Friday, July 7th - Possible Nest #01 and False Crawl #13

 Beautiful lightning show on our way to the beach this morning. Thankfully, not nearby and not raining. Low tide, wide beach with another photo worthy sunrise. 

As we headed up the beach, we came upon a Loggerhead crawl from the high tide line to the base of the dune. It was pretty wind blown making it difficult to distinguish between the incoming and outgoing crawls. Two possible body pits were present at the base of the dune with a short crawl in between. Both looked promising with what looked like thrown sand and crescent shape. We probed extensively in both areas and dug in the area we thought was most likely- softer sand and ants present- but no nest cavity was located.

                   Because of the presence of a discernible body cavity, we have marked it PN #01.

We continued up the beach, and, at the far end of the island, well into the area of the jetties rocks, another crawl was located. A small crawl at 27 inches in the wet, hard packed sand up to the rocks, along the face of the rocks for a short distance then back out. No evidence of any attempt to nest. 

This crawl has us puzzled. It is smaller with more of a “J” or apostrophe shaped alternating flipper mark than the size and distinct “V” of the Loggerhead. Because of its smaller size and more curved appearance, we wondered if we have a different sea turtle on our beach - maybe a rare Kemp’s Ridley? Acknowledging that tracks can look different in wet, hard packed sand, do we have a small Loggerhead or do we have a very rare nesting Kemp’s Ridley who often nest during the day rather than at night? 

 

A review of SCDNR’s Marine Turtle Conservation Program web site indicates the Kemp’s Ridley is the world’s smallest sea turtle, designated in 1970 as endangered. It nests primarily in Mexico and on the  Texas Gulf coast. On rare occasions, this species will lay nests in South Carolina: usually no more than one per year. North Myrtle Beach has had a Kemp’s nest in 2020 and 2022. Small juveniles do occur along the SC coast during the summer. They represent the second most common turtle to strand on our coast. Recent increases in stranding could be due to an increasing population. 

Per SCDNR, Hilton Head has a Kemp’s Ridley nest this year that was initially identified as a Loggerhead, but reclassified as a Kemp’s Ridley based on completed DNA results. Perhaps this lady has traveled up the coast? We have sent our pictures to SCDNR for help in identifying the crawl tracks. They have advised they do not have good pictures of Kemp’s Ridley crawls and are working on obtaining some. We will patiently await the outcome of their review. 

Pictures by Keela, Jingle and Kim

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