Tuesday, July 19th - Nest 18 and 19

 The Tuesday volunteers had a "2 Nest Day".  The first crawl we saw was between Marker 3 and Marker 4, closer to Marker 4.  We continued with our walk and discovered the second crawl of the day between Marker 4 and Marker 5, close to Marker 5.  We walked a little further and split up, Rachel finished walking the long end, and Sherrie and Leslie headed back to Nest 19 site.

Nest #19 - The only part of the crawl visible was in the wet sand, the rest of the track was blown over.  This was the same for both crawls, thus no really clear pictures of the entire crawl.  She crawled up to this ledge on the side of the dune.  The egg chamber was a piece of cake to find using the two ghost crab holes, found the egg chamber on the second probe.  The egg chamber was shallow.  Sherrie did the DNA vial and Rachel was back to help us with the poles.  This nest will need to be watched for Ghost Crab depredation.  There were several  Ghost Crab holes around this body pit, including ones on the side of the dune.

Crawl in the dry sand just disappeared

Tracks in the wet sand

Ghost Crab Holes

Nested on the side of the dune - nice and high and dry

Sherrie doing the DNA vial

Nest #19 - job well done

Nest #18 - as mentioned above the crawl tracks were gone from the "dry" sand due to the wind. The normal things that we use to help identify where the nest chamber is located, thrown sand, crescent shape in the sand, disturbed vegetation were not present due to the heavy rains and wind we have been getting.  This egg chamber was not easy to find.. The sand was hard and we could hear the crunching of plant roots while probing.  We did find a place where the sand was soft, but digging did not produce any eggs.  At this time, it was 9:00 and the volunteers had other commitments so I drove them back to the shed.

I went back out and with some help we found the nest chamber.  We were so close the first time around, but the nest was found.  This nest chamber was deep about a foot in depth.  I did the DNA vial, posts were put up and we were done.  

The crawl we spotted

Rachel spotted the body pit

Leslie gets to do the DNA vial

Nest #18

The other items of interest on Waties Island is the number of soaring Pelicans we saw today and our Nest #01 has a small crack on top of the nest - it is 55 days old today.  Exciting times are coming!

Soaring Pelicans

Nest #1 has a small crack by the reed

 

Sunday, July 17, False Crawls, 16,17,18,19

 Yes, these ladies like to play with the Sunday team.  Very disappointing walk, but  good experience

All four false crawls were similar - traveled right up the beach and came right back down with hardly any signs of disturbance.  We probed sights in spots to be sure.

F C #16 was found near M 4 by Kim, Karen and Jewel.  She came up went to the right, made a stop but no body pit.  Then went right back out

 

This crawl resembles a pink ribbon logo.  Notice the squiggly line in center of the track.This crawl was 31-32: wide.

F.C. #17, Right after M5. Very long and very wide.  This crawl measured 34".

This lady made a heart with her crawl, then right back down to the water.

Animal tracks  below may have scared her off.  Most likely bobcat.

F.C. 18 

Although this crawl is very long and wide.  It resembles FC #16.  The

crawl is 31-32"

She bent the grass here so we probed, but no luck, sand was hard.  F C's 16 & 18 maybe the same lady.

                                    F C #19

A quick trip up and back.  She measured 27-28"  This was between M 6 & 7, closer to M7.

Many thanks to Karen, Kim, Lorna and Jewel for their great work and pictures !

Friday, July 15 Wild Nest #17

 The weather was threatening as we entered the beach. Arlene headed to the inlet and the rest of us checked nests close by and then decided we needed to leave. The storm was coming and the lightning was getting close. Arlene called that a nest had been dug up and shells scattered everywhere.  Just below the new Nest #16, below Marker 2. This was an undetected nest that was destroyed by a predator. We found two very faint canine tracks in the sand pile. 72 egg shells were

recovered and taken off the beach. I took a shell for DNA research. 

Faint paw prints? The hole was 24 inches
deep with a few shells found.

Side view showing the directional digging
of a canine predator. Shells were everywhere.

72 shells found

There was a crab hole deep in that nest, too.

The Friday Team

 Thursday, July 14, 2022  -PN #6

 Overnight storm, with its strong winds and heavy downpours,  had moved off shore when we got to the beach this morning. Last night’s full moon still shining brightly.

At the short end of the island, we discovered a broken up dock washing ashore. The wooden portion was still in the surf, but various large foam pieces were on the beach. Leslie and Brenda carried them up beyond the high tide line. Leslie will coordinate their removal later today.

Beyond M 6, a faint crawl was found almost obliterated by the overnight wind and downpours. We surmised this was the incoming crawl, although we couldn’t be sure. The distinct V pattern had been obscured. A second crawl, presumably outgoing, was about 40 feet up the beach with the marker for PN #4 between the crawls. Crawl measured 32”

                                                           Presumed incoming crawl

                                                            Presumed outgoing crawl
                                                                                                            

Between the two crawls she travelled to the top of the dune and slid back down 3 times,  crawling both behind and in front of the dune. Thrown sand marking possible body pits were located at each of the 3 points high on the dune. The track was difficult to follow due to the previous night’s wind and rain, disappearing altogether in certain areas. 

Even more puzzling was the fact that a wind blown crawl continued further up the beach in a pretty scalloped pattern along the base of the dune for about 20 feet beyond the presumed outgoing track, then simply disappeared. We actually wondered if we possibly had two turtles, but the crawl measurement was consistent throughout. 

                                                   Three areas of climbing up/sliding down the dune

                                                  The pretty scalloped pattern along base of the 

                                                  dune about 20’ outside of the in and out crawl

We extensively probed all three noted areas, but no eggs were found. Marked PN #6 at the location where we identified the most likely nesting area. 

                                              PN #4 in the foreground, PN #6 on top of the dune

 Many thanks to Leslie and Karen for being our sub walkers today!! 

                                            

                                                  

Tuesday July 12 Nest # 16

 The Tuesday team found a crawl just down from the entrance. Below marker 2. A long crawl up to the dunes.  The crawl width was 28-30 inches. And she crossed over her incoming track when returning to the ocean.

Close up of crawl

She laid at that clump of sea oats at top of picture

The body pit was small and unimpressive in that there was not much sign of disturbed sand
or thrown sand. She broke sea oats and there was a crab hole, but it just looked flat and unpromising.

But we found the eggs! The crab hole did not help this time, as the eggs were found towards
the top of the body pit near the broken sea oats. Rachel
did the DNA sample for us.

Picture with secondary poles and our group picture
It was a great day for this team and guests

Post by Paulette
Pictures by  Paulette and Emma (our guest)

Tuesday July 12 Washover PN5 and Repair Nest #2R

The Tuesday team walking the lower end found that PN#5 had been washed over by the very high tide on Monday evening. King tides are expected for the next few days and this PN will get wet but 

hopefully no harm will be done.

Nest 2R has been plagued by ghost crabs the last few days. Today the team walking the upper end took off the cage and removed the screen and made sure no crabs were in the holes before filling them in and replacing the screen and cage. One egg shell was found in the sand around the holes.

Post by Paulette

Pictures by Paulette and Melissa

Nest #15 😊

July 9 and now we are 15! Not to mention several Possible Nests that may turn out to be nests after all is said and done. A downright busy summer!

After a week of sweltering heat and humidity, the weather was nice - breezy and cooler. Made the patrol a lot more pleasant. 

 

Since today is Day 45 for our first nest, we are taking proactive steps to protect the nest from predators. A cage was placed over this nest and also over Nest 2. While the coyote presence has bee limited this season, we would rather be safe than sorry. Those critters could come back anytime and wreck havoc. 

The lower end of the island was quiet...  On to the upper end: Steve was delivering cages to the two nests to be protected when he saw a crawl. Looking toward to ocean, he was lucky to see the mother turtle just re-entering the water! How cool is that?

The tracks leading into the ocean

The team split up with some continuing the island patrol and some investigating the crawl. It took a bit of time, but the nest was found.

Bingo!

Love that smile (and the visor too!) Egg for DNA sample on the surface

Nest #15!

All the other nests looked good except our new Nest 14 laid two days ago. This one was pretty shallow and the ghost crabs were happy about that. We had to remove one from the egg chamber this morning (a scary job!) and we placed a screen over it to deter any further problems.

Ghost crab in the hole

Hope this screen will keep those crabs out

Thanks to Leslie for sharing her photos!

Barb and Steve