Monday, Sept. 28 - Last day of our season and N15R inventory

 Beautiful cold morning with a very high tide coming in for the start of our last walk..

The group which consisted of the Monday team plus some of the LOA’s walked to the nest and got started.

Kathy, Claudia and Jewel started digging and it wasn’t too long before they passed Debbie a handful of sand with a hatchling in it.  She was so excited because it was moving.

Right after that, there was another live one that wasn’t quite out of his egg sac. Once some of the sand was removed, he came right out.

This nest was 56 days old, 62 eggs were  relocated, and it was 18” deep.  The inventory results were 36 hatched, 14 unhatched eggs. The hatch success was 73% and the emergence success was 69.8%

The last two hatchlings of the season were released by Debbie and Claudia.

Off they go!

Below, Cherie captured this  beautiful picture of this little guy, giving us the ultimate farewell gift.  Just as he reached the surf, he paused, turned his head back towards us, and almost seem to be saying thank you.

Moments like this make every early morning walk worth it. A huge, heartfelt thank you to all of our incredible patrol volunteers for your dedication, hard work, and passion throughout this entire season.We couldn’t do it without you.!

Your LOA’s

Pictures by Leslie,Cherie and Sharon  Text by Sharon 

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

Friday, Sept 25 - Emergence of N 15R

 It was a sweatshirt kind of morning. We were happy to be sporting our new-this-year Waties hoodies. Time for the hatchlings in our last remaining nest to be heading out before the chilly weather and shivery water temps move in for good.

As we made our way up island, we encountered beautiful skies and a very high tide courtesy of the near full moon and the Nor’easter churning its way along the coast. Thankfully, we did not suffer the full impact of the storm, and yesterday’s winds and rain were yielding to calmer seas and clearing skies. 

As we approached the last of our the nests, we were elated to see a textbook emergence hole at the reed at Nest 15R. This nest was laid on July 31, by, we believe, our little lady who was responsible for multiple nests laid on Waties this year. It was relocated due to the vulnerable location of the original nest. It was a smaller nest - 63 eggs - probably due to it being a late in the season nest by a multiple nestimg momma. It emerged on day 56. 

It was difficult to see tracks, although we managed to find a few. Wind, rain, and the high tide obscured the rest. 

We were lucky to discover a hatchling who, apparently, hung around to say goodbye- possibly the last one out? He was lively with a fully absorbed yolk sac, so we were delighted to just stand back and watch as he began his journey to the sea, through numerous tide pools left behind by the high seas, and on his way. Hopefully, he soon catches up to his nest mates during their frenzied swim to the safety of the sargassum sea. 

Safe travels little one. It never gets old. 

Pics by Caroline and Kim. Text by Kim.

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

Wednesday, September 23rd - First day of Fall, Inventory of Nest 11R

This morning was a sweatshirt kinda morning.  We had a misty cool morning, with a light breeze.  The two of the Wednesday Volunteers along with myself walked up to our last nest 15R to check on its status.  No change from earlier reporting, this nest is 54 days old today.

Nest 11R was laid on Wednesday, July 15th.  It was one of three events for the day for the Wednesday Volunteers.  That day the team had a False Crawl and two nests.  This nest was laid the same day as Nest 12, which was one of our "in situ" nests and was laid by a 34 inch momma turtle.  

Nest 11R started out with issues when it was found up by the jetty.  Due to its location it was decided to move the nest to a saver place on the beach where the beach is higher and drier.  When the Volunteers first found the nest chamber, many of the eggs were not completely formed, several were co-joined, and there was lots of yolk on the eggs and all throughout the nest chamber.  We dug up 62 eggs.  When I checked with SCDNR I was told this maybe the momma's last nest of the season.  This would possibly explain the condition we found the eggs.

We were able to relocate only 43 of the 62 eggs. One egg was used for the DNA sample and we reported two eggs that were broken within the nest chamber and 18 eggs which were not totally formed or co-joined with tissue. There was yolk all over the eggs and in the nest chamber.  We wiped the eggs off before inserting them into the new nest chamber, hoping to keep the Ghost Crabs from attacking the nest.  Even though we took this proactive action, this nest was severely harassed by Ghost Crabs.  We had placed a Ghost Crab trap by this nest and caught over 20 Ghost Crabs from the day the nest was laid until the trap was removed.

Lynne and Chris digging

Lynne - we are done

Some of the eggs removed from nest chamber

 

The sad outcome of this nest that we inventoried this morning on day 70 is all 43 eggs were found, but no hatchlings hatched or emerged.  The white eggs we found were very light in weight.  The eggs in this nest may not of even been fertilized.  This nest did not produce any hatchlings so  0% for both hatched and emerged, the stats that SCDNR collects.

 

Egg with tissue on outside of egg

Co-joined egg

Egg count - 43 eggs

White eggs - very light weight - no yolk??

 As we left the beach we spotted these beautiful blue beach morning glories.

Nest 11R resting place

Beauty on our way off of the island

 
Pictures and narrative by Leslie

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

Saturday, September 19th - Waties Island Beach Sweep

Waties Island Sea Turtle Monitoring Program along with the CCU Sea Turtle Club participated in the state wide Beach/River Sweep sponsored by the South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium and trash collected will be reported back to the Ocean Conservancy.

We had four of our Leads, Leslie, Sharon, Kim and  Melissa that supplied transportation and supervision over our thirteen guest students.  We were joined by property owner Ms Jackie Boyce.

 

We had a lovely time with the CSTC young ladies.  We had the young ladies along with Kim and Sharon walk the lower end to pick up trash.

 

 

 

Leslie with Melissa, Jackie and another group of ladies moved up to the long end of the island.  We moved the burned wood that I think is part of a dock, higher up on the dune.  I will pick up at a later date to dispose of this eye sore - lots of nails and big bolts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 We moved up toward the jetty and found the "big white box" and between myself and Melissa with our young helpers dug this up and was able to get a tow rope on it and it was moved up on the dunes.  Again, to be disposed of at a later date, but at least it will not wash back out to the ocean or become a driving hazard.

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They were thrilled to see the horses out on the beach.  Since many of our young ladies stated this was there first visit, we loaded everyone up in my truck and drove up to the jetty so they could see the entire island .

 

  

 

 When we returned to the shed we did the trash inventory - just the normal,  balloons, balloon ribbons, lots of bottle caps, plastic bottles, food wrappers, etc.  The strangest thing picked up was some type of marine light fixture.  Our volunteers do a really good job picking up the trash from the beach, since when we consolidated the trash it was just one big bag of trash.

Thankfully, the sun hid behind the clouds for a good part of the morning but we still had high humidity.

Again - good job everyone!

Pictures by Leslie and Melissa, narrative Leslie

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday, Sept 11- inventory of N 13R

 Today our hearts and minds were in two vastly differing venues and points in time. At present, we were on our beautiful island to complete the inventory on Nest 13R, bearing witness to a natural cycle of life that has been carried out for millions of years regardless of happenings within the human realm. All the while, we were remembering the events of 25 years ago - September 11, 2001, when the human world stopped and changed us forever. A cross section of varying generations of humans were on the beach today - some who remember vividly where they were on that fateful day and others who only know the events as relayed to them by parents and teachers. 

Nest 13R was laid on Saturday, July 18 by our “little lady” whom, we believe, is the momma responsible for up to four nests this season on Waties. While we never know for certain until we get DNA confirmation, certain cues- size and characteristics of the crawl, timing, and location of the nest- provide clues to determining if we have a repeat nester throughout the season. Because of the small size of the crawl-28”- it is likely she is a young - potentially first time - nester. 

The nest was moved by the Saturday crew to a location on the beach away from the potential wash-over perils present at its original location. The nest contained 80 eggs with 1 sacrificed for DNA research. 

The Tuesday crew discovered the emergence on day 52, happily recording numerous hatchling tracks making their way to the water.

The inventory was carried out by enthusiastic members of the CCU Sea Turtle Club who dove right in to dig, help and sort under the watchful eye of seasoned volunteers and daily Leads. After a pesky ghost crab who was inside the nest was dispatched (and the squealing ended), things progressed quickly. The nest had a great result with only 1 unhatched egg and, to the delight of all 1 live and ready-to-go hatchling. A 90% hatch success rate and a 88.7 emergence success.

                                            Mr. Crab after being dispatched from the nest cavity. 

 

We got you little one! 

After all the work was done, our intrepid straggler was released and on its way.

                                          Take a deep breath little one - you’re on your way!

                                                    CCU Sea Turtle Club members

Our photographer extraordinaire Cherie, and Friday team members, Kim P, Caroline and Kim T

Pics by Cherie, Leslie, Kim P., Caroline. Text by Kim.

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