Monday August 31, Nest 8R inventory

 It was a pleasant, cloudy day with a very calm ocean.

We did our normal walk and waited a few minutes after until the LOA’s joined us for the inventory.

Leslie gave a recap of nest 08R which was laid on Thursday, July 2, the turtle was 34 “wide. The original 15” deep nest was laid close to the high tide line so it was just moved further up the dune.  She laid 73 eggs, one was sacrificed for DNA. During incubation two hatchlings were lost,  one dragged out by ghost crab, another dead one found  in the reeds.

LOA’s Melissa and Cherie started the digging. Kathy did final check of the 19” deep nest because the eggs were mixed in with scores of roots.  Donna, Sherri, and Kim did the sorting.  Claudia, Jewel, and Debbie assisted wherever needed.  

Results of this nest were 22 hatched and 47 unhatched eggs. This nest had both hatch and emergence success of only 31%. If you look closely in the last picture of the unhatched eggs, many are orange colored, which means they might’ve gotten some type of bacteria.  

Group picture of the attendees. 

Text by Sharon.  Pictures, Cherie and Sharon

All sea turtle monitoring by Waties Island sea turtle patrol is permitted and authorized by SCDNR under permit MTP500.

Friday, August 28 - Emergence of Nest 8R

 The rain clouds cleared this morning just in time for our daily patrol, leaving us with showstopping skies, a pleasant breeze, and evidence of the heavy rains that pounded the beach yesterday/last night. The sand did not present its usual golden smooth surface, but a bruised amber color with millions of tiny craters left behind by the rain’s heavy hand - obliterating most evidence of man or beast. Only the post rain helter-skelter tracks of the early, industrious ghost crabs stood out in contrast to the dimpled surface. We knew we’d have to use our best “spidey sense” skills to look for field signs that any of the hatchlings from our maturing nests had emerged prior to or during the storm. 

As we approached Nest 8R, the most mature of our remaining nests at 57 days, it appeared at first glance, that we had just a big ghost crab hole at the nest cavity. 

Knowing the appearance of the area may have been altered by the storm’s heavy rain showers, we looked for other evidence of an emergence. There were numerous tracks in the area, most of them from the many ghost crabs. As we continued to investigate, we could pick out a handful of distinctive hatchling tracks heading for the ocean. As we continued to comb the area from all angles, many other very faint tracks could be seen. We surmise the few more prominent tracks may have been made by a few stragglers who emerged after the storms. We followed a few drag marks toward crab holes, and a deceased hatchling, waylaid during its dash to the sea, was found in the vegetation. Nest 8R, laid July 2, has emerged.

Deceased hatchling dragged toward a ghost crab hole. A flipper from this hatchling will be used for the paternity DNA project. 

Pics by Kim P, Caroline, and Kim T. Text by Kim T.

All sea turtle monitoring by Waties island Sea Turtle Patrol is permitted and authorized by SCDNR under Permit MTP500. 

Wednesday, August 26th - Nest Inventories for Nest 09R and Nest 05

 The morning started with thunder and lightning, so our planned departure was held up by an hour, sorry no sunrise pictures.  I did take pictures of Beach Morning Glories, or known also by "railroad vine".  Per Google, this is a fast growing salt-tolerant creeping vine that blankets coastal sand dunes.  It easily survives scorching heat, dry sandy soil, strong winds and salty ocean spray.  Sounds like our summer.

Beach Morning Glory 

 We had the Wednesday Volunteers along with two family members, and I invited the LOA's who also brought along two family members, we had four guests with us.  The Wednesday Volunteers walked up the beach checking  nests and pulling a beach wagon with our supplies, since no one drove up the beach due to the high tide.

 

 We had the Wednesday Volunteers along with two family members, and I invited the LOA's who also brought along two family members, we had four guests with us.  The Wednesday Volunteers walked up the beach checking  nests and pulling a beach wagon with our supplies, since no one drove up the beach due to the high tide.

The Wednesday team made it to Nest09R and waited for the LOA's and guests to arrive.  We did dig out the cages on both nests to prepare for the inventories.  To recap Nest 09R it was laid on Friday, July 3rd by our little 29 inch lady.  The original nest was laid close to the jetty area, and was moved down the beach to a wider and safer area of the beach.  She laid 102 Eggs, one sacrificed for DNA research.  The Sunday volunteers reported the emergence on August 23rd and saw lots of hatchling tracks - great sign!

 

 

 

 Digging Work started

 

 

  

The end results of this nest was 97 eggs Hatch, ZERO Unhatched.  Which rated this nest with both a Hatch and Emergence Success of 95%.  I believe this is the first time for me in ten years of doing this work, that all eggs in a nest hatched!!  Awesome!!


Our group moved on toward Nest 05.  This nest was laid on Wednesday,  June 17th and was our first "in situ" nest - meaning we did not need to relocate the nest.  This nest was laid by a 34 inch lady.   Unfortunately, due to the high winds and some rain storms, we did not see any hatchling tracks.  We did observe what looked to be an emergence hole, but no tracks.  Following SCDNR Guidelines we had to wait to inventory this nest on Day 70.  Starting on August 22nd the Ghost Crabs started grabbing eggshells which were found on top of the nest.  The outcome of this nest was 56 Hatched, 12 Unhatched, giving this nest a Hatch and Emergence Success rating of 77.7%

 

 

 

 

  Two of our guests were biologists, so they had inquiring minds and wanted to check out some of the unhatched eggs.

Nest was 19 inches deep

Our next nest which could emerge any day is Nest 08 was laid on July 2nd.  It is 55 days old today.  We did see some Ghost Grab activity at this nest.

Narrative and pictures by Leslie

 All sea turtle monitoring by the Waties Island Sea Turtle Monitoring Program is permitted and authorized by SCDNR under Permit MTP500.

 

 

Sunday August 23, 2026 - Nest #9R Emergence

It was a cooler morning, which the Sunday team was very grateful for. The sunrise over the causeway bridge was beautiful. Since the end of the season is coming soon the walk is much shorter.

All nests looked great despite the heavy thunderstorms we have had the last few days. The Sunday team was getting right to the last nest and getting ready to turn around when we noticed some lines in the sand.

After getting  closer we noticed that nest #9R emerged over night. It was a classic emergence with hatchling tracks going everywhere, This nest has 101 eggs so seeing that many hatchling tracks made everyone very happy. 

Unfortunately not far from the nest we found 3 dead hatchlings, one of which was being carried away by a pesty ghost crab. 

DNA was collected from the hatchlings and their bodies were taken care of according to SCDNR’s procedures. Along the way the team came across a dead juvenile shark and many jellyfish. 

Text and photos by Erin D.

All sea turtle monitoring by Waties Island Sea Turtle Patrol is permitted and authorized by SCDNR under Permit MTP500.

 Saturday, August 22, 2026 - Nest 7

Windy but the extreme heat was gone.  Black clouds towards North Carolina.  

Inventory was done for nest 7.

Results:

80 unhatched eggs

25 hatched eggs

105 eggs

Emergence/hatched rate:  23.5%

Thank you to Leslie Piwowarczyk and Cherie Barrett for the use of their pictures.

Jackie Hill

All sea turtle monitoring by Waties Island Sea Turtle Patrol is permitted and authorized by SCDNR under Permit MTP500.

Wednesday, August 19th - Nest 07 Emerges

 Another hot, humid morning with the sunrise around 6:30 am we started our monitoring duties.  Very little breeze and the ankle biting black flies were terrible today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nest #07 was laid on June 22nd and was left as is, so this is called an "in situ" nest.  This nest emerged on Day 58.  There was another nest laid on the same day, Nest #06R which was recently inventoried and this nest emerged on Day 53.  It will be interesting to see the results of this nest compared to Nest #06R.  Comparing a Relocated Nest to an In Situ Nest.  The hatchlings may of timed their emergence with the high tide last night, which was at 1:23 am.  All hatchling tracks ended at the high tide line or just below where the tide line had receded.  

  

Lots of Hatchling Tracks

The hatchlings emerged from a small hole at the base of the reed marking the nest.  There is a larger Ghost Crab hole present also, but only a few hatchling tracks in this area.  Looks like the majority of the hatchling were leaving on the left side and possibly the Ghost Crab was coming in on the right side to check them out.  We did check the Ghost Crab hole and no one was home.

 

Emergence Hole is located to the 

left of the DNR pole - looking down 

at the nest 

Ghost Crab hole is larger 

and to the right of the DNR pole 

Ghost Crab hole

The hatchling tracks were spread over a large area of the beach, many tracks headed south before going toward the ocean.  The Wednesday Volunteers checked carefully all tracks and Ghost Crab burrow holes, thankfully we did not find any that did not make it to the ocean.

 

 

Tracks were very spread out

Jackie and the other Volunteers tracking the hatchling tracks

Some tracks headed south before going toward the ocean

 

 

 

 

 

This nest is located about midway up the island and a Saturday Inventory will be scheduled.

Narrative by Leslie, Pictures by Leslie, Jackie and Kate

 All sea turtle monitoring by the Waties Island Sea Turtle Monitoring Program is permitted and authorized by SCDNR under Permit MTP500.

 

 

Monday, August 17, Inventory of N6R

 We experienced a great start to our morning with a nice, cool  breeze and cloudy skies.  

Nest 6R was laid on June 22 along with Nest 7 and a false crawl.  Our team determined the eggs needed to be relocated to a location not touched by elevated tides. 

She laid 109 eggs.  One taken for DNA,  3 broken in nest, and one taken by crab. This left 104 eggs to be relocated.

The nest wasn’t very old when we placed a screen over it along with a crab trap behind the cage. Throughout the incubation period, this nest would have been harassed by roughly 30 ghost crabs if not for that trap.  Per DNR  - After 45 days, we must move the screen and the trap for the hatching to get ready to emerge.  On day 53 it happened - and many little tracks headed to the ocean.

So today, Monday, August 17 the Monday team was very glad that they were out there to participate in the inventory of their relocated nest.  We had four visitors with us today -  Pat, Marie, Lois and Christie - plus many LOA’s from other days and regular walkers.  

We handed out gloves to all who wanted to help?

  Jackie, our LOA from Saturday and Pam started the initial digging. They started finding broken yolks among lots of roots. Sharon stepped in to see what was happening, and just as she was ready to move,  she saw a little flipper move.  One little hatchling was found.

In the picture below is teamwork in full force.  Marie and Christy are now the diggers. Lois and Pam are passing the shells on to our veteran Monday walkers Jewel and Claudia.  They are sorting them into hatched and unhatched groups.

(

Cherie our photographer (green shirt, front) taking a break to check out the activity.

   

Lois happy to be helping!

Sadly, the inventory of this nest did not have good results. We had 40 hatched eggs and 55 unhatched. The hatch success 36.6% in the emergence success 35.7%.

Most of the unhatched eggs were orange and pink in color, which means they could have been infected with a bacteria.

 

Making  tracks in the sand.

Best of all is what happens at the end of an inventory: If we find a live hatchling ,we get to release it and watch it make its first journey across the sand to the ocean. It’s a thrill every single time!

Text by Sharon, pictures  by  Cherie, Melissa, Leslie and Sharon

All seaturtle monitoring by Waties  Island sea turtle patrol is permitted and authorized by SCDNR under permit MTP 500.

,