AM if you wish to see this inventory.
Pictures by Angelos and Arlene.
Post by Paulette

Nest 3 emergence hole and hatchling tracks!!

Zoom in to see the tracks!! 42 counted!!

This is nest 8 between marker 1 and 2. Is this a depression?
Day 49. Keep a close watch here!!

Dead hatchling found near a crab hole at
Nest 4. This nest will be inventoried Wednesday.
Meet at the shed at 7:45 to carpool out for a
short walk up to the nest near the entrance.

This egg shell was found near nest 19 at the jetty. Boo!!

Sunday July 28 Nest 4 Emerges!!

Another beautiful cool morning on Waties. After 61 days incubation Nest 4 finally emerged!! This nest was laid on May 28 between marker 2 and 3. Lots of hatchling tracks seen down close to HTL. Hopefully, lots of babies made it to the water!! 
Inventory to be announced.
Pictures and Post by Paulette

Zoom in and see the hatchling tracks

Lots of tracks!!

A view from the nest. Mostly ghost crab tracks
here.

Bobcat tracks from entrance all the way up the beach at
foot of dunes

Thursday walk and nest #1 inventory

A beautiful Waties Walk!  The air was cool and the sky was marvelous.  We began our walk looking for ghost crab holes (very few and insignificant), possible emergences, and nests.  When we reached #4 we thought we had a big ghost crab hole at first.  When we touched the area to possibly fill in the GC hole it collapsed into what looked like an emergence! There was absolutely no evidence of hatchling tracks though.  Bill feels it was a depression that got rained (some evidence of a light rain last night) on and blown over.  Whatever it is tomorrow could be an exciting day for the walkers.

We were joined on the beach by many excited Turtle Patrol walkers and their friends.  It was a great inventory with 14 live hatchlings.  It's a wondrous thing to experience new life.  Kinsey was digging very carefully when she sensed movement.  Then we saw the tiny head pop up.  The joy on her face says it all.  Many of the participants got to see our little turtles make their way out to sea.

If you look closely you can see another hatchling emerging in the nest!

Altogether we had 123 eggs in the nest.  116 live turtles and 7 that did not hatch. The hatch success rate was 93.5%. 

Thanks to Elaine and Bill for taking great pictures!

Nest #1's 2nd Emergence

We were grateful for the break in the heat and humidity this morning.  We had no crawls today, but we did have a second emergence at Nest #1

Stragglers that were not quite ready Monday when the majority of their siblings decided it was time.

 All other nests were quiet.  No sign of any crab activity.  Traps were empty of crabs and sand.
Nest #3 is now 58 Days past and Nest #4 is 57 days past and hopefully we will be seeing something with those nests within the next week.

This morning we saw these Pelicans along the shore, something I haven't seen a whole lot of.  Back in 2002 I use to see flocks of them.  It was good to see them.

              Picture of a tree hit by lightning during one of the strong storms we've had recently.

Monday, July 22 Nest #2 Inventory and Emergence of Nest #1

 A most pleasant morning on Waties.  Yippee, Nest #1 Emerged on day 64.  Information on the inventory will be forthcoming.

Our first 2019 nest inventory for Nest #2 was done and is in the books.  Nest#2 was laid on Thursday, 5/23/2019 and emerged on day 57.   The inventory was done by the  Monday Walkers along with Steve, Paulette, Kinsey, and Lynn who joined us.  Nest #2 had a total of 122 eggs, 114 hatched eggs, 7 unhatched eggs, 5 live hatchlings, and sorry to report we had 2 dead hatchlings found in the nest. The 5 hatchlings were released to the ocean.  We had sacrificed one egg for DNA research when the nest was first found.  The hatch success ratio for this nest was quite good - 93.4%.

Many thanks to Maddy and Kim for the pictures, and Lynn, Kinsey, Maddy, and Janice who assisted in the nest digging and sorting of eggs.

Beautiful sunrise

Hatchling Tracks from Nest #1

Hatchling tracks from Nest #1

 

The inventory process begins

Go, baby, go

The outcome - inventory results

Swim, swim!

Another heads to the ocean

A job well done 

End of a good morning . . . 

One more picture July 21

Sharon made a great picture of a cormarant drying his wings on the causeway as we
were leaving. A perfect end to the day.

Sunday July 21 Nest 24

The Sunday walkers found a nice crawl above Marker 8. The turtle came up to the dune, tried to
climb it, failed and moved along the foot of the sheared dune for 25 feet and made a body pit and then returned to the ocean. But the eggs were not in that lovely body pit!! Leslie, Sharon and Lorna persisted after Paulette had given up-eggs found-very deep in soft sand ten feet away from that body pit!! Nest 24 is in the books!! What a year!!
Pictures and Post by Paulette

If you zoom in you can see the attempt to climb the dune.
The group is standing where the turtle stopped the
second time

incoming crawl

First attempt

Second attempt 25 feet later-but eggs weren't
in that hole I dug!!

Outgoing crawl

These three would not give up!!
Lorna, Leslie and Sharon