Wednesday, August 9th - Inventory of Nest #1 - Finally

Wednesday, August 9th - Inventory of Nest #1 

Another beautiful morning on Waties.

The morning was better than I thought and expected.  The Wednesday Volunteers along with Barb and Steve Demusz, and guest Connor completed our first nest inventory for Nest #1.  This nest was laid on May 24th and was well located, out of the wrack line and high enough so it would not over-wash.  It was found by the Wednesday Volunteers. We did not see any of the normal signs of hatching or emergence from this nest.  We had one hatchling track on Sunday, and this little one exited via a small ghost crab hole.  This was day 77 so after discussing with SCDNR we dug into the nest chamber this morning.  The sand was very hard and compressed, and after moving our digging over about five inches we finally found the egg chamber and eggs.  We were pleasantly surprised to find 66 hatched, 55 unhatched eggs which included 1 pipped egg. This poor little one was right at the bottom of the nest chamber.  Total egg count was 121 for the clutch.  The nest results for both Hatched and Emergence was 54.5%.  Not our best result, but those little ones had to escape via the crab hole, since that sand was like concrete and they were unable to dig themselves out.  All hatchlings from the hatched eggs got out, we did not find any deceased hatchlings.

Removing the cage, and waiting for the Volunteers.

Volunteers and Connor working as a team - it takes a village

 

 

 

 

 

 

The common question this morning was "how did all of these hatchling get out without "us" seeing tracks". I guess the wind or rain wiped out the tracks, and on Waties we have had a number of rainy mornings and days, nightly storms and the wind, which we get alot of strong winds which would cover up or just blow these tracks away.

All other nests are good.  Nest #2 is 54 days old today, so this nest may soon be emerging.

We did not see the Woodstorks this morning, but sharing yesterday's picture of these beautiful birds thanks to Barbara.

Thanks to all!

Text by Leslie, Pictures by Leslie, Barbara and Valerie

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