We started out early, hot and humid and thankfully we did have a breeze . The lower end was quiet with Pelicans roosting on the beach. From the look of the wrack line, last nights high tide was high on the beach welcoming the full moon which is known as the "Buck Moon".
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| Good Morning! |
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| Pelicans and shorebirds |
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| Lots of washed up material |
There were signs of blowing winds and the dunes on the Hog Inlet end of the island is a testament to those winds and the blown sand.
I received a call that a nest had emerged, and was hoping our new nest #14 had emerged, since we found this undetected nest on Monday. However, the nest that emerged was our Nest 04R. This nest was laid on June 5th and was worked by our Friday Volunteers. It was found about mid-island, on the lower portion of the beach and was moved to higher ground, the "R" indicates the nest was relocated. When we relocate a nest we move the eggs to a more protected area of the beach. In this case we moved it higher on the dune. The volunteers relocated 104 eggs.
Nest 04R - when found this morning a hatched egg was found inside of the cage, along with a hatchling. He was alive, no yolk sac was seen, but not as lively as he could of been. The volunteers left him where he was and continued their patrol up the beach. By the time I walked up to the nest from Hog Inlet, the hatchling was gone. We are hoping it was smart enough to go back into the emergence hole, and not taken away by a Ghost Crab. No drag marks or other indications that event took place.
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| Emergence hole with eggshell |
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| Hatchling outside of the nest |
This nest emerged on day 54. We will inventory this nest on Saturday.
Narrative by Leslie, Pictures by Leslie, Kim and Pam
Waties Island sea turtle patrol is permitted and authorized by SCDNR under permit MTP 500.
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