Tuesday, September 26th - Inventory of Nest 9R - Our last nest of the season

 The day started out with sea fog on the beach.  Nice and cool, very light breeze, and no bugs on the beach.  For the inventory we had 15 CCU students who are members of the Sea Turtle Club, and a number of our LOAs and volunteers also attended.  Some of our volunteers did not make it, and sorry - we missed you. Jackie Boyce whose family donated the land to CCU also attended the inventory.   Luckily, we had three trucks to transport everyone out to the island.  Nest 9R was our last nest laid.  It was laid on July 29th, 2023 and due to its location which was close to the high tide line, it was moved to higher ground.  She laid 87 eggs, one was sacrificed for the DNA study, so we knew we had 86 eggs to uncover.  This nest emerged on September 23rd, on day 56.

Nest 9R

Two of our new volunteers

Instruction and Assignments given

 

 

 

 Steve checked the Hog Inlet area with his passengers and the rest of us walked up to the nest site.  Assignments were given and the digging process started.  Unfortunately, we were disappointed, this nest did not do well. The nest had 86 total eggs, 38 eggs hatched, 48 unhatched, 0 dead, 0 live hatchlings.    The unhatched eggs looked very similar to the ones we found for Nest 6R.  The unhatched eggs were either empty or not fertilized, and most had that ugly pinkish orange color denoting possible invasion of bacteria.  This nest had a 43.6% Hatched and Emergence Success.  One of the unhatched eggs had a spacer egg on it, and several eggs still had the tissue on them from her laying the eggs.

Kim supervising the digging

 

Passing of the shells

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Egg  with an attached spacer egg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inventory results

Our helpers for this nest, members of the CCU Sea Turtle Club

 The find of the day was made by Cherie - a large Horse Conch with the creature displaying its presence.  Lots of Moon jellies on the beach, saw just a few small Cannonball Jellies, and several of the large Lion's Mane jellies.

 

 

 

 

 

Sad to say that the 2023 Nesting season has come to an end.  Many, many thanks to our dedicated Leads and Volunteers.  I hope to see you all again next year.

Narrative by Leslie, Pictures by Leslie and Cherie

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