#23 emerges!

Another interesting day on Waties. Nest #23 emerged. There were lots of hatchling tracks.  Eight hatched shells and one unhatched egg were found on the surface.  There were lots of paw prints all over the nest.  There was evidence that the animal (coyote?) dug into the nest. Sarah buried the eggs at the top of the dune.

Nest 24 had no signs of any activity.

And then there was #22.  There were no hatchling tracks and just a slight depression.  It had not been overwashed but there were more animal tracks.  We found 12 hatched shells, 2 dead hatchlings, 1 pipped egg on the surface. As we observed the nest one pipped egg was somewhat exposed.  We dug slightly and other pipped eggs were seen.  We covered those up in the nest. We buried all eggs and hatchlings found on the surface. Not a very hopeful scene but we certainly never know.  It is 58 days old.

As we left the beach we found about a dozen roses strewn along our walk to commemorate our lost hatchlings!