Friday, June 16 - Nest #2R and an encounter with momma

As we headed up the beach at the start of this brand new beautiful day, we were full of hope that our nest drought would end today. That hope turned into reality and then some. 

We were observing the large amount of wrack left by last night’s tide…

when we got a text from Jingle (who is always 200 feet in front of us😉) consisting of one word -  “TURTLE.” We hightailed it up the beach in time to see momma just finishing completing throwing sand over her nest and heading for the ocean. We watched/followed her in awe as she made her return trip to the water. She was big and she was beautiful.

                                                  -  Melissa demonstrating how big she is -

Jingle managed to get some measurements of her carapace for reporting purposes, and we were able to note there were no tags or tag scars. She was quite tolerant of the activities of her admirers. 

With one last look, she bid us adieu. Fingers crossed she will come back again this season.

Oh yes, after all that fun and excitement, we had some work to do. The rest of the beach was covered, then we set our sights on the nest.

What an advantage to know exactly where the nest would be found! A few probes and we had our nest chamber. It was shallow. We may have rushed her covering up somewhat by our arrival on the beach. Because the nest was just at the wrack line from last week’s high tides, we decided to relocate it nearby, but further up toward the dunes. 150 eggs were laid! With three found broken in the nest, 147 were relocated.        

                                                          A true group effort…

                                                        - Linda and Kim fill the bucket -

                                                -Arlene collects the eggshell for genetics testing-

                                                          -Melissa dug their new home-

                                         -Jingle and Melissa rebury the eggs as Arlene recounts

                                            -while Linda and Kim set up the triangulating poles-

Nest #2R is in the books. Great job by all. We greatly missed the rest of the Friday Turtle Tribe, Keela and Jan who were with us in spirit and in our hearts.

Waties Island performs research and management activities regarding sea turtle conservation in accordance under SCDNR Permit Number MTP500. 

Photos by Melissa, Jingle and Kim