Click on Island Turtle Team for nest Statistics
St. Simon Has Eye Exam
Dr. Eric Jablon visited the Sea Turtle Hospital in order to examine Simon's eye. It has been observed over the past months that the sea turtle has been having trouble with the vision in her left eye. Dr. Jablon and some of his staff donated their time and expertise to try and determine what is causing the problem. Simon was a good patient putting up with the poking and proding. It gave the Turtle Hospital a chance to use their new ultrasound machine generously donated by East Cooper Medical Center. After it was all over Simon returned to her tank a bit annoyed, but none the worse for wear. The medical staff is still studying the results of Simon's test.
CLICK on thumbnails to enlarge photos.
North Carolina fourth grader works to help the sea turtles at the South Carolina Aquarium Sea Turtle Hospital. Gianninia Giammattei raised $100.30 for the sea turtles.This fourth graders wanted to help "Carolina" and the other turtles at the Turtle Hospital. She worked very hard petsitting and selling lemonade. Her donation will be put to good use helping the turtles.
Only one turtle is wintering at the turtle hospital. St. Simon is recovering but is having some difficulty seeing. Dr. Tom Sheridan administed eye drops to Simon attempting to examine Simon's eyes. Another much younger turtle is staying with us in the hospital. This loggerhead yearling isn't sick, but has taken up residence in the hospital to give his tank mates a break. He is sort of on a permanent "time out"
"Dewees" Released on Dewees
Kelly Thorvalson and the SC Aquarium Turtle Hospital Volunteers say goodbye to "Dewees"
"Dewees" was rescued by Jonathon Lutz, Dewees Island Naturalist, and delivered to the SC Aquarium Turtle Hospital. This turtle was found early before it washed up on the beach, and, therefore , the turtle hospital was able to start treatment and get this loggerhead back into the ocean sooner than most of the hospital's patients.
The journey was a bit complicated. First a truck ride to the Dewees Ferry on Isle of Palms. Then a 20 minute boat ride to Dewees Island, and then another off road truck ride to the beach, stopping along the way to look at the spot where the turtle was found.
Kelly explained exactly what had happened to "Dewees" while everyone got a close up look.
Pam Jones, Turtle Hospital Volunteer, and Kelly gave "Dewees" a ride closer to the water.
"Dewees" looked around for a few moments and then made a dash for the water. This turtle was very interested in the surroundings and stopped to look around every few steps.
The chilly water didn't stop "Dewees" or Barb Bergwerf, Turtle Hospital Volunteer from going into the water.
CLICK on thumbnails to enlarge photos.
Litchfield Released on Kiawah
Litchfield, a 105 lb. loggerhead, was released on
Kiawah Thursday November 10th. Litchfield was brought into the
Turtle Hospital a year ago last August. When brought in Litch was
almost black in color and emaciated with a wound on her carapace.
At the time there was much speculation as to whether Litchfield was
a hybrid. A loggerhead's carapace is almost gold in color and the
skin areas are a yellow. Litchfield was mostly black in color.
Over
the past year the loggerhead coloration has returned, Litchfield has
more that doubled in weight and her wound is infection free and nearly healed.
The decision was made to release Litchfield before winter sets in
instead of having her remain in the turtle hospital until next spring.
Litchfield has been a good patient at the hospital, but as
she improved her patience and tolerance has decreased. It seemed
everytime she was taken out of her tank for treatment she would
display her displeasure by "pooping" on her caretakers. Much to
the rehab staff's surprise she didn't poop on the trip to Kiawah.
But true to form, once she was picked up by Kelly Thorvalson and
Mary Alice Monroe she pooped all the way down the beach.
Ah....
the Litch we know and love!
Ah.... the Litch we know and love!
CLICK on thumbnails to enlarge photos.
Two Loggerheads Get a Ride to the Gulfstream
The husbandry staff at the SC Aquarium took two loggerheads with on a collecting trip. These two turtles have been residents of the turtle hospital or the past few months. One turtle is a three year old headstart turtle that has been a resident of the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia. The other turtle nicknamed Bohicket was taken in by the turtle hospital to be fattened up and readied for release. This turtle lost a front flipper probably from a ghost crab attack on the beach while he was making his way from the nest to the ocean.
Photos Courtsey of Nigel Bowers, SC Aquarium
SC Aquarium Turtle Hospital Gets Ready to Release 2 Loggerheads
Everyday is busy at the Turtle Hospital. The three year old watches the window of his tank get the once over. Kelly Thorvalson checks Litchfield's wound. Volunteer Barb Bergwerf is on the receiving end of Litchfield's anger....and ends up covered in turtle poop!
Last Inventory
Diehard members of the Island Turtle Team met at the last nest of the year for its inventory. This incredible year has ended on a high note with the 95% success rate for this nest. 104 out of 109 Eggs hatched.
Final Statistics for the 2005 Turtle Season
Nests Laid 56
Eggs Laid 6043
Total Emergence 4144
Length of Beaches 11 Miles
Turtle Volunteers 140
36 Nests relocated
34 False Crawls
Average Size of Clutch 111
Incubation 55-56 Days.
Inventories listed below. Click on small photos to enlarge.
Nest #55 - what a great way to end the season! This was the only
October hatch and the only October inventory. Only one lone
hatchling was found in the nest along with 5 unhatched eggs
and 104 empty eggshells. The hatchling got quite energetic and
crawled into the foamy surf as a thunderstorm offshore
threatened to move in. Hatch Success was 95%. The Turtle Team
can now retire from the nesting business until May. Have a great
winter.
Nest #54 was from the turtle that Roseann Poetz discovered
laying her eggs near Dewees Inlet on August 2nd. We had not
moved this one and it got more sun than the others, hatching at
56 days. It turns out that she laid 122 eggs and all but 5 hatched
with 7 live ones in the nest at inventory. We carried them away
from the inlet to be released because of the tide running behind
the island. It was a good nest with 95.9% Hatch Success. We are
grateful to Jim and Barb Ueberroth as well as Nancy Houser for
watching over this nest, the last one for the season at the north
end of the Isle of Palms.
Nest #52 at 31st Avenue was Stumpy's last one laid on July
30th. She broke 9 of them because she couldn't dig a deep
enough egg chamber. Today we found that 15 more failed to
develop and no hatchlings were still in the nest. Hatch Success
on this one was 76%.
Nest #53 which was laid on the same day and very close to
#52 had 43 eggs that failed to develop out of 136. There were
4 live hatchlings left in this nest that were released and crawled
to the water. Hatch Success here was 67%
Nest #50 at 29th Avenue was inventoried today. We had never
seen the major hatch because there were several rainy and windy
nights, but we did see at least one hatchling track on the evening
of September 26th. Our suspicions were confirmed when we
found 88 empty eggshells and 33 undeveloped eggs. Mary and
Colleen Yost spent many hours waiting to see these hatchlings
come out. It was too bad that no hatchlings were left in the nest
when we did the inventory for them to see. Hatch Success was
72%.
Nest #51 at 5th Avenue had been left in situ and was another
nest where the hatchlings emerged during the wee hours when
no one was in attendance. We counted 81 empty eggshells and
10 undeveloped eggs for an 89% Hatch Success. We had located
the top eggs on July 30th and marked the nest, but the egg
chamber went off to the side toward the pier, so the sign wasn't
in front of the center of the nest. We were glad that this nest did
well.
Wednesday morning, September 28th, in spite of the driving rain,
we inventoried the two nests at 24th Avenue.
Nest #48 had 22 unhatched eggs and no hatchlings remaining in
it. Because this was a small clutch of 61 eggs this was only a 63%
hatch success.
Nest #49 had never seemed to have a good number of hatchlings
come out of it and our fears were confirmed. There were 77 eggs
that failed to develop and two live hatchlings along with one dead
hatchling. This was a rather disappointing 15% hatch success.
Nest #45, the in situ nest that Jim
Ueberroth found at Dewees Inlet, had a good inventory in
spite of the biting flies that seem to appear in September. It
turned out that the turtle had laid 107 eggs and all but 9 of them
had hatched successfully (91%). There were 9 hatchlings left
in the nest and they were taken to the boardwalk a little farther
from the inlet to be released on the outgoing tide.
Nest #46, the relocated nest at 30th Avenue, found by Barb
Ueberroth the same day as #45 on July 19th didn't do as well.
Out of the 128 eggs 58 did not develop so it was a 53% success.
There were 23 live hatchling in this nest which crawled to the
water.
Nest #40 at Ocean Point - Only 36% of the
turtles had hatched and left the nest. There was one live
hatchling who was carried away from Dewees Inlet for
release because of the incoming tide which could have swept
him behind the island instead of out to sea.
Nest #41 at 30th Avenue - This was the turtle who was accompanied
by Larry Bailey of Spartanburg on July 15th as she tried
in vain to climb up the vertical eroded dune in
front of Seascape Condos in Wild Dunes. She kept
falling back down and finally laid her nest at the base
of the scarped dune. The eggs had been moved to
30th Avenue and hatched 53 days later.
Larry made the trip to the Isle of Palms to
see the 15 hatchlings who were still in the nest at today's
inventory. They were healthy and strong as they scrambled
to the water. Hatch Success on this nest was 73%.
Nest #42 at 29th Avenue was moved higher on the beach because
it was below the spring tide line on July 17th. There
were 18 eggs that did not develop and 5 live
hatchlinlgs left in the nest this morning. Hatch Success was 83%.
Nest #43 at 43rd Avenue was our beloved STUMPY'S 4th and next
to last nest of the season. As usual her eggs were extremely
fertile and healthy in spite of her physical impairment of the
missing left rear flipper. We pulled about 40 eggs out from under
her as the egg chamber overflowed and then buried these along
with the other 80 in a normal sized hole since she was unable to
do this. The Wingate sisters who were vacationing in the
neighborhood of 45th Avenue called us and we were able to
keep Stumpy from accidentally crushing any of the 120 eggs
from this clutch. Only 1 egg did not develop and two dead and
one live hatchling were found in the nest at the inventory. So
Stumpy had a 97% Hatch Success on her 4th nest. She is an
amazing turtle! Her last nest is #52 at 31st Avenue.
Nest #47 at 30th Avenue was the one that had only
one turtle emerge at 51 days and then the rest boil
out last night at 55 days. There were no hatchlings live
or dead still in the nest this morning and 28 eggs were
unhatched, most of them showing no development. Hatch
Success was 75%. Gail Low who discovered this nest deserves
thanks for being so attentive to it in the nights of the past week.
Nest # 37 at 31st Avenue was another sad one with only 9%
success.
We had seen only a few hatchlings come out every night for
the last 4 nights but no major "boil." There were 100 unhatched
eggs and 10 empty shells with 5 live hatchlings released to swim
away. There were 8 people from the SC Aquarium's Legendary
Loggerheads program present to see these 5 live ones.
Nest #38 at 29th Avenue had many hatchling tracks visible from
last night's turtles who came out after we had gone home. The
Aquarium visitors watched as we counted empty shells (65 in
number) and unhatched eggs (7 in number) but no turtles left
in the nest. This at least was a successful nest with a 90% hatch
success.
Nest #30 at Ocean Point had a large number of eggs that failed
to develop. This nest had been watched for many nights by Nancy
and the other good folks who live near there with only a few
hatchlings coming out. Today we discovered that out of the 156
eggs laid 143 did not develop. We know of no reason for this
such as flooding, ghost crab or ant invasions, etc. Unfortunately
with a 7.69% hatch success, this is recorded as a failed nest.
Nest #35 also at Ocean Point was even worse with a 7.14% hatch
success.
Same scenario, many undeveloped eggs and no obvious reason
for their
failure. Two live hatchlings were rescued and released from this
nest and two from Nest #30 above.
Nest #39 at Ocean Point also had many tracks this morning from
a major
"boil" last night. We found only 6 unhatched eggs and one dead
hatchling out of the 106 that were relocated in July for a 93%
hatch.
Nest #36 at Station 17 on August 31st.
When we got there we noticed the faint tracks of about 7 or 8
hatchlings that came out last night. These were barely visible in
the wet sand but seemed to go down to the water. There were
100 empty shells and 6 eggs that failed to hatch. But the real
bonus was the 21 healthy & vigorous hatchlings that were very
deep in the nest and were very happy to crawl to the water and
swim away. One seemed to have his compass reversed and kept
going the wrong way, but after a while even he headed out for
the Gulf Stream. The Hatch Success was a very good 94%. Many
thanks to all Sullivans Island Turtle Team Volunteers for a job
well done.
Nest #31 When we inventoried Stumpy's third nest at 21st Avenue, we found only 4
unhatched out of the 70 relocated and one dead hatchling. A very large
ghost crab had invaded the nest after it hatched Thursday night. We
recorded a 77% hatch success because of the 15 eggs (plus the 4 unhatched)
that Stumpy broke when she covered the nest over her shallow egg chamber.
If not for these 15, it would have been a 94% success. But if we had
not cleaned these eggs and moved.
Nest #29 at 34th Avenue had a 94% Hatch
Success with only 4 unhatched eggs out of 78 with no hatchlings
left in the nest. We were worried about this one because we never
saw but one turtle come out in the past week. However, we were
so happy to learn that they apparently emerged during the one of
the stormy nights we've had lately.
Nest #33 at 3rd Avenue had a 93% Hatch
Success and also had 4 unhatched
eggs with 75 being the total number. There were two hatchlings,
one live and unfortunately one dead. The live one was healthy
and crawled to the water.
Nest #34 at Station 19 on Sullivans Island
followed today's trend
with 4 unhatched and 111 being the total number laid. This nest
and #29 above were in situ, so we didn't know how many eggs
until this morning. This nest also had only one live hatchling and
a great 96% Hatch Success.
Nest @32 at 56th Avenue they were
thrilled to see 20 hatchlings in the nest that had hatched 5 days ago.
This nest had an 85% Hatch Success with only 10 unhatched
eggs.
Nest #25 which was at Access Path 26A had also done well
with a 93% hatch success. There was only one live turtle, 110
empty shells, and 8 unhatched eggs here.
Nest #28 had a 66% Hatch Success with 35 unhatched eggs
out of 106 and one live turtle.
Nest #56, our "wild nest" had very good results with 93% Hatch
Success 107 empty shells and 8 unhatched with one live turtle.
Nest #24, however, had most eggs unhatched with an 18% Hatch
Success. Only about 27 of the 143 had hatched. We do see this
kind of nest during most seasons and sometimes the reason is
not apparent. There was no flooding, no raccoon predation, and
no invasion by ants or ghost crabs. It is frustrating to those great
volunteers who work so hard to protect these eggs to have this
happen. They were discolored with bacterial growth and not viable.
The good news was that 3 turtles were live in the nest. If we had
not done the inventory, they might not have been able to dig
around all those bad eggs and would have died in the nest. They
crawled into the water and swam away. We can hope that one of
them will survive.
Nest #26 at Station 14 found by Steve
Robling on June 25th was inventoried this morning. A count
of the 88 empty eggshells and 14 unhatched eggs showed us
that she laid 102 eggs which had an 86% hatch success. No live
hatchlings were still in the nest. "Stella" a dog who specializes
in digging out ghost crabs was on the beach and we watched her
dig into a crab hole and pull out the crab. Her owner says that she
does this a lot - what a good recruit she would be for the Turtle
Team!
Nest #22 at 56th Avenue had an 81% Hatch Success with 13
unhatched eggs and only one live hatchling left in the nest to
be released.
Nest #20 at Ocean Point had 9 unhatched eggs and also had
only one live
hatchling to be released. This was a 92% Hatch Success.
Nest #18 Stumpy's second nest at 21st Avenue had 71 unhatched
eggs plus the 3 that she broke the night she laid them. There
were 13 healthy hatchlings left in the nest at the inventory this
morning which were released. This nest ended up with a 43%
Hatch Success.
Nest #23 at 24th Avenue which was not relocated had 19 live
hatchlings that were released as well. A count of the empty
eggshells showed that this turtle laid 119 eggs and the Hatch
Success was 71%.
Nest #27th at 8th Avenue had no live hatchlings left in the nest.
We counted 93 empty eggshells and 10 unhatched eggs for a 90%
Hatch Success.
Nest #19 (Bob and Gail Low and Charlotte
Clarke's) had a 67% hatch rate with no live hatchlings left in the
nest.
Nest #21 found by Barbara Machnik and Sue Bozeman had a
wonderful 97% hatch rate, the best of the season so far with only
one live hatchling left in the nest who was released to crawl to the water.
Nest #17 Charlotte Clark’s nest that had been moved to 31st
Avenue had a 53% hatch rate with many unhatched eggs and
three live hatchlings.
Nest #14 Linda Faia's had only 4 eggs
unhatched and all other healthy
hatchlings this morning at Ocean Point. It happened that Mary
Alice Monroe (Kruesi) brought a film crew from Turner South
who were making a show called "Three Day Weekend" about
Wild Dunes and interviewing her as well. They filmed the
inventory as well as the 4 live hatchlings going into the water.
How great that this nest with 96% Hatch Success was the one
that we inventoried for the camera crew! Also in attendance was
David Moore from Greenville with his parents Ann and Hugh.
David has been studying loggerheads in school and was
interested in seeing the whole process including the release
of the healthy hatchlings into the ocean.
At Nest #11 near 31st Avenue we found 110
unhatched eggs and 7 live hatchlings on inventory today. Nine eggs were put back into the
nest because they could possibly still hatch. We don't know why all of
these eggs failed to develop. Ants did not get into the nest. Final
numbers for #11 and #16 will not be posted in Current Nest
Data until after the last count, but the Hatch Success is only 21%
at this time.
Nest #16 at 27th Avenue had quite a few turtles just coming out
of their eggs and/or with yolk sacs still attached to their plastrons.
These were put back into the nest on top of all the shells and
unviable eggs along with 14 white eggs that could possibly hatch.
There were 80 empty shells and 14 live hatchlings ready to go to
the water. Hatch Success so far is 85%, but again this is not the
final number until we see how many more make it.
Nest #10 at 1st Avenue had a 68% hatch success which would
have been a lot higher if Stumpy had not broken 20 eggs when
she laid them. There were 12 that didn't hatch and 6 live hatchlings that went into the water.
Nest #6 at 56A had all left the nest and there was a 78% hatch
rate. This nest had had ant problems at hatch time.
Nest #13 at 56A had serious problems, and we're not really sure why. Although there were no ants down in the nest, we found 54 unhatched eggs
and 24 dead hatchlings. We don't believe this nest was flooded with ground water either. A few were found alive and released into the water. Eight of
them were just pipping (coming out of their eggs) or still had yolk sacs attached to their plastrons. In a case such as this, our instructions are
to rebury them and let them come out again when they are mature and up to full strength, so that is what we did. Three more were allowed to crawl
into the water.
Nest #12 on Sullivan's Island was inventoried by Mary Ellen Rogers. She also found that although many had come out 3 days ago, that 18 were either
still unhatched and possibly viable or just pipping. So she counted 88 shells and 17 dead hatchlings (some pipped dead) and put the 18 back in the sand just as we did with #13.
First Nest at Ocean Point Hatched and Has Its Inventory
The first Ocean Point nest was a success. There was
only one lone
hatchling still in the nest and "Scooter" swam out into the
water in good style. The Hatch Success was 90%.
Nest #48 Boils at about midnight
At midnight after 4 1/2 hours of waiting
and listening to very loud digging noises at Dolores Korz's Nest
#48 we saw a healthy boil of hatchlings. The first crater/depression
was visible at about 10:40 pm. Dolores was there and Barb called
Rick Kline, who had the high bid at the Scuba Do silent auction at
the Aquarium. He had bid on the opportunity to see a loggerhead
nest hatch. He and his wife made it
there from West Ashley in time to see them come scrambling out.
It was a small nest of only 61 eggs but we estimated that about
50 could have emerged.
SC AQUARIUM RELEASES FIFTH
SEA TURTLE OF THE 2005 SEASON
"Surfside" released on Isle of Palms,
Tuesday August 30th
The SC Aquarium released a rehabilitated
loggerhead sea turtle, "Surfside” on Tuesday, August 30 on Isle
of Palms. This young loggerhead has been with the Aquarium
since mid summer when it was found floating in the surf and had
to be pulled in by rescuers. Floating sea turtles are unable to dive for
food, exposing them to sun and wind which causes emaciation and
dehydration in addition to many other ailments. A combination
of good medicine, nourishing food and a dive weight belt strapped around the turtle
for a few weeks, helped this turtle make a quick turnaround.
The majority of the turtles that come to the Aquarium for
treatment suffer from debilitated turtle syndrome (DTS).
The root causes for the syndrome are poorly understood.
This feisty loggerhead turtle is the fifth healthy turtle to be
released in 2005 as part of the Aquarium’s successful sea
turtle rescue program. Working closely with the SCDNR and
other organizations, Aquarium animal care staff successfully
treated and released four turtles back into the wild in 2004.
Three additional loggerheads are currently undergoing treatment
at the Aquarium with plans for release once they are healthy.
Jetty and Gardner Get a Big Sendoff at Seabrook
Nest #21 and #23 Hatch
We were watching Nest #18 at 21st
Avenue (Stumpy's second one) and Nest #23 at 24th Avenue
tonight. Both had loud digging noises and a few hatchling heads
appeared at the 21st Ave. one about 9 pm. But before they made
the break for the water, the ones at 24th Avenue came out. The
night was perfect with clear sky and a very bright moon, so there
were no problems. At the request of the SC Department of
Natural Resources, we collected the first two strong healthy turtles
out of Stumpy's nest to be taken to the SC Aquarium in the morning. They will then be taken to live at Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia for the next several years. This will give them a head start.
Then they will be released in the Gulf Stream when they are
between 2 and 3 years old. We hope that this will mean that
they might have a better chance at survival.
Nest #16 Hatches
At 11 pm the hatchlings started boiling out of a rather deep crater from
Grace Rhodes' nest at 27th Avenue. Unfortunately the crescent moon had set
a while before that, and the turtles didn't know which way to go. We
appreciated the help of quite a few good folks who helped them find their
way to the ocean. Without them the outcome for these turtles would have
been quite different. Inventory will be on Saturday at 7:30 a.m. sharp.
Nests #9 and #10 "Boil"
Nest #53 which was laid on the same day and very close to #52 had 43 eggs that failed to develop out of 136. There were 4 live hatchlings left in this nest that were released and crawled to the water. Hatch Success here was 67%
Nest #51 at 5th Avenue had been left in situ and was another nest where the hatchlings emerged during the wee hours when no one was in attendance. We counted 81 empty eggshells and 10 undeveloped eggs for an 89% Hatch Success. We had located the top eggs on July 30th and marked the nest, but the egg chamber went off to the side toward the pier, so the sign wasn't in front of the center of the nest. We were glad that this nest did well.
Nest #49 had never seemed to have a good number of hatchlings come out of it and our fears were confirmed. There were 77 eggs that failed to develop and two live hatchlings along with one dead hatchling. This was a rather disappointing 15% hatch success.
Nest #45, the in situ nest that Jim
Ueberroth found at Dewees Inlet, had a good inventory in
spite of the biting flies that seem to appear in September. It
turned out that the turtle had laid 107 eggs and all but 9 of them
had hatched successfully (91%). There were 9 hatchlings left
in the nest and they were taken to the boardwalk a little farther
from the inlet to be released on the outgoing tide.
Nest #46, the relocated nest at 30th Avenue, found by Barb
Ueberroth the same day as #45 on July 19th didn't do as well.
Out of the 128 eggs 58 did not develop so it was a 53% success.
There were 23 live hatchling in this nest which crawled to the
water.
Nest #40 at Ocean Point - Only 36% of the turtles had hatched and left the nest. There was one live hatchling who was carried away from Dewees Inlet for release because of the incoming tide which could have swept him behind the island instead of out to sea.
Nest #41 at 30th Avenue - This was the turtle who was accompanied
by Larry Bailey of Spartanburg on July 15th as she tried
in vain to climb up the vertical eroded dune in
front of Seascape Condos in Wild Dunes. She kept
falling back down and finally laid her nest at the base
of the scarped dune. The eggs had been moved to
30th Avenue and hatched 53 days later.
Larry made the trip to the Isle of Palms to
see the 15 hatchlings who were still in the nest at today's
inventory. They were healthy and strong as they scrambled
to the water. Hatch Success on this nest was 73%.
Nest #42 at 29th Avenue was moved higher on the beach because
it was below the spring tide line on July 17th. There
were 18 eggs that did not develop and 5 live
hatchlinlgs left in the nest this morning. Hatch Success was 83%.
Nest #43 at 43rd Avenue was our beloved STUMPY'S 4th and next
to last nest of the season. As usual her eggs were extremely
fertile and healthy in spite of her physical impairment of the
missing left rear flipper. We pulled about 40 eggs out from under
her as the egg chamber overflowed and then buried these along
with the other 80 in a normal sized hole since she was unable to
do this. The Wingate sisters who were vacationing in the
neighborhood of 45th Avenue called us and we were able to
keep Stumpy from accidentally crushing any of the 120 eggs
from this clutch. Only 1 egg did not develop and two dead and
one live hatchling were found in the nest at the inventory. So
Stumpy had a 97% Hatch Success on her 4th nest. She is an
amazing turtle! Her last nest is #52 at 31st Avenue.
Nest #47 at 30th Avenue was the one that had only
one turtle emerge at 51 days and then the rest boil
out last night at 55 days. There were no hatchlings live
or dead still in the nest this morning and 28 eggs were
unhatched, most of them showing no development. Hatch
Success was 75%. Gail Low who discovered this nest deserves
thanks for being so attentive to it in the nights of the past week.
Nest # 37 at 31st Avenue was another sad one with only 9%
success.
We had seen only a few hatchlings come out every night for
the last 4 nights but no major "boil." There were 100 unhatched
eggs and 10 empty shells with 5 live hatchlings released to swim
away. There were 8 people from the SC Aquarium's Legendary
Loggerheads program present to see these 5 live ones.
Nest #38 at 29th Avenue had many hatchling tracks visible from
last night's turtles who came out after we had gone home. The
Aquarium visitors watched as we counted empty shells (65 in
number) and unhatched eggs (7 in number) but no turtles left
in the nest. This at least was a successful nest with a 90% hatch
success.
Nest #30 at Ocean Point had a large number of eggs that failed
to develop. This nest had been watched for many nights by Nancy
and the other good folks who live near there with only a few
hatchlings coming out. Today we discovered that out of the 156
eggs laid 143 did not develop. We know of no reason for this
such as flooding, ghost crab or ant invasions, etc. Unfortunately
with a 7.69% hatch success, this is recorded as a failed nest.
Nest #35 also at Ocean Point was even worse with a 7.14% hatch
success.
Same scenario, many undeveloped eggs and no obvious reason
for their
failure. Two live hatchlings were rescued and released from this
nest and two from Nest #30 above.
Nest #39 at Ocean Point also had many tracks this morning from
a major
"boil" last night. We found only 6 unhatched eggs and one dead
hatchling out of the 106 that were relocated in July for a 93%
hatch.
Nest #36 at Station 17 on August 31st.
When we got there we noticed the faint tracks of about 7 or 8
hatchlings that came out last night. These were barely visible in
the wet sand but seemed to go down to the water. There were
100 empty shells and 6 eggs that failed to hatch. But the real
bonus was the 21 healthy & vigorous hatchlings that were very
deep in the nest and were very happy to crawl to the water and
swim away. One seemed to have his compass reversed and kept
going the wrong way, but after a while even he headed out for
the Gulf Stream. The Hatch Success was a very good 94%. Many
thanks to all Sullivans Island Turtle Team Volunteers for a job
well done.
Nest #31 When we inventoried Stumpy's third nest at 21st Avenue, we found only 4
unhatched out of the 70 relocated and one dead hatchling. A very large
ghost crab had invaded the nest after it hatched Thursday night. We
recorded a 77% hatch success because of the 15 eggs (plus the 4 unhatched)
that Stumpy broke when she covered the nest over her shallow egg chamber.
If not for these 15, it would have been a 94% success. But if we had
not cleaned these eggs and moved.
Nest #29 at 34th Avenue had a 94% Hatch
Success with only 4 unhatched eggs out of 78 with no hatchlings
left in the nest. We were worried about this one because we never
saw but one turtle come out in the past week. However, we were
so happy to learn that they apparently emerged during the one of
the stormy nights we've had lately.
Nest #33 at 3rd Avenue had a 93% Hatch
Success and also had 4 unhatched
eggs with 75 being the total number. There were two hatchlings,
one live and unfortunately one dead. The live one was healthy
and crawled to the water.
Nest #34 at Station 19 on Sullivans Island
followed today's trend
with 4 unhatched and 111 being the total number laid. This nest
and #29 above were in situ, so we didn't know how many eggs
until this morning. This nest also had only one live hatchling and
a great 96% Hatch Success.
Nest @32 at 56th Avenue they were
thrilled to see 20 hatchlings in the nest that had hatched 5 days ago.
This nest had an 85% Hatch Success with only 10 unhatched
eggs.
Nest #25 which was at Access Path 26A had also done well
with a 93% hatch success. There was only one live turtle, 110
empty shells, and 8 unhatched eggs here.
Nest #28 had a 66% Hatch Success with 35 unhatched eggs
out of 106 and one live turtle.
Nest #56, our "wild nest" had very good results with 93% Hatch
Success 107 empty shells and 8 unhatched with one live turtle.
Nest #24, however, had most eggs unhatched with an 18% Hatch
Success. Only about 27 of the 143 had hatched. We do see this
kind of nest during most seasons and sometimes the reason is
not apparent. There was no flooding, no raccoon predation, and
no invasion by ants or ghost crabs. It is frustrating to those great
volunteers who work so hard to protect these eggs to have this
happen. They were discolored with bacterial growth and not viable.
The good news was that 3 turtles were live in the nest. If we had
not done the inventory, they might not have been able to dig
around all those bad eggs and would have died in the nest. They
crawled into the water and swam away. We can hope that one of
them will survive.
Nest #26 at Station 14 found by Steve
Robling on June 25th was inventoried this morning. A count
of the 88 empty eggshells and 14 unhatched eggs showed us
that she laid 102 eggs which had an 86% hatch success. No live
hatchlings were still in the nest. "Stella" a dog who specializes
in digging out ghost crabs was on the beach and we watched her
dig into a crab hole and pull out the crab. Her owner says that she
does this a lot - what a good recruit she would be for the Turtle
Team!
Nest #22 at 56th Avenue had an 81% Hatch Success with 13
unhatched eggs and only one live hatchling left in the nest to
be released.
Nest #20 at Ocean Point had 9 unhatched eggs and also had
only one live
hatchling to be released. This was a 92% Hatch Success.
Nest #18 Stumpy's second nest at 21st Avenue had 71 unhatched
eggs plus the 3 that she broke the night she laid them. There
were 13 healthy hatchlings left in the nest at the inventory this
morning which were released. This nest ended up with a 43%
Hatch Success.
Nest #23 at 24th Avenue which was not relocated had 19 live
hatchlings that were released as well. A count of the empty
eggshells showed that this turtle laid 119 eggs and the Hatch
Success was 71%.
Nest #27th at 8th Avenue had no live hatchlings left in the nest.
We counted 93 empty eggshells and 10 unhatched eggs for a 90%
Hatch Success.
Nest #19 (Bob and Gail Low and Charlotte
Clarke's) had a 67% hatch rate with no live hatchlings left in the
nest.
Nest #21 found by Barbara Machnik and Sue Bozeman had a
wonderful 97% hatch rate, the best of the season so far with only
one live hatchling left in the nest who was released to crawl to the water.
Nest #17 Charlotte Clark’s nest that had been moved to 31st
Avenue had a 53% hatch rate with many unhatched eggs and
three live hatchlings.
Nest #14 Linda Faia's had only 4 eggs
unhatched and all other healthy
hatchlings this morning at Ocean Point. It happened that Mary
Alice Monroe (Kruesi) brought a film crew from Turner South
who were making a show called "Three Day Weekend" about
Wild Dunes and interviewing her as well. They filmed the
inventory as well as the 4 live hatchlings going into the water.
How great that this nest with 96% Hatch Success was the one
that we inventoried for the camera crew! Also in attendance was
David Moore from Greenville with his parents Ann and Hugh.
David has been studying loggerheads in school and was
interested in seeing the whole process including the release
of the healthy hatchlings into the ocean.
At Nest #11 near 31st Avenue we found 110
unhatched eggs and 7 live hatchlings on inventory today. Nine eggs were put back into the
nest because they could possibly still hatch. We don't know why all of
these eggs failed to develop. Ants did not get into the nest. Final
numbers for #11 and #16 will not be posted in Current Nest
Data until after the last count, but the Hatch Success is only 21%
at this time.
Nest #16 at 27th Avenue had quite a few turtles just coming out
of their eggs and/or with yolk sacs still attached to their plastrons.
These were put back into the nest on top of all the shells and
unviable eggs along with 14 white eggs that could possibly hatch.
There were 80 empty shells and 14 live hatchlings ready to go to
the water. Hatch Success so far is 85%, but again this is not the
final number until we see how many more make it.
Nest #10 at 1st Avenue had a 68% hatch success which would
have been a lot higher if Stumpy had not broken 20 eggs when
she laid them. There were 12 that didn't hatch and 6 live hatchlings that went into the water.
Nest #6 at 56A had all left the nest and there was a 78% hatch
rate. This nest had had ant problems at hatch time.
Nest #13 at 56A had serious problems, and we're not really sure why. Although there were no ants down in the nest, we found 54 unhatched eggs
and 24 dead hatchlings. We don't believe this nest was flooded with ground water either. A few were found alive and released into the water. Eight of
them were just pipping (coming out of their eggs) or still had yolk sacs attached to their plastrons. In a case such as this, our instructions are
to rebury them and let them come out again when they are mature and up to full strength, so that is what we did. Three more were allowed to crawl
into the water.
Nest #12 on Sullivan's Island was inventoried by Mary Ellen Rogers. She also found that although many had come out 3 days ago, that 18 were either
still unhatched and possibly viable or just pipping. So she counted 88 shells and 17 dead hatchlings (some pipped dead) and put the 18 back in the sand just as we did with #13.
First Nest at Ocean Point Hatched and Has Its Inventory
The first Ocean Point nest was a success. There was
only one lone
hatchling still in the nest and "Scooter" swam out into the
water in good style. The Hatch Success was 90%.
Nest #48 Boils at about midnight
At midnight after 4 1/2 hours of waiting
and listening to very loud digging noises at Dolores Korz's Nest
#48 we saw a healthy boil of hatchlings. The first crater/depression
was visible at about 10:40 pm. Dolores was there and Barb called
Rick Kline, who had the high bid at the Scuba Do silent auction at
the Aquarium. He had bid on the opportunity to see a loggerhead
nest hatch. He and his wife made it
there from West Ashley in time to see them come scrambling out.
It was a small nest of only 61 eggs but we estimated that about
50 could have emerged.
SC AQUARIUM RELEASES FIFTH
SEA TURTLE OF THE 2005 SEASON
"Surfside" released on Isle of Palms,
Tuesday August 30th
The SC Aquarium released a rehabilitated
loggerhead sea turtle, "Surfside” on Tuesday, August 30 on Isle
of Palms. This young loggerhead has been with the Aquarium
since mid summer when it was found floating in the surf and had
to be pulled in by rescuers. Floating sea turtles are unable to dive for
food, exposing them to sun and wind which causes emaciation and
dehydration in addition to many other ailments. A combination
of good medicine, nourishing food and a dive weight belt strapped around the turtle
for a few weeks, helped this turtle make a quick turnaround.
The majority of the turtles that come to the Aquarium for
treatment suffer from debilitated turtle syndrome (DTS).
The root causes for the syndrome are poorly understood.
This feisty loggerhead turtle is the fifth healthy turtle to be
released in 2005 as part of the Aquarium’s successful sea
turtle rescue program. Working closely with the SCDNR and
other organizations, Aquarium animal care staff successfully
treated and released four turtles back into the wild in 2004.
Three additional loggerheads are currently undergoing treatment
at the Aquarium with plans for release once they are healthy.
Jetty and Gardner Get a Big Sendoff at Seabrook
Nest #21 and #23 Hatch
We were watching Nest #18 at 21st
Avenue (Stumpy's second one) and Nest #23 at 24th Avenue
tonight. Both had loud digging noises and a few hatchling heads
appeared at the 21st Ave. one about 9 pm. But before they made
the break for the water, the ones at 24th Avenue came out. The
night was perfect with clear sky and a very bright moon, so there
were no problems. At the request of the SC Department of
Natural Resources, we collected the first two strong healthy turtles
out of Stumpy's nest to be taken to the SC Aquarium in the morning. They will then be taken to live at Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia for the next several years. This will give them a head start.
Then they will be released in the Gulf Stream when they are
between 2 and 3 years old. We hope that this will mean that
they might have a better chance at survival.
Nest #16 Hatches
At 11 pm the hatchlings started boiling out of a rather deep crater from
Grace Rhodes' nest at 27th Avenue. Unfortunately the crescent moon had set
a while before that, and the turtles didn't know which way to go. We
appreciated the help of quite a few good folks who helped them find their
way to the ocean. Without them the outcome for these turtles would have
been quite different. Inventory will be on Saturday at 7:30 a.m. sharp.
Nests #9 and #10 "Boil"
Nest #43 at 43rd Avenue was our beloved STUMPY'S 4th and next
to last nest of the season. As usual her eggs were extremely
fertile and healthy in spite of her physical impairment of the
missing left rear flipper. We pulled about 40 eggs out from under
her as the egg chamber overflowed and then buried these along
with the other 80 in a normal sized hole since she was unable to
do this. The Wingate sisters who were vacationing in the
neighborhood of 45th Avenue called us and we were able to
keep Stumpy from accidentally crushing any of the 120 eggs
from this clutch. Only 1 egg did not develop and two dead and
one live hatchling were found in the nest at the inventory. So
Stumpy had a 97% Hatch Success on her 4th nest. She is an
amazing turtle! Her last nest is #52 at 31st Avenue.
Nest #47 at 30th Avenue was the one that had only
one turtle emerge at 51 days and then the rest boil
out last night at 55 days. There were no hatchlings live
or dead still in the nest this morning and 28 eggs were
unhatched, most of them showing no development. Hatch
Success was 75%. Gail Low who discovered this nest deserves
thanks for being so attentive to it in the nights of the past week.
Nest # 37 at 31st Avenue was another sad one with only 9%
success.
We had seen only a few hatchlings come out every night for
the last 4 nights but no major "boil." There were 100 unhatched
eggs and 10 empty shells with 5 live hatchlings released to swim
away. There were 8 people from the SC Aquarium's Legendary
Loggerheads program present to see these 5 live ones.
Nest #38 at 29th Avenue had many hatchling tracks visible from
last night's turtles who came out after we had gone home. The
Aquarium visitors watched as we counted empty shells (65 in
number) and unhatched eggs (7 in number) but no turtles left
in the nest. This at least was a successful nest with a 90% hatch
success.
Nest #30 at Ocean Point had a large number of eggs that failed
to develop. This nest had been watched for many nights by Nancy
and the other good folks who live near there with only a few
hatchlings coming out. Today we discovered that out of the 156
eggs laid 143 did not develop. We know of no reason for this
such as flooding, ghost crab or ant invasions, etc. Unfortunately
with a 7.69% hatch success, this is recorded as a failed nest.
Nest #35 also at Ocean Point was even worse with a 7.14% hatch
success.
Same scenario, many undeveloped eggs and no obvious reason
for their
failure. Two live hatchlings were rescued and released from this
nest and two from Nest #30 above.
Nest #39 at Ocean Point also had many tracks this morning from
a major
"boil" last night. We found only 6 unhatched eggs and one dead
hatchling out of the 106 that were relocated in July for a 93%
hatch.
Nest #36 at Station 17 on August 31st.
When we got there we noticed the faint tracks of about 7 or 8
hatchlings that came out last night. These were barely visible in
the wet sand but seemed to go down to the water. There were
100 empty shells and 6 eggs that failed to hatch. But the real
bonus was the 21 healthy & vigorous hatchlings that were very
deep in the nest and were very happy to crawl to the water and
swim away. One seemed to have his compass reversed and kept
going the wrong way, but after a while even he headed out for
the Gulf Stream. The Hatch Success was a very good 94%. Many
thanks to all Sullivans Island Turtle Team Volunteers for a job
well done.
Nest #31 When we inventoried Stumpy's third nest at 21st Avenue, we found only 4
unhatched out of the 70 relocated and one dead hatchling. A very large
ghost crab had invaded the nest after it hatched Thursday night. We
recorded a 77% hatch success because of the 15 eggs (plus the 4 unhatched)
that Stumpy broke when she covered the nest over her shallow egg chamber.
If not for these 15, it would have been a 94% success. But if we had
not cleaned these eggs and moved.
Nest #29 at 34th Avenue had a 94% Hatch
Success with only 4 unhatched eggs out of 78 with no hatchlings
left in the nest. We were worried about this one because we never
saw but one turtle come out in the past week. However, we were
so happy to learn that they apparently emerged during the one of
the stormy nights we've had lately.
Nest #33 at 3rd Avenue had a 93% Hatch
Success and also had 4 unhatched
eggs with 75 being the total number. There were two hatchlings,
one live and unfortunately one dead. The live one was healthy
and crawled to the water.
Nest #34 at Station 19 on Sullivans Island
followed today's trend
with 4 unhatched and 111 being the total number laid. This nest
and #29 above were in situ, so we didn't know how many eggs
until this morning. This nest also had only one live hatchling and
a great 96% Hatch Success.
Nest @32 at 56th Avenue they were
thrilled to see 20 hatchlings in the nest that had hatched 5 days ago.
This nest had an 85% Hatch Success with only 10 unhatched
eggs.
Nest #25 which was at Access Path 26A had also done well
with a 93% hatch success. There was only one live turtle, 110
empty shells, and 8 unhatched eggs here.
Nest #28 had a 66% Hatch Success with 35 unhatched eggs
out of 106 and one live turtle.
Nest #56, our "wild nest" had very good results with 93% Hatch
Success 107 empty shells and 8 unhatched with one live turtle.
Nest #24, however, had most eggs unhatched with an 18% Hatch
Success. Only about 27 of the 143 had hatched. We do see this
kind of nest during most seasons and sometimes the reason is
not apparent. There was no flooding, no raccoon predation, and
no invasion by ants or ghost crabs. It is frustrating to those great
volunteers who work so hard to protect these eggs to have this
happen. They were discolored with bacterial growth and not viable.
The good news was that 3 turtles were live in the nest. If we had
not done the inventory, they might not have been able to dig
around all those bad eggs and would have died in the nest. They
crawled into the water and swam away. We can hope that one of
them will survive.
Nest #26 at Station 14 found by Steve
Robling on June 25th was inventoried this morning. A count
of the 88 empty eggshells and 14 unhatched eggs showed us
that she laid 102 eggs which had an 86% hatch success. No live
hatchlings were still in the nest. "Stella" a dog who specializes
in digging out ghost crabs was on the beach and we watched her
dig into a crab hole and pull out the crab. Her owner says that she
does this a lot - what a good recruit she would be for the Turtle
Team!
Nest #22 at 56th Avenue had an 81% Hatch Success with 13
unhatched eggs and only one live hatchling left in the nest to
be released.
Nest #20 at Ocean Point had 9 unhatched eggs and also had
only one live
hatchling to be released. This was a 92% Hatch Success.
Nest #18 Stumpy's second nest at 21st Avenue had 71 unhatched
eggs plus the 3 that she broke the night she laid them. There
were 13 healthy hatchlings left in the nest at the inventory this
morning which were released. This nest ended up with a 43%
Hatch Success.
Nest #23 at 24th Avenue which was not relocated had 19 live
hatchlings that were released as well. A count of the empty
eggshells showed that this turtle laid 119 eggs and the Hatch
Success was 71%.
Nest #27th at 8th Avenue had no live hatchlings left in the nest.
We counted 93 empty eggshells and 10 unhatched eggs for a 90%
Hatch Success.
Nest #19 (Bob and Gail Low and Charlotte
Clarke's) had a 67% hatch rate with no live hatchlings left in the
nest.
Nest #21 found by Barbara Machnik and Sue Bozeman had a
wonderful 97% hatch rate, the best of the season so far with only
one live hatchling left in the nest who was released to crawl to the water.
Nest #17 Charlotte Clark’s nest that had been moved to 31st
Avenue had a 53% hatch rate with many unhatched eggs and
three live hatchlings.
Nest #14 Linda Faia's had only 4 eggs
unhatched and all other healthy
hatchlings this morning at Ocean Point. It happened that Mary
Alice Monroe (Kruesi) brought a film crew from Turner South
who were making a show called "Three Day Weekend" about
Wild Dunes and interviewing her as well. They filmed the
inventory as well as the 4 live hatchlings going into the water.
How great that this nest with 96% Hatch Success was the one
that we inventoried for the camera crew! Also in attendance was
David Moore from Greenville with his parents Ann and Hugh.
David has been studying loggerheads in school and was
interested in seeing the whole process including the release
of the healthy hatchlings into the ocean.
At Nest #11 near 31st Avenue we found 110
unhatched eggs and 7 live hatchlings on inventory today. Nine eggs were put back into the
nest because they could possibly still hatch. We don't know why all of
these eggs failed to develop. Ants did not get into the nest. Final
numbers for #11 and #16 will not be posted in Current Nest
Data until after the last count, but the Hatch Success is only 21%
at this time.
Nest #16 at 27th Avenue had quite a few turtles just coming out
of their eggs and/or with yolk sacs still attached to their plastrons.
These were put back into the nest on top of all the shells and
unviable eggs along with 14 white eggs that could possibly hatch.
There were 80 empty shells and 14 live hatchlings ready to go to
the water. Hatch Success so far is 85%, but again this is not the
final number until we see how many more make it.
Nest #10 at 1st Avenue had a 68% hatch success which would
have been a lot higher if Stumpy had not broken 20 eggs when
she laid them. There were 12 that didn't hatch and 6 live hatchlings that went into the water.
Nest #6 at 56A had all left the nest and there was a 78% hatch
rate. This nest had had ant problems at hatch time.
Nest #13 at 56A had serious problems, and we're not really sure why. Although there were no ants down in the nest, we found 54 unhatched eggs
and 24 dead hatchlings. We don't believe this nest was flooded with ground water either. A few were found alive and released into the water. Eight of
them were just pipping (coming out of their eggs) or still had yolk sacs attached to their plastrons. In a case such as this, our instructions are
to rebury them and let them come out again when they are mature and up to full strength, so that is what we did. Three more were allowed to crawl
into the water.
Nest #12 on Sullivan's Island was inventoried by Mary Ellen Rogers. She also found that although many had come out 3 days ago, that 18 were either
still unhatched and possibly viable or just pipping. So she counted 88 shells and 17 dead hatchlings (some pipped dead) and put the 18 back in the sand just as we did with #13.
First Nest at Ocean Point Hatched and Has Its Inventory
The first Ocean Point nest was a success. There was
only one lone
hatchling still in the nest and "Scooter" swam out into the
water in good style. The Hatch Success was 90%.
Nest #48 Boils at about midnight
At midnight after 4 1/2 hours of waiting
and listening to very loud digging noises at Dolores Korz's Nest
#48 we saw a healthy boil of hatchlings. The first crater/depression
was visible at about 10:40 pm. Dolores was there and Barb called
Rick Kline, who had the high bid at the Scuba Do silent auction at
the Aquarium. He had bid on the opportunity to see a loggerhead
nest hatch. He and his wife made it
there from West Ashley in time to see them come scrambling out.
It was a small nest of only 61 eggs but we estimated that about
50 could have emerged.
SC AQUARIUM RELEASES FIFTH
SEA TURTLE OF THE 2005 SEASON
"Surfside" released on Isle of Palms,
Tuesday August 30th
The SC Aquarium released a rehabilitated
loggerhead sea turtle, "Surfside” on Tuesday, August 30 on Isle
of Palms. This young loggerhead has been with the Aquarium
since mid summer when it was found floating in the surf and had
to be pulled in by rescuers. Floating sea turtles are unable to dive for
food, exposing them to sun and wind which causes emaciation and
dehydration in addition to many other ailments. A combination
of good medicine, nourishing food and a dive weight belt strapped around the turtle
for a few weeks, helped this turtle make a quick turnaround.
The majority of the turtles that come to the Aquarium for
treatment suffer from debilitated turtle syndrome (DTS).
The root causes for the syndrome are poorly understood.
This feisty loggerhead turtle is the fifth healthy turtle to be
released in 2005 as part of the Aquarium’s successful sea
turtle rescue program. Working closely with the SCDNR and
other organizations, Aquarium animal care staff successfully
treated and released four turtles back into the wild in 2004.
Three additional loggerheads are currently undergoing treatment
at the Aquarium with plans for release once they are healthy.
Jetty and Gardner Get a Big Sendoff at Seabrook
Nest #21 and #23 Hatch
We were watching Nest #18 at 21st
Avenue (Stumpy's second one) and Nest #23 at 24th Avenue
tonight. Both had loud digging noises and a few hatchling heads
appeared at the 21st Ave. one about 9 pm. But before they made
the break for the water, the ones at 24th Avenue came out. The
night was perfect with clear sky and a very bright moon, so there
were no problems. At the request of the SC Department of
Natural Resources, we collected the first two strong healthy turtles
out of Stumpy's nest to be taken to the SC Aquarium in the morning. They will then be taken to live at Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia for the next several years. This will give them a head start.
Then they will be released in the Gulf Stream when they are
between 2 and 3 years old. We hope that this will mean that
they might have a better chance at survival.
Nest #16 Hatches
At 11 pm the hatchlings started boiling out of a rather deep crater from
Grace Rhodes' nest at 27th Avenue. Unfortunately the crescent moon had set
a while before that, and the turtles didn't know which way to go. We
appreciated the help of quite a few good folks who helped them find their
way to the ocean. Without them the outcome for these turtles would have
been quite different. Inventory will be on Saturday at 7:30 a.m. sharp.
Nests #9 and #10 "Boil"
Nest # 37 at 31st Avenue was another sad one with only 9% success. We had seen only a few hatchlings come out every night for the last 4 nights but no major "boil." There were 100 unhatched eggs and 10 empty shells with 5 live hatchlings released to swim away. There were 8 people from the SC Aquarium's Legendary Loggerheads program present to see these 5 live ones.
Nest #38 at 29th Avenue had many hatchling tracks visible from
last night's turtles who came out after we had gone home. The
Aquarium visitors watched as we counted empty shells (65 in
number) and unhatched eggs (7 in number) but no turtles left
in the nest. This at least was a successful nest with a 90% hatch
success.
Nest #30 at Ocean Point had a large number of eggs that failed
to develop. This nest had been watched for many nights by Nancy
and the other good folks who live near there with only a few
hatchlings coming out. Today we discovered that out of the 156
eggs laid 143 did not develop. We know of no reason for this
such as flooding, ghost crab or ant invasions, etc. Unfortunately
with a 7.69% hatch success, this is recorded as a failed nest.
Nest #35 also at Ocean Point was even worse with a 7.14% hatch
success.
Same scenario, many undeveloped eggs and no obvious reason
for their
failure. Two live hatchlings were rescued and released from this
nest and two from Nest #30 above.
Nest #39 at Ocean Point also had many tracks this morning from
a major
"boil" last night. We found only 6 unhatched eggs and one dead
hatchling out of the 106 that were relocated in July for a 93%
hatch.
Nest #36 at Station 17 on August 31st. When we got there we noticed the faint tracks of about 7 or 8 hatchlings that came out last night. These were barely visible in the wet sand but seemed to go down to the water. There were 100 empty shells and 6 eggs that failed to hatch. But the real bonus was the 21 healthy & vigorous hatchlings that were very deep in the nest and were very happy to crawl to the water and swim away. One seemed to have his compass reversed and kept going the wrong way, but after a while even he headed out for the Gulf Stream. The Hatch Success was a very good 94%. Many thanks to all Sullivans Island Turtle Team Volunteers for a job well done.
Nest #31 When we inventoried Stumpy's third nest at 21st Avenue, we found only 4
unhatched out of the 70 relocated and one dead hatchling. A very large
ghost crab had invaded the nest after it hatched Thursday night. We
recorded a 77% hatch success because of the 15 eggs (plus the 4 unhatched)
that Stumpy broke when she covered the nest over her shallow egg chamber.
If not for these 15, it would have been a 94% success. But if we had
not cleaned these eggs and moved.
Nest #29 at 34th Avenue had a 94% Hatch
Success with only 4 unhatched eggs out of 78 with no hatchlings
left in the nest. We were worried about this one because we never
saw but one turtle come out in the past week. However, we were
so happy to learn that they apparently emerged during the one of
the stormy nights we've had lately.
Nest #33 at 3rd Avenue had a 93% Hatch
Success and also had 4 unhatched
eggs with 75 being the total number. There were two hatchlings,
one live and unfortunately one dead. The live one was healthy
and crawled to the water.
Nest #34 at Station 19 on Sullivans Island
followed today's trend
with 4 unhatched and 111 being the total number laid. This nest
and #29 above were in situ, so we didn't know how many eggs
until this morning. This nest also had only one live hatchling and
a great 96% Hatch Success.
Nest @32 at 56th Avenue they were
thrilled to see 20 hatchlings in the nest that had hatched 5 days ago.
This nest had an 85% Hatch Success with only 10 unhatched
eggs.
Nest #25 which was at Access Path 26A had also done well
with a 93% hatch success. There was only one live turtle, 110
empty shells, and 8 unhatched eggs here.
Nest #28 had a 66% Hatch Success with 35 unhatched eggs
out of 106 and one live turtle.
Nest #56, our "wild nest" had very good results with 93% Hatch
Success 107 empty shells and 8 unhatched with one live turtle.
Nest #24, however, had most eggs unhatched with an 18% Hatch
Success. Only about 27 of the 143 had hatched. We do see this
kind of nest during most seasons and sometimes the reason is
not apparent. There was no flooding, no raccoon predation, and
no invasion by ants or ghost crabs. It is frustrating to those great
volunteers who work so hard to protect these eggs to have this
happen. They were discolored with bacterial growth and not viable.
The good news was that 3 turtles were live in the nest. If we had
not done the inventory, they might not have been able to dig
around all those bad eggs and would have died in the nest. They
crawled into the water and swam away. We can hope that one of
them will survive.
Nest #26 at Station 14 found by Steve
Robling on June 25th was inventoried this morning. A count
of the 88 empty eggshells and 14 unhatched eggs showed us
that she laid 102 eggs which had an 86% hatch success. No live
hatchlings were still in the nest. "Stella" a dog who specializes
in digging out ghost crabs was on the beach and we watched her
dig into a crab hole and pull out the crab. Her owner says that she
does this a lot - what a good recruit she would be for the Turtle
Team!
Nest #22 at 56th Avenue had an 81% Hatch Success with 13
unhatched eggs and only one live hatchling left in the nest to
be released.
Nest #20 at Ocean Point had 9 unhatched eggs and also had
only one live
hatchling to be released. This was a 92% Hatch Success.
Nest #18 Stumpy's second nest at 21st Avenue had 71 unhatched
eggs plus the 3 that she broke the night she laid them. There
were 13 healthy hatchlings left in the nest at the inventory this
morning which were released. This nest ended up with a 43%
Hatch Success.
Nest #23 at 24th Avenue which was not relocated had 19 live
hatchlings that were released as well. A count of the empty
eggshells showed that this turtle laid 119 eggs and the Hatch
Success was 71%.
Nest #27th at 8th Avenue had no live hatchlings left in the nest.
We counted 93 empty eggshells and 10 unhatched eggs for a 90%
Hatch Success.
Nest #19 (Bob and Gail Low and Charlotte
Clarke's) had a 67% hatch rate with no live hatchlings left in the
nest.
Nest #21 found by Barbara Machnik and Sue Bozeman had a
wonderful 97% hatch rate, the best of the season so far with only
one live hatchling left in the nest who was released to crawl to the water.
Nest #17 Charlotte Clark’s nest that had been moved to 31st
Avenue had a 53% hatch rate with many unhatched eggs and
three live hatchlings.
Nest #14 Linda Faia's had only 4 eggs
unhatched and all other healthy
hatchlings this morning at Ocean Point. It happened that Mary
Alice Monroe (Kruesi) brought a film crew from Turner South
who were making a show called "Three Day Weekend" about
Wild Dunes and interviewing her as well. They filmed the
inventory as well as the 4 live hatchlings going into the water.
How great that this nest with 96% Hatch Success was the one
that we inventoried for the camera crew! Also in attendance was
David Moore from Greenville with his parents Ann and Hugh.
David has been studying loggerheads in school and was
interested in seeing the whole process including the release
of the healthy hatchlings into the ocean.
At Nest #11 near 31st Avenue we found 110
unhatched eggs and 7 live hatchlings on inventory today. Nine eggs were put back into the
nest because they could possibly still hatch. We don't know why all of
these eggs failed to develop. Ants did not get into the nest. Final
numbers for #11 and #16 will not be posted in Current Nest
Data until after the last count, but the Hatch Success is only 21%
at this time.
Nest #16 at 27th Avenue had quite a few turtles just coming out
of their eggs and/or with yolk sacs still attached to their plastrons.
These were put back into the nest on top of all the shells and
unviable eggs along with 14 white eggs that could possibly hatch.
There were 80 empty shells and 14 live hatchlings ready to go to
the water. Hatch Success so far is 85%, but again this is not the
final number until we see how many more make it.
Nest #10 at 1st Avenue had a 68% hatch success which would
have been a lot higher if Stumpy had not broken 20 eggs when
she laid them. There were 12 that didn't hatch and 6 live hatchlings that went into the water.
Nest #6 at 56A had all left the nest and there was a 78% hatch
rate. This nest had had ant problems at hatch time.
Nest #13 at 56A had serious problems, and we're not really sure why. Although there were no ants down in the nest, we found 54 unhatched eggs
and 24 dead hatchlings. We don't believe this nest was flooded with ground water either. A few were found alive and released into the water. Eight of
them were just pipping (coming out of their eggs) or still had yolk sacs attached to their plastrons. In a case such as this, our instructions are
to rebury them and let them come out again when they are mature and up to full strength, so that is what we did. Three more were allowed to crawl
into the water.
Nest #12 on Sullivan's Island was inventoried by Mary Ellen Rogers. She also found that although many had come out 3 days ago, that 18 were either
still unhatched and possibly viable or just pipping. So she counted 88 shells and 17 dead hatchlings (some pipped dead) and put the 18 back in the sand just as we did with #13.
First Nest at Ocean Point Hatched and Has Its Inventory
The first Ocean Point nest was a success. There was
only one lone
hatchling still in the nest and "Scooter" swam out into the
water in good style. The Hatch Success was 90%.
Nest #48 Boils at about midnight
At midnight after 4 1/2 hours of waiting
and listening to very loud digging noises at Dolores Korz's Nest
#48 we saw a healthy boil of hatchlings. The first crater/depression
was visible at about 10:40 pm. Dolores was there and Barb called
Rick Kline, who had the high bid at the Scuba Do silent auction at
the Aquarium. He had bid on the opportunity to see a loggerhead
nest hatch. He and his wife made it
there from West Ashley in time to see them come scrambling out.
It was a small nest of only 61 eggs but we estimated that about
50 could have emerged.
SC AQUARIUM RELEASES FIFTH
SEA TURTLE OF THE 2005 SEASON
"Surfside" released on Isle of Palms,
Tuesday August 30th
The SC Aquarium released a rehabilitated
loggerhead sea turtle, "Surfside” on Tuesday, August 30 on Isle
of Palms. This young loggerhead has been with the Aquarium
since mid summer when it was found floating in the surf and had
to be pulled in by rescuers. Floating sea turtles are unable to dive for
food, exposing them to sun and wind which causes emaciation and
dehydration in addition to many other ailments. A combination
of good medicine, nourishing food and a dive weight belt strapped around the turtle
for a few weeks, helped this turtle make a quick turnaround.
The majority of the turtles that come to the Aquarium for
treatment suffer from debilitated turtle syndrome (DTS).
The root causes for the syndrome are poorly understood.
This feisty loggerhead turtle is the fifth healthy turtle to be
released in 2005 as part of the Aquarium’s successful sea
turtle rescue program. Working closely with the SCDNR and
other organizations, Aquarium animal care staff successfully
treated and released four turtles back into the wild in 2004.
Three additional loggerheads are currently undergoing treatment
at the Aquarium with plans for release once they are healthy.
Jetty and Gardner Get a Big Sendoff at Seabrook
Nest #21 and #23 Hatch
We were watching Nest #18 at 21st
Avenue (Stumpy's second one) and Nest #23 at 24th Avenue
tonight. Both had loud digging noises and a few hatchling heads
appeared at the 21st Ave. one about 9 pm. But before they made
the break for the water, the ones at 24th Avenue came out. The
night was perfect with clear sky and a very bright moon, so there
were no problems. At the request of the SC Department of
Natural Resources, we collected the first two strong healthy turtles
out of Stumpy's nest to be taken to the SC Aquarium in the morning. They will then be taken to live at Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia for the next several years. This will give them a head start.
Then they will be released in the Gulf Stream when they are
between 2 and 3 years old. We hope that this will mean that
they might have a better chance at survival.
Nest #16 Hatches
At 11 pm the hatchlings started boiling out of a rather deep crater from
Grace Rhodes' nest at 27th Avenue. Unfortunately the crescent moon had set
a while before that, and the turtles didn't know which way to go. We
appreciated the help of quite a few good folks who helped them find their
way to the ocean. Without them the outcome for these turtles would have
been quite different. Inventory will be on Saturday at 7:30 a.m. sharp.
Nests #9 and #10 "Boil"
Nest #29 at 34th Avenue had a 94% Hatch
Success with only 4 unhatched eggs out of 78 with no hatchlings
left in the nest. We were worried about this one because we never
saw but one turtle come out in the past week. However, we were
so happy to learn that they apparently emerged during the one of
the stormy nights we've had lately.
Nest #33 at 3rd Avenue had a 93% Hatch
Success and also had 4 unhatched
eggs with 75 being the total number. There were two hatchlings,
one live and unfortunately one dead. The live one was healthy
and crawled to the water.
Nest #34 at Station 19 on Sullivans Island
followed today's trend
with 4 unhatched and 111 being the total number laid. This nest
and #29 above were in situ, so we didn't know how many eggs
until this morning. This nest also had only one live hatchling and
a great 96% Hatch Success.
Nest @32 at 56th Avenue they were
thrilled to see 20 hatchlings in the nest that had hatched 5 days ago.
This nest had an 85% Hatch Success with only 10 unhatched
eggs.
Nest #25 which was at Access Path 26A had also done well
with a 93% hatch success. There was only one live turtle, 110
empty shells, and 8 unhatched eggs here.
Nest #28 had a 66% Hatch Success with 35 unhatched eggs
out of 106 and one live turtle.
Nest #56, our "wild nest" had very good results with 93% Hatch
Success 107 empty shells and 8 unhatched with one live turtle.
Nest #24, however, had most eggs unhatched with an 18% Hatch
Success. Only about 27 of the 143 had hatched. We do see this
kind of nest during most seasons and sometimes the reason is
not apparent. There was no flooding, no raccoon predation, and
no invasion by ants or ghost crabs. It is frustrating to those great
volunteers who work so hard to protect these eggs to have this
happen. They were discolored with bacterial growth and not viable.
The good news was that 3 turtles were live in the nest. If we had
not done the inventory, they might not have been able to dig
around all those bad eggs and would have died in the nest. They
crawled into the water and swam away. We can hope that one of
them will survive.
Nest #26 at Station 14 found by Steve
Robling on June 25th was inventoried this morning. A count
of the 88 empty eggshells and 14 unhatched eggs showed us
that she laid 102 eggs which had an 86% hatch success. No live
hatchlings were still in the nest. "Stella" a dog who specializes
in digging out ghost crabs was on the beach and we watched her
dig into a crab hole and pull out the crab. Her owner says that she
does this a lot - what a good recruit she would be for the Turtle
Team!
Nest #22 at 56th Avenue had an 81% Hatch Success with 13
unhatched eggs and only one live hatchling left in the nest to
be released.
Nest #20 at Ocean Point had 9 unhatched eggs and also had
only one live
hatchling to be released. This was a 92% Hatch Success.
Nest #18 Stumpy's second nest at 21st Avenue had 71 unhatched
eggs plus the 3 that she broke the night she laid them. There
were 13 healthy hatchlings left in the nest at the inventory this
morning which were released. This nest ended up with a 43%
Hatch Success.
Nest #23 at 24th Avenue which was not relocated had 19 live
hatchlings that were released as well. A count of the empty
eggshells showed that this turtle laid 119 eggs and the Hatch
Success was 71%.
Nest #27th at 8th Avenue had no live hatchlings left in the nest.
We counted 93 empty eggshells and 10 unhatched eggs for a 90%
Hatch Success.
Nest #19 (Bob and Gail Low and Charlotte
Clarke's) had a 67% hatch rate with no live hatchlings left in the
nest.
Nest #21 found by Barbara Machnik and Sue Bozeman had a
wonderful 97% hatch rate, the best of the season so far with only
one live hatchling left in the nest who was released to crawl to the water.
Nest #17 Charlotte Clark’s nest that had been moved to 31st
Avenue had a 53% hatch rate with many unhatched eggs and
three live hatchlings.
Nest #14 Linda Faia's had only 4 eggs
unhatched and all other healthy
hatchlings this morning at Ocean Point. It happened that Mary
Alice Monroe (Kruesi) brought a film crew from Turner South
who were making a show called "Three Day Weekend" about
Wild Dunes and interviewing her as well. They filmed the
inventory as well as the 4 live hatchlings going into the water.
How great that this nest with 96% Hatch Success was the one
that we inventoried for the camera crew! Also in attendance was
David Moore from Greenville with his parents Ann and Hugh.
David has been studying loggerheads in school and was
interested in seeing the whole process including the release
of the healthy hatchlings into the ocean.
At Nest #11 near 31st Avenue we found 110
unhatched eggs and 7 live hatchlings on inventory today. Nine eggs were put back into the
nest because they could possibly still hatch. We don't know why all of
these eggs failed to develop. Ants did not get into the nest. Final
numbers for #11 and #16 will not be posted in Current Nest
Data until after the last count, but the Hatch Success is only 21%
at this time.
Nest #16 at 27th Avenue had quite a few turtles just coming out
of their eggs and/or with yolk sacs still attached to their plastrons.
These were put back into the nest on top of all the shells and
unviable eggs along with 14 white eggs that could possibly hatch.
There were 80 empty shells and 14 live hatchlings ready to go to
the water. Hatch Success so far is 85%, but again this is not the
final number until we see how many more make it.
Nest #10 at 1st Avenue had a 68% hatch success which would
have been a lot higher if Stumpy had not broken 20 eggs when
she laid them. There were 12 that didn't hatch and 6 live hatchlings that went into the water.
Nest #6 at 56A had all left the nest and there was a 78% hatch
rate. This nest had had ant problems at hatch time.
Nest #13 at 56A had serious problems, and we're not really sure why. Although there were no ants down in the nest, we found 54 unhatched eggs
and 24 dead hatchlings. We don't believe this nest was flooded with ground water either. A few were found alive and released into the water. Eight of
them were just pipping (coming out of their eggs) or still had yolk sacs attached to their plastrons. In a case such as this, our instructions are
to rebury them and let them come out again when they are mature and up to full strength, so that is what we did. Three more were allowed to crawl
into the water.
Nest #12 on Sullivan's Island was inventoried by Mary Ellen Rogers. She also found that although many had come out 3 days ago, that 18 were either
still unhatched and possibly viable or just pipping. So she counted 88 shells and 17 dead hatchlings (some pipped dead) and put the 18 back in the sand just as we did with #13.
First Nest at Ocean Point Hatched and Has Its Inventory
The first Ocean Point nest was a success. There was
only one lone
hatchling still in the nest and "Scooter" swam out into the
water in good style. The Hatch Success was 90%.
Nest #48 Boils at about midnight
At midnight after 4 1/2 hours of waiting
and listening to very loud digging noises at Dolores Korz's Nest
#48 we saw a healthy boil of hatchlings. The first crater/depression
was visible at about 10:40 pm. Dolores was there and Barb called
Rick Kline, who had the high bid at the Scuba Do silent auction at
the Aquarium. He had bid on the opportunity to see a loggerhead
nest hatch. He and his wife made it
there from West Ashley in time to see them come scrambling out.
It was a small nest of only 61 eggs but we estimated that about
50 could have emerged.
SC AQUARIUM RELEASES FIFTH
SEA TURTLE OF THE 2005 SEASON
"Surfside" released on Isle of Palms,
Tuesday August 30th
The SC Aquarium released a rehabilitated
loggerhead sea turtle, "Surfside” on Tuesday, August 30 on Isle
of Palms. This young loggerhead has been with the Aquarium
since mid summer when it was found floating in the surf and had
to be pulled in by rescuers. Floating sea turtles are unable to dive for
food, exposing them to sun and wind which causes emaciation and
dehydration in addition to many other ailments. A combination
of good medicine, nourishing food and a dive weight belt strapped around the turtle
for a few weeks, helped this turtle make a quick turnaround.
The majority of the turtles that come to the Aquarium for
treatment suffer from debilitated turtle syndrome (DTS).
The root causes for the syndrome are poorly understood.
This feisty loggerhead turtle is the fifth healthy turtle to be
released in 2005 as part of the Aquarium’s successful sea
turtle rescue program. Working closely with the SCDNR and
other organizations, Aquarium animal care staff successfully
treated and released four turtles back into the wild in 2004.
Three additional loggerheads are currently undergoing treatment
at the Aquarium with plans for release once they are healthy.
Jetty and Gardner Get a Big Sendoff at Seabrook
Nest #21 and #23 Hatch
We were watching Nest #18 at 21st
Avenue (Stumpy's second one) and Nest #23 at 24th Avenue
tonight. Both had loud digging noises and a few hatchling heads
appeared at the 21st Ave. one about 9 pm. But before they made
the break for the water, the ones at 24th Avenue came out. The
night was perfect with clear sky and a very bright moon, so there
were no problems. At the request of the SC Department of
Natural Resources, we collected the first two strong healthy turtles
out of Stumpy's nest to be taken to the SC Aquarium in the morning. They will then be taken to live at Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia for the next several years. This will give them a head start.
Then they will be released in the Gulf Stream when they are
between 2 and 3 years old. We hope that this will mean that
they might have a better chance at survival.
Nest #16 Hatches
At 11 pm the hatchlings started boiling out of a rather deep crater from
Grace Rhodes' nest at 27th Avenue. Unfortunately the crescent moon had set
a while before that, and the turtles didn't know which way to go. We
appreciated the help of quite a few good folks who helped them find their
way to the ocean. Without them the outcome for these turtles would have
been quite different. Inventory will be on Saturday at 7:30 a.m. sharp.
Nests #9 and #10 "Boil"
Nest #25 which was at Access Path 26A had also done well
with a 93% hatch success. There was only one live turtle, 110
empty shells, and 8 unhatched eggs here.
Nest #28 had a 66% Hatch Success with 35 unhatched eggs
out of 106 and one live turtle.
Nest #56, our "wild nest" had very good results with 93% Hatch
Success 107 empty shells and 8 unhatched with one live turtle.
Nest #24, however, had most eggs unhatched with an 18% Hatch
Success. Only about 27 of the 143 had hatched. We do see this
kind of nest during most seasons and sometimes the reason is
not apparent. There was no flooding, no raccoon predation, and
no invasion by ants or ghost crabs. It is frustrating to those great
volunteers who work so hard to protect these eggs to have this
happen. They were discolored with bacterial growth and not viable.
The good news was that 3 turtles were live in the nest. If we had
not done the inventory, they might not have been able to dig
around all those bad eggs and would have died in the nest. They
crawled into the water and swam away. We can hope that one of
them will survive.
Nest #26 at Station 14 found by Steve
Robling on June 25th was inventoried this morning. A count
of the 88 empty eggshells and 14 unhatched eggs showed us
that she laid 102 eggs which had an 86% hatch success. No live
hatchlings were still in the nest. "Stella" a dog who specializes
in digging out ghost crabs was on the beach and we watched her
dig into a crab hole and pull out the crab. Her owner says that she
does this a lot - what a good recruit she would be for the Turtle
Team!
Nest #22 at 56th Avenue had an 81% Hatch Success with 13
unhatched eggs and only one live hatchling left in the nest to
be released.
Nest #20 at Ocean Point had 9 unhatched eggs and also had
only one live
hatchling to be released. This was a 92% Hatch Success.
Nest #18 Stumpy's second nest at 21st Avenue had 71 unhatched
eggs plus the 3 that she broke the night she laid them. There
were 13 healthy hatchlings left in the nest at the inventory this
morning which were released. This nest ended up with a 43%
Hatch Success.
Nest #23 at 24th Avenue which was not relocated had 19 live
hatchlings that were released as well. A count of the empty
eggshells showed that this turtle laid 119 eggs and the Hatch
Success was 71%.
Nest #27th at 8th Avenue had no live hatchlings left in the nest.
We counted 93 empty eggshells and 10 unhatched eggs for a 90%
Hatch Success.
Nest #19 (Bob and Gail Low and Charlotte
Clarke's) had a 67% hatch rate with no live hatchlings left in the
nest.
Nest #21 found by Barbara Machnik and Sue Bozeman had a
wonderful 97% hatch rate, the best of the season so far with only
one live hatchling left in the nest who was released to crawl to the water.
Nest #17 Charlotte Clark’s nest that had been moved to 31st
Avenue had a 53% hatch rate with many unhatched eggs and
three live hatchlings.
Nest #14 Linda Faia's had only 4 eggs
unhatched and all other healthy
hatchlings this morning at Ocean Point. It happened that Mary
Alice Monroe (Kruesi) brought a film crew from Turner South
who were making a show called "Three Day Weekend" about
Wild Dunes and interviewing her as well. They filmed the
inventory as well as the 4 live hatchlings going into the water.
How great that this nest with 96% Hatch Success was the one
that we inventoried for the camera crew! Also in attendance was
David Moore from Greenville with his parents Ann and Hugh.
David has been studying loggerheads in school and was
interested in seeing the whole process including the release
of the healthy hatchlings into the ocean.
At Nest #11 near 31st Avenue we found 110
unhatched eggs and 7 live hatchlings on inventory today. Nine eggs were put back into the
nest because they could possibly still hatch. We don't know why all of
these eggs failed to develop. Ants did not get into the nest. Final
numbers for #11 and #16 will not be posted in Current Nest
Data until after the last count, but the Hatch Success is only 21%
at this time.
Nest #16 at 27th Avenue had quite a few turtles just coming out
of their eggs and/or with yolk sacs still attached to their plastrons.
These were put back into the nest on top of all the shells and
unviable eggs along with 14 white eggs that could possibly hatch.
There were 80 empty shells and 14 live hatchlings ready to go to
the water. Hatch Success so far is 85%, but again this is not the
final number until we see how many more make it.
Nest #10 at 1st Avenue had a 68% hatch success which would
have been a lot higher if Stumpy had not broken 20 eggs when
she laid them. There were 12 that didn't hatch and 6 live hatchlings that went into the water.
Nest #6 at 56A had all left the nest and there was a 78% hatch
rate. This nest had had ant problems at hatch time.
Nest #13 at 56A had serious problems, and we're not really sure why. Although there were no ants down in the nest, we found 54 unhatched eggs
and 24 dead hatchlings. We don't believe this nest was flooded with ground water either. A few were found alive and released into the water. Eight of
them were just pipping (coming out of their eggs) or still had yolk sacs attached to their plastrons. In a case such as this, our instructions are
to rebury them and let them come out again when they are mature and up to full strength, so that is what we did. Three more were allowed to crawl
into the water.
Nest #12 on Sullivan's Island was inventoried by Mary Ellen Rogers. She also found that although many had come out 3 days ago, that 18 were either
still unhatched and possibly viable or just pipping. So she counted 88 shells and 17 dead hatchlings (some pipped dead) and put the 18 back in the sand just as we did with #13.
First Nest at Ocean Point Hatched and Has Its Inventory
The first Ocean Point nest was a success. There was
only one lone
hatchling still in the nest and "Scooter" swam out into the
water in good style. The Hatch Success was 90%.
Nest #48 Boils at about midnight
At midnight after 4 1/2 hours of waiting
and listening to very loud digging noises at Dolores Korz's Nest
#48 we saw a healthy boil of hatchlings. The first crater/depression
was visible at about 10:40 pm. Dolores was there and Barb called
Rick Kline, who had the high bid at the Scuba Do silent auction at
the Aquarium. He had bid on the opportunity to see a loggerhead
nest hatch. He and his wife made it
there from West Ashley in time to see them come scrambling out.
It was a small nest of only 61 eggs but we estimated that about
50 could have emerged.
SC AQUARIUM RELEASES FIFTH
SEA TURTLE OF THE 2005 SEASON
"Surfside" released on Isle of Palms,
Tuesday August 30th
The SC Aquarium released a rehabilitated
loggerhead sea turtle, "Surfside” on Tuesday, August 30 on Isle
of Palms. This young loggerhead has been with the Aquarium
since mid summer when it was found floating in the surf and had
to be pulled in by rescuers. Floating sea turtles are unable to dive for
food, exposing them to sun and wind which causes emaciation and
dehydration in addition to many other ailments. A combination
of good medicine, nourishing food and a dive weight belt strapped around the turtle
for a few weeks, helped this turtle make a quick turnaround.
The majority of the turtles that come to the Aquarium for
treatment suffer from debilitated turtle syndrome (DTS).
The root causes for the syndrome are poorly understood.
This feisty loggerhead turtle is the fifth healthy turtle to be
released in 2005 as part of the Aquarium’s successful sea
turtle rescue program. Working closely with the SCDNR and
other organizations, Aquarium animal care staff successfully
treated and released four turtles back into the wild in 2004.
Three additional loggerheads are currently undergoing treatment
at the Aquarium with plans for release once they are healthy.
Jetty and Gardner Get a Big Sendoff at Seabrook
Nest #21 and #23 Hatch
We were watching Nest #18 at 21st
Avenue (Stumpy's second one) and Nest #23 at 24th Avenue
tonight. Both had loud digging noises and a few hatchling heads
appeared at the 21st Ave. one about 9 pm. But before they made
the break for the water, the ones at 24th Avenue came out. The
night was perfect with clear sky and a very bright moon, so there
were no problems. At the request of the SC Department of
Natural Resources, we collected the first two strong healthy turtles
out of Stumpy's nest to be taken to the SC Aquarium in the morning. They will then be taken to live at Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia for the next several years. This will give them a head start.
Then they will be released in the Gulf Stream when they are
between 2 and 3 years old. We hope that this will mean that
they might have a better chance at survival.
Nest #16 Hatches
At 11 pm the hatchlings started boiling out of a rather deep crater from
Grace Rhodes' nest at 27th Avenue. Unfortunately the crescent moon had set
a while before that, and the turtles didn't know which way to go. We
appreciated the help of quite a few good folks who helped them find their
way to the ocean. Without them the outcome for these turtles would have
been quite different. Inventory will be on Saturday at 7:30 a.m. sharp.
Nests #9 and #10 "Boil"
Nest #56, our "wild nest" had very good results with 93% Hatch
Success 107 empty shells and 8 unhatched with one live turtle.
Nest #24, however, had most eggs unhatched with an 18% Hatch
Success. Only about 27 of the 143 had hatched. We do see this
kind of nest during most seasons and sometimes the reason is
not apparent. There was no flooding, no raccoon predation, and
no invasion by ants or ghost crabs. It is frustrating to those great
volunteers who work so hard to protect these eggs to have this
happen. They were discolored with bacterial growth and not viable.
The good news was that 3 turtles were live in the nest. If we had
not done the inventory, they might not have been able to dig
around all those bad eggs and would have died in the nest. They
crawled into the water and swam away. We can hope that one of
them will survive.
Nest #26 at Station 14 found by Steve
Robling on June 25th was inventoried this morning. A count
of the 88 empty eggshells and 14 unhatched eggs showed us
that she laid 102 eggs which had an 86% hatch success. No live
hatchlings were still in the nest. "Stella" a dog who specializes
in digging out ghost crabs was on the beach and we watched her
dig into a crab hole and pull out the crab. Her owner says that she
does this a lot - what a good recruit she would be for the Turtle
Team!
Nest #22 at 56th Avenue had an 81% Hatch Success with 13
unhatched eggs and only one live hatchling left in the nest to
be released.
Nest #20 at Ocean Point had 9 unhatched eggs and also had
only one live
hatchling to be released. This was a 92% Hatch Success.
Nest #18 Stumpy's second nest at 21st Avenue had 71 unhatched
eggs plus the 3 that she broke the night she laid them. There
were 13 healthy hatchlings left in the nest at the inventory this
morning which were released. This nest ended up with a 43%
Hatch Success.
Nest #23 at 24th Avenue which was not relocated had 19 live
hatchlings that were released as well. A count of the empty
eggshells showed that this turtle laid 119 eggs and the Hatch
Success was 71%.
Nest #27th at 8th Avenue had no live hatchlings left in the nest.
We counted 93 empty eggshells and 10 unhatched eggs for a 90%
Hatch Success.
Nest #19 (Bob and Gail Low and Charlotte
Clarke's) had a 67% hatch rate with no live hatchlings left in the
nest.
Nest #21 found by Barbara Machnik and Sue Bozeman had a
wonderful 97% hatch rate, the best of the season so far with only
one live hatchling left in the nest who was released to crawl to the water.
Nest #17 Charlotte Clark’s nest that had been moved to 31st
Avenue had a 53% hatch rate with many unhatched eggs and
three live hatchlings.
Nest #14 Linda Faia's had only 4 eggs
unhatched and all other healthy
hatchlings this morning at Ocean Point. It happened that Mary
Alice Monroe (Kruesi) brought a film crew from Turner South
who were making a show called "Three Day Weekend" about
Wild Dunes and interviewing her as well. They filmed the
inventory as well as the 4 live hatchlings going into the water.
How great that this nest with 96% Hatch Success was the one
that we inventoried for the camera crew! Also in attendance was
David Moore from Greenville with his parents Ann and Hugh.
David has been studying loggerheads in school and was
interested in seeing the whole process including the release
of the healthy hatchlings into the ocean.
At Nest #11 near 31st Avenue we found 110
unhatched eggs and 7 live hatchlings on inventory today. Nine eggs were put back into the
nest because they could possibly still hatch. We don't know why all of
these eggs failed to develop. Ants did not get into the nest. Final
numbers for #11 and #16 will not be posted in Current Nest
Data until after the last count, but the Hatch Success is only 21%
at this time.
Nest #16 at 27th Avenue had quite a few turtles just coming out
of their eggs and/or with yolk sacs still attached to their plastrons.
These were put back into the nest on top of all the shells and
unviable eggs along with 14 white eggs that could possibly hatch.
There were 80 empty shells and 14 live hatchlings ready to go to
the water. Hatch Success so far is 85%, but again this is not the
final number until we see how many more make it.
Nest #10 at 1st Avenue had a 68% hatch success which would
have been a lot higher if Stumpy had not broken 20 eggs when
she laid them. There were 12 that didn't hatch and 6 live hatchlings that went into the water.
Nest #6 at 56A had all left the nest and there was a 78% hatch
rate. This nest had had ant problems at hatch time.
Nest #13 at 56A had serious problems, and we're not really sure why. Although there were no ants down in the nest, we found 54 unhatched eggs
and 24 dead hatchlings. We don't believe this nest was flooded with ground water either. A few were found alive and released into the water. Eight of
them were just pipping (coming out of their eggs) or still had yolk sacs attached to their plastrons. In a case such as this, our instructions are
to rebury them and let them come out again when they are mature and up to full strength, so that is what we did. Three more were allowed to crawl
into the water.
Nest #12 on Sullivan's Island was inventoried by Mary Ellen Rogers. She also found that although many had come out 3 days ago, that 18 were either
still unhatched and possibly viable or just pipping. So she counted 88 shells and 17 dead hatchlings (some pipped dead) and put the 18 back in the sand just as we did with #13.
First Nest at Ocean Point Hatched and Has Its Inventory
The first Ocean Point nest was a success. There was
only one lone
hatchling still in the nest and "Scooter" swam out into the
water in good style. The Hatch Success was 90%.
Nest #48 Boils at about midnight
At midnight after 4 1/2 hours of waiting
and listening to very loud digging noises at Dolores Korz's Nest
#48 we saw a healthy boil of hatchlings. The first crater/depression
was visible at about 10:40 pm. Dolores was there and Barb called
Rick Kline, who had the high bid at the Scuba Do silent auction at
the Aquarium. He had bid on the opportunity to see a loggerhead
nest hatch. He and his wife made it
there from West Ashley in time to see them come scrambling out.
It was a small nest of only 61 eggs but we estimated that about
50 could have emerged.
SC AQUARIUM RELEASES FIFTH
SEA TURTLE OF THE 2005 SEASON
"Surfside" released on Isle of Palms,
Tuesday August 30th
The SC Aquarium released a rehabilitated
loggerhead sea turtle, "Surfside” on Tuesday, August 30 on Isle
of Palms. This young loggerhead has been with the Aquarium
since mid summer when it was found floating in the surf and had
to be pulled in by rescuers. Floating sea turtles are unable to dive for
food, exposing them to sun and wind which causes emaciation and
dehydration in addition to many other ailments. A combination
of good medicine, nourishing food and a dive weight belt strapped around the turtle
for a few weeks, helped this turtle make a quick turnaround.
The majority of the turtles that come to the Aquarium for
treatment suffer from debilitated turtle syndrome (DTS).
The root causes for the syndrome are poorly understood.
This feisty loggerhead turtle is the fifth healthy turtle to be
released in 2005 as part of the Aquarium’s successful sea
turtle rescue program. Working closely with the SCDNR and
other organizations, Aquarium animal care staff successfully
treated and released four turtles back into the wild in 2004.
Three additional loggerheads are currently undergoing treatment
at the Aquarium with plans for release once they are healthy.
Jetty and Gardner Get a Big Sendoff at Seabrook
Nest #21 and #23 Hatch
We were watching Nest #18 at 21st
Avenue (Stumpy's second one) and Nest #23 at 24th Avenue
tonight. Both had loud digging noises and a few hatchling heads
appeared at the 21st Ave. one about 9 pm. But before they made
the break for the water, the ones at 24th Avenue came out. The
night was perfect with clear sky and a very bright moon, so there
were no problems. At the request of the SC Department of
Natural Resources, we collected the first two strong healthy turtles
out of Stumpy's nest to be taken to the SC Aquarium in the morning. They will then be taken to live at Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia for the next several years. This will give them a head start.
Then they will be released in the Gulf Stream when they are
between 2 and 3 years old. We hope that this will mean that
they might have a better chance at survival.
Nest #16 Hatches
At 11 pm the hatchlings started boiling out of a rather deep crater from
Grace Rhodes' nest at 27th Avenue. Unfortunately the crescent moon had set
a while before that, and the turtles didn't know which way to go. We
appreciated the help of quite a few good folks who helped them find their
way to the ocean. Without them the outcome for these turtles would have
been quite different. Inventory will be on Saturday at 7:30 a.m. sharp.
Nests #9 and #10 "Boil"
Nest #22 at 56th Avenue had an 81% Hatch Success with 13
unhatched eggs and only one live hatchling left in the nest to
be released.
Nest #20 at Ocean Point had 9 unhatched eggs and also had
only one live
hatchling to be released. This was a 92% Hatch Success.
Nest #18 Stumpy's second nest at 21st Avenue had 71 unhatched
eggs plus the 3 that she broke the night she laid them. There
were 13 healthy hatchlings left in the nest at the inventory this
morning which were released. This nest ended up with a 43%
Hatch Success.
Nest #23 at 24th Avenue which was not relocated had 19 live
hatchlings that were released as well. A count of the empty
eggshells showed that this turtle laid 119 eggs and the Hatch
Success was 71%.
Nest #27th at 8th Avenue had no live hatchlings left in the nest.
We counted 93 empty eggshells and 10 unhatched eggs for a 90%
Hatch Success.
Nest #19 (Bob and Gail Low and Charlotte
Clarke's) had a 67% hatch rate with no live hatchlings left in the
nest.
Nest #21 found by Barbara Machnik and Sue Bozeman had a
wonderful 97% hatch rate, the best of the season so far with only
one live hatchling left in the nest who was released to crawl to the water.
Nest #17 Charlotte Clark’s nest that had been moved to 31st
Avenue had a 53% hatch rate with many unhatched eggs and
three live hatchlings.
Nest #14 Linda Faia's had only 4 eggs
unhatched and all other healthy
hatchlings this morning at Ocean Point. It happened that Mary
Alice Monroe (Kruesi) brought a film crew from Turner South
who were making a show called "Three Day Weekend" about
Wild Dunes and interviewing her as well. They filmed the
inventory as well as the 4 live hatchlings going into the water.
How great that this nest with 96% Hatch Success was the one
that we inventoried for the camera crew! Also in attendance was
David Moore from Greenville with his parents Ann and Hugh.
David has been studying loggerheads in school and was
interested in seeing the whole process including the release
of the healthy hatchlings into the ocean.
At Nest #11 near 31st Avenue we found 110
unhatched eggs and 7 live hatchlings on inventory today. Nine eggs were put back into the
nest because they could possibly still hatch. We don't know why all of
these eggs failed to develop. Ants did not get into the nest. Final
numbers for #11 and #16 will not be posted in Current Nest
Data until after the last count, but the Hatch Success is only 21%
at this time.
Nest #16 at 27th Avenue had quite a few turtles just coming out
of their eggs and/or with yolk sacs still attached to their plastrons.
These were put back into the nest on top of all the shells and
unviable eggs along with 14 white eggs that could possibly hatch.
There were 80 empty shells and 14 live hatchlings ready to go to
the water. Hatch Success so far is 85%, but again this is not the
final number until we see how many more make it.
Nest #10 at 1st Avenue had a 68% hatch success which would
have been a lot higher if Stumpy had not broken 20 eggs when
she laid them. There were 12 that didn't hatch and 6 live hatchlings that went into the water.
Nest #6 at 56A had all left the nest and there was a 78% hatch
rate. This nest had had ant problems at hatch time.
Nest #13 at 56A had serious problems, and we're not really sure why. Although there were no ants down in the nest, we found 54 unhatched eggs
and 24 dead hatchlings. We don't believe this nest was flooded with ground water either. A few were found alive and released into the water. Eight of
them were just pipping (coming out of their eggs) or still had yolk sacs attached to their plastrons. In a case such as this, our instructions are
to rebury them and let them come out again when they are mature and up to full strength, so that is what we did. Three more were allowed to crawl
into the water.
Nest #12 on Sullivan's Island was inventoried by Mary Ellen Rogers. She also found that although many had come out 3 days ago, that 18 were either
still unhatched and possibly viable or just pipping. So she counted 88 shells and 17 dead hatchlings (some pipped dead) and put the 18 back in the sand just as we did with #13.
First Nest at Ocean Point Hatched and Has Its Inventory
The first Ocean Point nest was a success. There was
only one lone
hatchling still in the nest and "Scooter" swam out into the
water in good style. The Hatch Success was 90%.
Nest #48 Boils at about midnight
At midnight after 4 1/2 hours of waiting
and listening to very loud digging noises at Dolores Korz's Nest
#48 we saw a healthy boil of hatchlings. The first crater/depression
was visible at about 10:40 pm. Dolores was there and Barb called
Rick Kline, who had the high bid at the Scuba Do silent auction at
the Aquarium. He had bid on the opportunity to see a loggerhead
nest hatch. He and his wife made it
there from West Ashley in time to see them come scrambling out.
It was a small nest of only 61 eggs but we estimated that about
50 could have emerged.
SC AQUARIUM RELEASES FIFTH
SEA TURTLE OF THE 2005 SEASON
"Surfside" released on Isle of Palms,
Tuesday August 30th
The SC Aquarium released a rehabilitated
loggerhead sea turtle, "Surfside” on Tuesday, August 30 on Isle
of Palms. This young loggerhead has been with the Aquarium
since mid summer when it was found floating in the surf and had
to be pulled in by rescuers. Floating sea turtles are unable to dive for
food, exposing them to sun and wind which causes emaciation and
dehydration in addition to many other ailments. A combination
of good medicine, nourishing food and a dive weight belt strapped around the turtle
for a few weeks, helped this turtle make a quick turnaround.
The majority of the turtles that come to the Aquarium for
treatment suffer from debilitated turtle syndrome (DTS).
The root causes for the syndrome are poorly understood.
This feisty loggerhead turtle is the fifth healthy turtle to be
released in 2005 as part of the Aquarium’s successful sea
turtle rescue program. Working closely with the SCDNR and
other organizations, Aquarium animal care staff successfully
treated and released four turtles back into the wild in 2004.
Three additional loggerheads are currently undergoing treatment
at the Aquarium with plans for release once they are healthy.
Jetty and Gardner Get a Big Sendoff at Seabrook
Nest #21 and #23 Hatch
We were watching Nest #18 at 21st
Avenue (Stumpy's second one) and Nest #23 at 24th Avenue
tonight. Both had loud digging noises and a few hatchling heads
appeared at the 21st Ave. one about 9 pm. But before they made
the break for the water, the ones at 24th Avenue came out. The
night was perfect with clear sky and a very bright moon, so there
were no problems. At the request of the SC Department of
Natural Resources, we collected the first two strong healthy turtles
out of Stumpy's nest to be taken to the SC Aquarium in the morning. They will then be taken to live at Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia for the next several years. This will give them a head start.
Then they will be released in the Gulf Stream when they are
between 2 and 3 years old. We hope that this will mean that
they might have a better chance at survival.
Nest #16 Hatches
At 11 pm the hatchlings started boiling out of a rather deep crater from
Grace Rhodes' nest at 27th Avenue. Unfortunately the crescent moon had set
a while before that, and the turtles didn't know which way to go. We
appreciated the help of quite a few good folks who helped them find their
way to the ocean. Without them the outcome for these turtles would have
been quite different. Inventory will be on Saturday at 7:30 a.m. sharp.
Nests #9 and #10 "Boil"
Nest #18 Stumpy's second nest at 21st Avenue had 71 unhatched
eggs plus the 3 that she broke the night she laid them. There
were 13 healthy hatchlings left in the nest at the inventory this
morning which were released. This nest ended up with a 43%
Hatch Success.
Nest #23 at 24th Avenue which was not relocated had 19 live
hatchlings that were released as well. A count of the empty
eggshells showed that this turtle laid 119 eggs and the Hatch
Success was 71%.
Nest #27th at 8th Avenue had no live hatchlings left in the nest.
We counted 93 empty eggshells and 10 unhatched eggs for a 90%
Hatch Success.
Nest #19 (Bob and Gail Low and Charlotte
Clarke's) had a 67% hatch rate with no live hatchlings left in the
nest.
Nest #21 found by Barbara Machnik and Sue Bozeman had a
wonderful 97% hatch rate, the best of the season so far with only
one live hatchling left in the nest who was released to crawl to the water.
Nest #17 Charlotte Clark’s nest that had been moved to 31st
Avenue had a 53% hatch rate with many unhatched eggs and
three live hatchlings.
Nest #14 Linda Faia's had only 4 eggs
unhatched and all other healthy
hatchlings this morning at Ocean Point. It happened that Mary
Alice Monroe (Kruesi) brought a film crew from Turner South
who were making a show called "Three Day Weekend" about
Wild Dunes and interviewing her as well. They filmed the
inventory as well as the 4 live hatchlings going into the water.
How great that this nest with 96% Hatch Success was the one
that we inventoried for the camera crew! Also in attendance was
David Moore from Greenville with his parents Ann and Hugh.
David has been studying loggerheads in school and was
interested in seeing the whole process including the release
of the healthy hatchlings into the ocean.
At Nest #11 near 31st Avenue we found 110
unhatched eggs and 7 live hatchlings on inventory today. Nine eggs were put back into the
nest because they could possibly still hatch. We don't know why all of
these eggs failed to develop. Ants did not get into the nest. Final
numbers for #11 and #16 will not be posted in Current Nest
Data until after the last count, but the Hatch Success is only 21%
at this time.
Nest #16 at 27th Avenue had quite a few turtles just coming out
of their eggs and/or with yolk sacs still attached to their plastrons.
These were put back into the nest on top of all the shells and
unviable eggs along with 14 white eggs that could possibly hatch.
There were 80 empty shells and 14 live hatchlings ready to go to
the water. Hatch Success so far is 85%, but again this is not the
final number until we see how many more make it.
Nest #10 at 1st Avenue had a 68% hatch success which would
have been a lot higher if Stumpy had not broken 20 eggs when
she laid them. There were 12 that didn't hatch and 6 live hatchlings that went into the water.
Nest #6 at 56A had all left the nest and there was a 78% hatch
rate. This nest had had ant problems at hatch time.
Nest #13 at 56A had serious problems, and we're not really sure why. Although there were no ants down in the nest, we found 54 unhatched eggs
and 24 dead hatchlings. We don't believe this nest was flooded with ground water either. A few were found alive and released into the water. Eight of
them were just pipping (coming out of their eggs) or still had yolk sacs attached to their plastrons. In a case such as this, our instructions are
to rebury them and let them come out again when they are mature and up to full strength, so that is what we did. Three more were allowed to crawl
into the water.
Nest #12 on Sullivan's Island was inventoried by Mary Ellen Rogers. She also found that although many had come out 3 days ago, that 18 were either
still unhatched and possibly viable or just pipping. So she counted 88 shells and 17 dead hatchlings (some pipped dead) and put the 18 back in the sand just as we did with #13.
First Nest at Ocean Point Hatched and Has Its Inventory
The first Ocean Point nest was a success. There was
only one lone
hatchling still in the nest and "Scooter" swam out into the
water in good style. The Hatch Success was 90%.
Nest #48 Boils at about midnight
At midnight after 4 1/2 hours of waiting
and listening to very loud digging noises at Dolores Korz's Nest
#48 we saw a healthy boil of hatchlings. The first crater/depression
was visible at about 10:40 pm. Dolores was there and Barb called
Rick Kline, who had the high bid at the Scuba Do silent auction at
the Aquarium. He had bid on the opportunity to see a loggerhead
nest hatch. He and his wife made it
there from West Ashley in time to see them come scrambling out.
It was a small nest of only 61 eggs but we estimated that about
50 could have emerged.
SC AQUARIUM RELEASES FIFTH
SEA TURTLE OF THE 2005 SEASON
"Surfside" released on Isle of Palms,
Tuesday August 30th
The SC Aquarium released a rehabilitated
loggerhead sea turtle, "Surfside” on Tuesday, August 30 on Isle
of Palms. This young loggerhead has been with the Aquarium
since mid summer when it was found floating in the surf and had
to be pulled in by rescuers. Floating sea turtles are unable to dive for
food, exposing them to sun and wind which causes emaciation and
dehydration in addition to many other ailments. A combination
of good medicine, nourishing food and a dive weight belt strapped around the turtle
for a few weeks, helped this turtle make a quick turnaround.
The majority of the turtles that come to the Aquarium for
treatment suffer from debilitated turtle syndrome (DTS).
The root causes for the syndrome are poorly understood.
This feisty loggerhead turtle is the fifth healthy turtle to be
released in 2005 as part of the Aquarium’s successful sea
turtle rescue program. Working closely with the SCDNR and
other organizations, Aquarium animal care staff successfully
treated and released four turtles back into the wild in 2004.
Three additional loggerheads are currently undergoing treatment
at the Aquarium with plans for release once they are healthy.
Jetty and Gardner Get a Big Sendoff at Seabrook
Nest #21 and #23 Hatch
We were watching Nest #18 at 21st
Avenue (Stumpy's second one) and Nest #23 at 24th Avenue
tonight. Both had loud digging noises and a few hatchling heads
appeared at the 21st Ave. one about 9 pm. But before they made
the break for the water, the ones at 24th Avenue came out. The
night was perfect with clear sky and a very bright moon, so there
were no problems. At the request of the SC Department of
Natural Resources, we collected the first two strong healthy turtles
out of Stumpy's nest to be taken to the SC Aquarium in the morning. They will then be taken to live at Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia for the next several years. This will give them a head start.
Then they will be released in the Gulf Stream when they are
between 2 and 3 years old. We hope that this will mean that
they might have a better chance at survival.
Nest #16 Hatches
At 11 pm the hatchlings started boiling out of a rather deep crater from
Grace Rhodes' nest at 27th Avenue. Unfortunately the crescent moon had set
a while before that, and the turtles didn't know which way to go. We
appreciated the help of quite a few good folks who helped them find their
way to the ocean. Without them the outcome for these turtles would have
been quite different. Inventory will be on Saturday at 7:30 a.m. sharp.
Nests #9 and #10 "Boil"
Nest #19 (Bob and Gail Low and Charlotte
Clarke's) had a 67% hatch rate with no live hatchlings left in the
nest.
Nest #21 found by Barbara Machnik and Sue Bozeman had a
wonderful 97% hatch rate, the best of the season so far with only
one live hatchling left in the nest who was released to crawl to the water.
Nest #17 Charlotte Clark’s nest that had been moved to 31st
Avenue had a 53% hatch rate with many unhatched eggs and
three live hatchlings.
Nest #14 Linda Faia's had only 4 eggs
unhatched and all other healthy
hatchlings this morning at Ocean Point. It happened that Mary
Alice Monroe (Kruesi) brought a film crew from Turner South
who were making a show called "Three Day Weekend" about
Wild Dunes and interviewing her as well. They filmed the
inventory as well as the 4 live hatchlings going into the water.
How great that this nest with 96% Hatch Success was the one
that we inventoried for the camera crew! Also in attendance was
David Moore from Greenville with his parents Ann and Hugh.
David has been studying loggerheads in school and was
interested in seeing the whole process including the release
of the healthy hatchlings into the ocean.
At Nest #11 near 31st Avenue we found 110
unhatched eggs and 7 live hatchlings on inventory today. Nine eggs were put back into the
nest because they could possibly still hatch. We don't know why all of
these eggs failed to develop. Ants did not get into the nest. Final
numbers for #11 and #16 will not be posted in Current Nest
Data until after the last count, but the Hatch Success is only 21%
at this time.
Nest #16 at 27th Avenue had quite a few turtles just coming out
of their eggs and/or with yolk sacs still attached to their plastrons.
These were put back into the nest on top of all the shells and
unviable eggs along with 14 white eggs that could possibly hatch.
There were 80 empty shells and 14 live hatchlings ready to go to
the water. Hatch Success so far is 85%, but again this is not the
final number until we see how many more make it.
Nest #10 at 1st Avenue had a 68% hatch success which would
have been a lot higher if Stumpy had not broken 20 eggs when
she laid them. There were 12 that didn't hatch and 6 live hatchlings that went into the water.
Nest #6 at 56A had all left the nest and there was a 78% hatch
rate. This nest had had ant problems at hatch time.
Nest #13 at 56A had serious problems, and we're not really sure why. Although there were no ants down in the nest, we found 54 unhatched eggs
and 24 dead hatchlings. We don't believe this nest was flooded with ground water either. A few were found alive and released into the water. Eight of
them were just pipping (coming out of their eggs) or still had yolk sacs attached to their plastrons. In a case such as this, our instructions are
to rebury them and let them come out again when they are mature and up to full strength, so that is what we did. Three more were allowed to crawl
into the water.
Nest #12 on Sullivan's Island was inventoried by Mary Ellen Rogers. She also found that although many had come out 3 days ago, that 18 were either
still unhatched and possibly viable or just pipping. So she counted 88 shells and 17 dead hatchlings (some pipped dead) and put the 18 back in the sand just as we did with #13.
First Nest at Ocean Point Hatched and Has Its Inventory
The first Ocean Point nest was a success. There was
only one lone
hatchling still in the nest and "Scooter" swam out into the
water in good style. The Hatch Success was 90%.
Nest #48 Boils at about midnight
At midnight after 4 1/2 hours of waiting
and listening to very loud digging noises at Dolores Korz's Nest
#48 we saw a healthy boil of hatchlings. The first crater/depression
was visible at about 10:40 pm. Dolores was there and Barb called
Rick Kline, who had the high bid at the Scuba Do silent auction at
the Aquarium. He had bid on the opportunity to see a loggerhead
nest hatch. He and his wife made it
there from West Ashley in time to see them come scrambling out.
It was a small nest of only 61 eggs but we estimated that about
50 could have emerged.
SC AQUARIUM RELEASES FIFTH
SEA TURTLE OF THE 2005 SEASON
"Surfside" released on Isle of Palms,
Tuesday August 30th
The SC Aquarium released a rehabilitated
loggerhead sea turtle, "Surfside” on Tuesday, August 30 on Isle
of Palms. This young loggerhead has been with the Aquarium
since mid summer when it was found floating in the surf and had
to be pulled in by rescuers. Floating sea turtles are unable to dive for
food, exposing them to sun and wind which causes emaciation and
dehydration in addition to many other ailments. A combination
of good medicine, nourishing food and a dive weight belt strapped around the turtle
for a few weeks, helped this turtle make a quick turnaround.
The majority of the turtles that come to the Aquarium for
treatment suffer from debilitated turtle syndrome (DTS).
The root causes for the syndrome are poorly understood.
This feisty loggerhead turtle is the fifth healthy turtle to be
released in 2005 as part of the Aquarium’s successful sea
turtle rescue program. Working closely with the SCDNR and
other organizations, Aquarium animal care staff successfully
treated and released four turtles back into the wild in 2004.
Three additional loggerheads are currently undergoing treatment
at the Aquarium with plans for release once they are healthy.
Jetty and Gardner Get a Big Sendoff at Seabrook
Nest #21 and #23 Hatch
We were watching Nest #18 at 21st
Avenue (Stumpy's second one) and Nest #23 at 24th Avenue
tonight. Both had loud digging noises and a few hatchling heads
appeared at the 21st Ave. one about 9 pm. But before they made
the break for the water, the ones at 24th Avenue came out. The
night was perfect with clear sky and a very bright moon, so there
were no problems. At the request of the SC Department of
Natural Resources, we collected the first two strong healthy turtles
out of Stumpy's nest to be taken to the SC Aquarium in the morning. They will then be taken to live at Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia for the next several years. This will give them a head start.
Then they will be released in the Gulf Stream when they are
between 2 and 3 years old. We hope that this will mean that
they might have a better chance at survival.
Nest #16 Hatches
At 11 pm the hatchlings started boiling out of a rather deep crater from
Grace Rhodes' nest at 27th Avenue. Unfortunately the crescent moon had set
a while before that, and the turtles didn't know which way to go. We
appreciated the help of quite a few good folks who helped them find their
way to the ocean. Without them the outcome for these turtles would have
been quite different. Inventory will be on Saturday at 7:30 a.m. sharp.
Nests #9 and #10 "Boil"
Nest #17 Charlotte Clark’s nest that had been moved to 31st Avenue had a 53% hatch rate with many unhatched eggs and three live hatchlings.
Nest #14 Linda Faia's had only 4 eggs unhatched and all other healthy hatchlings this morning at Ocean Point. It happened that Mary Alice Monroe (Kruesi) brought a film crew from Turner South who were making a show called "Three Day Weekend" about Wild Dunes and interviewing her as well. They filmed the inventory as well as the 4 live hatchlings going into the water. How great that this nest with 96% Hatch Success was the one that we inventoried for the camera crew! Also in attendance was David Moore from Greenville with his parents Ann and Hugh. David has been studying loggerheads in school and was interested in seeing the whole process including the release of the healthy hatchlings into the ocean.
At Nest #11 near 31st Avenue we found 110 unhatched eggs and 7 live hatchlings on inventory today. Nine eggs were put back into the nest because they could possibly still hatch. We don't know why all of these eggs failed to develop. Ants did not get into the nest. Final numbers for #11 and #16 will not be posted in Current Nest Data until after the last count, but the Hatch Success is only 21% at this time.
Nest #16 at 27th Avenue had quite a few turtles just coming out of their eggs and/or with yolk sacs still attached to their plastrons. These were put back into the nest on top of all the shells and unviable eggs along with 14 white eggs that could possibly hatch. There were 80 empty shells and 14 live hatchlings ready to go to the water. Hatch Success so far is 85%, but again this is not the final number until we see how many more make it.
Nest #10 at 1st Avenue had a 68% hatch success which would have been a lot higher if Stumpy had not broken 20 eggs when she laid them. There were 12 that didn't hatch and 6 live hatchlings that went into the water.
Nest #6 at 56A had all left the nest and there was a 78% hatch rate. This nest had had ant problems at hatch time.
Nest #13 at 56A had serious problems, and we're not really sure why. Although there were no ants down in the nest, we found 54 unhatched eggs
and 24 dead hatchlings. We don't believe this nest was flooded with ground water either. A few were found alive and released into the water. Eight of
them were just pipping (coming out of their eggs) or still had yolk sacs attached to their plastrons. In a case such as this, our instructions are
to rebury them and let them come out again when they are mature and up to full strength, so that is what we did. Three more were allowed to crawl
into the water.
Nest #12 on Sullivan's Island was inventoried by Mary Ellen Rogers. She also found that although many had come out 3 days ago, that 18 were either
still unhatched and possibly viable or just pipping. So she counted 88 shells and 17 dead hatchlings (some pipped dead) and put the 18 back in the sand just as we did with #13.
First Nest at Ocean Point Hatched and Has Its Inventory
The first Ocean Point nest was a success. There was
only one lone
hatchling still in the nest and "Scooter" swam out into the
water in good style. The Hatch Success was 90%.
Nest #48 Boils at about midnight
At midnight after 4 1/2 hours of waiting
and listening to very loud digging noises at Dolores Korz's Nest
#48 we saw a healthy boil of hatchlings. The first crater/depression
was visible at about 10:40 pm. Dolores was there and Barb called
Rick Kline, who had the high bid at the Scuba Do silent auction at
the Aquarium. He had bid on the opportunity to see a loggerhead
nest hatch. He and his wife made it
there from West Ashley in time to see them come scrambling out.
It was a small nest of only 61 eggs but we estimated that about
50 could have emerged.
SC AQUARIUM RELEASES FIFTH
SEA TURTLE OF THE 2005 SEASON
"Surfside" released on Isle of Palms,
Tuesday August 30th
The SC Aquarium released a rehabilitated
loggerhead sea turtle, "Surfside” on Tuesday, August 30 on Isle
of Palms. This young loggerhead has been with the Aquarium
since mid summer when it was found floating in the surf and had
to be pulled in by rescuers. Floating sea turtles are unable to dive for
food, exposing them to sun and wind which causes emaciation and
dehydration in addition to many other ailments. A combination
of good medicine, nourishing food and a dive weight belt strapped around the turtle
for a few weeks, helped this turtle make a quick turnaround.
The majority of the turtles that come to the Aquarium for
treatment suffer from debilitated turtle syndrome (DTS).
The root causes for the syndrome are poorly understood.
This feisty loggerhead turtle is the fifth healthy turtle to be
released in 2005 as part of the Aquarium’s successful sea
turtle rescue program. Working closely with the SCDNR and
other organizations, Aquarium animal care staff successfully
treated and released four turtles back into the wild in 2004.
Three additional loggerheads are currently undergoing treatment
at the Aquarium with plans for release once they are healthy.
Jetty and Gardner Get a Big Sendoff at Seabrook
Nest #21 and #23 Hatch
We were watching Nest #18 at 21st
Avenue (Stumpy's second one) and Nest #23 at 24th Avenue
tonight. Both had loud digging noises and a few hatchling heads
appeared at the 21st Ave. one about 9 pm. But before they made
the break for the water, the ones at 24th Avenue came out. The
night was perfect with clear sky and a very bright moon, so there
were no problems. At the request of the SC Department of
Natural Resources, we collected the first two strong healthy turtles
out of Stumpy's nest to be taken to the SC Aquarium in the morning. They will then be taken to live at Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia for the next several years. This will give them a head start.
Then they will be released in the Gulf Stream when they are
between 2 and 3 years old. We hope that this will mean that
they might have a better chance at survival.
Nest #16 Hatches
At 11 pm the hatchlings started boiling out of a rather deep crater from
Grace Rhodes' nest at 27th Avenue. Unfortunately the crescent moon had set
a while before that, and the turtles didn't know which way to go. We
appreciated the help of quite a few good folks who helped them find their
way to the ocean. Without them the outcome for these turtles would have
been quite different. Inventory will be on Saturday at 7:30 a.m. sharp.
Nests #9 and #10 "Boil"
The majority of the turtles that come to the Aquarium for treatment suffer from debilitated turtle syndrome (DTS). The root causes for the syndrome are poorly understood. This feisty loggerhead turtle is the fifth healthy turtle to be released in 2005 as part of the Aquarium’s successful sea turtle rescue program. Working closely with the SCDNR and other organizations, Aquarium animal care staff successfully treated and released four turtles back into the wild in 2004. Three additional loggerheads are currently undergoing treatment at the Aquarium with plans for release once they are healthy.
Nightscope Camera was used for these pictures ...NO flash Photography.
August 3rd. At about midnight the nest at 1st Avenue boiled over and what looked like over 60 or 70 hatchlings came out. The noise on the monitor was almost deafening when they would all dig together. One turtle appeared on the surface about 10:00 but it took until midnight for the multitude under him to push their way up. When they did finally make their break to the ocean, the lack of a moon and the glow in the sky behind the island from the Charleston metropolitan area caused them to try to go that way instead. With the help of many great folks, we finally got most of them to crawl into the ocean.
Nest 9
August 4th the nest found by Linda & Marty Bettelli and Sue Googer at 39th Avenue erupted about 10:40 PM. It was a beautiful sight - dozens of healthy loggerhead hatchlings boiling out of the sand. Even though there was no moon and the tide had gotten pretty far out, they ran to the water. One was rescued from a ghost crab's claws and lots of people, who showed up when we were watching the nest bubble and heave before the emergence, stood by to guide them to the water.
Nests #54 and #55
Photo by Bev Ballow
Nest #54: Roseann Poetz was surprised to see that a turtle was still laying her eggs near Dewees Inlet about 6:15 this morning. After laying her eggs she got rather tangled in some thick sea oats and dune grasses. We thought she looked quite worn out, but she finally managed to climb down and crawl to the water. We suspect that she is the same turtle who laid really close to this spot 2 weeks ago (Nest #45 found by Jim Ueberroth). After locating the eggs in the wreckage of sea oats, we left the nest where it was laid.
Nest #55: Then Ann Amundsen reported tracks near 32nd Avenue. This was a classic textbook body pit with all of the good field signs such as thrown sand, uprooted green vegetation, etc. - much easier to read that the torn up spot at Dewees Inlet. We easily found the eggs and because it was below the spring tide level, we moved all 109 of them to a good dune near 31st Avenue.
Nest #1 Inventoried
Lucky the last hatching left in Nest #1 has a crowd to see him off
This morning the Inventory on Nest #1 revealed that the turtle had laid 62 eggs and all but 4 of them had hatched successfully. This was a good start to the season's nests with a 93% success rate. Only one little turtle with a slightly gimpy rear flipper was still in the nest and was released to crawl into the water. Many onlookers wished him well and gave him a good sendoff.
CLICK on thumbnails to enlarge photos.
Nests #51 #52 & #53
July 30th was another 3 nest morning.
Nest #51 was found in front of 512 Ocean Blvd by Anne Royall
and Pam Jones. It was in a fairly good spot at
the base of the primary dune, so it was left in situ.
The other two nests were both at 45th Avenue in Rita Oden's
(and her beagle assistant, Punkin) section. We knew #52 was
Stumpy because of the broken eggs on and near the surface
and the absence of a left rear flipper claw in the track marks.
One egg was dragged away from the nest by a ghost crab.
The crab was a bit optimistic, thinking the egg might fit down it’s
crab hole. It didn’t so the ants took over. We wish we could have
been there to help her this time because she broke 9 of her 100
eggs, but 91% intact is not too bad. She had tried to nest
unsuccessfully the night before at the IOP County Park and at
29th Avenue. Amazingly she has nested 5 times this year and
Nests #10, #18, #31, and #43 all belong to her. Another turtle
nested close to Stumpy last night and laid 136 eggs, so both
of these were relocated and placed side by side on a good dune
at 31st Avenue. While we were working the second nest, the
skies opened up and we got a much-needed rain, but the Turtle Team was soaked!
Nest # 50
Last night Stumpy visited twice but
apparently didn't lay eggs. She came in around 11:30 pm and
crawled all around in front of the County Park digging several
egg chambers but going back into the water just as Mary Pringle
and Barb Bergwerf got there.
Then before dawn she showed up at 29th Avenue and again
crawled all around the dunes digging her shallow egg chambers
but not laying any eggs.
However, a few feet away another turtle did lay 121 eggs.
She was seen leaving the beach at 6:30 by Glenn & Grace Rhodes, John Gully,Bill
Schupp and Sis Nunnally. The eggs were just below the tide line,
however, and we had to move them to a suitable spot higher.
Mary, Kim, and Colleen Yost and Tina Keener were doing their
patrol and will protect this nest.
The other two nests were both at 45th Avenue in Rita Oden's (and her beagle assistant, Punkin) section. We knew #52 was Stumpy because of the broken eggs on and near the surface and the absence of a left rear flipper claw in the track marks. One egg was dragged away from the nest by a ghost crab. The crab was a bit optimistic, thinking the egg might fit down it’s crab hole. It didn’t so the ants took over. We wish we could have been there to help her this time because she broke 9 of her 100 eggs, but 91% intact is not too bad. She had tried to nest unsuccessfully the night before at the IOP County Park and at 29th Avenue. Amazingly she has nested 5 times this year and Nests #10, #18, #31, and #43 all belong to her. Another turtle nested close to Stumpy last night and laid 136 eggs, so both of these were relocated and placed side by side on a good dune at 31st Avenue. While we were working the second nest, the skies opened up and we got a much-needed rain, but the Turtle Team was soaked!
CLICK on thumbnails to enlarge photos.
Stumpy Tries Again
"Stumpy" is a turtle team favorite this year. We have seen her nest 2 times and identified her nest two additional times. Stumpy has a damaged rear flipper. There is no way of knowing for sure, but we are guessing a shark took the botton third of her flipper which has made it difficult for her to dig her nest--- but easy for us to identify her tracks in the morning. Below are two pictures taken this morning. A normal turtle leaves sharp cuts in the sand, while poor Stumpy leaves more of a large dent.
First Nest of the Season Hatches
Tonight between 11 and 11:30 Nest #1 had a healthy hatch. It was quite a
struggle to get them going the right way since the mother laid this nest on
the back side of the dune facing the big houses, but with the help of
a lot of folks watching, about 60 or so hatchlings made it to the
water. As usual it took several hours of watching the sand cave in and 3-6
turtles on the surface not moving. Our sound detector was a very valuable
tool in detecting movement and letting us know that tonight would be the
night. The renters and residents of the houses around 3rd Avenue were
thrilled to witness all the little turtles scurrying to the water, and
their houses were very dark. We will do the inventory at 7AM on Sunday morning.
Nest #49
Last night about 12:15 a turtle crawled up in front of Port O'Call in Wild
Dunes. A young woman reported this and Nancy Houser went out to make sure
no one bothered the nesting mother. This morning we discovered that she had
bumped into old sand fencing twice and left open egg chambers before
finally finding a spot to lay her 94 eggs. It appeared that she had also
crawled in about 200 feet north a little earlier in the night, hit a pile
of wrack, and crawled back out without digging. Her nest was relocated to a
perfect dune at 24th Avenue right next to Nest #48 from yesterday.
Nest #48
This morning Dolores Korz found tracks near 52nd Avenue. The turtle
came in, had to climb over a large palmetto log on the beach and then was blocked from
climbing higher by the newly-installed sand fencing which is below the spring tide line. She
nested there and then had to climb over the log again to go back to the water - such
determination. She only laid 61 eggs which might mean that this was
her last clutch of the season. We moved the eggs to a safe dune in front of 2404
Palm Blvd.
CLICK on thumbnails to enlarge photos.
Nests #45 #46 #47 in one day
Nest #44
Wendy McCool Lewis and Franny Russell discovered tracks at 802 Ocean
Blvd very close to Nest #27 which was laid about 4 weeks ago. It may have been the same
turtle again. After the eggs were found, the nest
was marked and left in situ. Congratulations, Franny and Wendy - not a false crawl this time!
False Crawl #25
Judy Guarino reported tracks in front of Port O' Call
condo in Wild Dunes. This turtle took an amazing route between a sand fence and up a VERY,
VERY steep dune. However, the sand on top was very dry and powdery and after probing the
area, we determined that she was not able to nest. She bumped into a KEEP OFF THE DUNES
sign and slid back down to return to the water. The tenacity of these animals is amazing.
Dragging her 200+ Lb. body up the steep dune was impressive.
Nest #43 Breaks the Record
This photo was taken with a night vision camera that did not disturb the
nesting turtle. Stumpy was given her nickname because of her badly damaged back left
flipper, which can be seen in this photo. Because of the damage she is unable to dig a nest chamber
deep enough to hold all of her eggs. Both the overflow of eggs and her back flipper are seen
.
Barb Bergwerf and Mary Pringle were out on the beach at
9th Avenue looking for Stumpy to return when the Wingate family from Columbia, North
Augusta, and Tennessee called. They were staying on 45th Ave. and had been given our
brochure by Carroll Realty. They were worried because a turtle was on the beach at 43rd
Ave. and other people were shining lights on her and taking flash photos. We rushed up
there and found that it was our friend Stumpy who laid nests #10, #18, and #31. This was
way out of her usual neighborhood south of the pier. She had left her original body pit with
an open egg chamber and moved higher in the dunes to dig again. We had to be careful
because she was lying with her head facing the water and the people. So the people had to
move around to the landward side of her. We waited until she started dropping her eggs.
When they started to overflow the egg chamber that was too shallow, we removed about 60
or 70 of them to a bucket so she wouldn't crush them. After she finished, we made a deeper
hole and put all 120 eggs together. Not one was broken this time. Stumpy has broken our all
time record number of nests which
is 42 laid in 1998 and 2000, and received a round of applause when she reached the water.
Nest # 42
This morning Elaine Caraviello found tracks between 28th and 29th Avenues.
The turtle dug two egg chambers which she left open down low on the beach
and then nested below the spring tide line. Her eggs were very shallow, but
the tracks didn't show any flipper abnormalities to show that she had
trouble digging. Because of the poor location, we had to move the 112 to a
good dune at that same location. This ties our record for the most nests
when we had 42 nests in 1998 and in 2000.
Nest #41
On July 15th Karen McCoy found tracks at Seascape Condominiums. The night before Larry
Bailey of Spartanburg SC had watched the turtle come out of the water and lay her eggs at
about 11 pm. She tried to climb the steeply scarped dune and then laid 103 eggs at the base
of it where the tide would
have destroyed the nest. The eggs were relocated to a spot near the path at 30th Avenue.
Nest #40
On July 13th our 40th nest was found by Nancy Houser and by Mary Riley of Michigan.
It was laid at the base of the rock wall at Beach Club Villas in Wild Dunes where it would have been
destroyed by the next flood tide. There were 142 eggs which were relocated to Ocean
Point.
Surfside Gets Some Help
Surfside has a buoyancy problem...until it is medically solved, the
team at the Turtle Hospital came up with a temporary solution. A diver's belt and a three pound
weight have been put around Surfside's middle. The turtle is noticeably more active and enjoying
chasing a crab around her tank. Not good news for the crab!!!
Nests #38 & #39
On July 10th Elaine Caraviello found tracks near the 29th Avenue path.
This nest was laid in a perfect place, so after the eggs were located it was marked and left
where laid on a beautiful high dune. This turtle made her way around a sandcastle on her way
in.
Another July 10th nest was found by Nan Herron and Nancy Houser and was also reported by
Mary Riley, a visitor from Michigan who looks for turtle tracks every year when she visits the
Isle of Palms. This turtle crawled in front of Shipwatch Condos and ran into old buried sand
fencing on her first dig. She crawled a few feet away and successfully laid 106 eggs. However,
the location was unsuitable and the eggs were relocated to Ocean Point.
Nests #36 & #37
Marilyn Colen found tracks at Grand Pavilion in front of the
hotel at Wild Dunes. Fortunately the nest was below the spring tide
wrackline and was a candidate for relocation because this spot is lighted by the hotel pool lights and has people on the beach at all hours of the night.
Since there are so many nests at 56th Ave and we are not supposed to clump so many in
one place, the 110 eggs were moved to 31st Avenue.
Carol Killough and Helga Greim both spotted tracks near Station 17. Mary Ellen and Erene
found the eggs in spite of a rather confusing track and body pit with wrack involved. They
were judged to be in a good enough place, so they were left in situ. This makes 4 nests for
Sullivan's and more to come we hope.
Then just as the DNR plane flew over, Barb and I were checking out two
different pairs of tracks near Dewees Inlet. The first at Ocean Point was an obvious false
crawl where the turtle hit the piled up wrack and turned around and left without digging. The
second, farther into the inlet, showed that she crawled for a long way and made it over the wall
of sticks, turned around some and found a place where a nest would have been possible,
BUT there was no sign that she actually dug. We probed this small area thoroughly and declared it
another false crawl - the 4th one here in 3 days!
Nest #34 & #35
Our turtles are still busy. This morning Helga Greim
and Aussie Geer found
tracks at Station 19. The nest was laid up on a dune in a very nice spot.
The location of eggs was confirmed on the first poke of the probe stick and
the nest was marked and left in situ. This is Nest #34.
Then there were 3 sets of tracks in the northernmost Isle of Palms section.
Nancy Houser found a false crawl at Mariner's Walk, then she found a nest
in front of Shipwatch (#35), and finally another false crawl at Dewees
Inlet. There were 126 eggs at Shipwatch which were moved to Ocean Point.
The track measurements for this nest did not match the ones where the eggs
were at Shipwatch. This turtle has false crawled at the inlet for the last
2 nights. We now have 20 false crawls for the season, but with so much
activity this is not unusual.
Nest #33
On July 5th Lee Jeffries of Wellesley Massachusetts, who was staying at 128 Ocean Blvd.,
found tracks in front of 216 Ocean next to the 3rd Ave. path. She called the IOP Police who
contacted the Turtle Team. The nest was very low on the beach and would not have survived the tides,
so the 75 eggs were moved higher at that location. Mary Lou Coombs will protect this nest.
Nest #31 & #32
Just as we predicted, Stumpy returned on the 4th of July to lay her 3rd
nest of the summer. She made a false crawl (found by Wendy McCool Lewis) at
3rd Avenue and almost disturbed Nest #1. However, the scarped dune was a
little too steep for her, so after going under someone's tent frame left on
the beach, she went back out. Then she re-emerged at 9th Ave. just up the
beach. These tracks were found by Mary Perry and Ruthann Schwinn. Here she
managed to lay 85 eggs and broke 15 of them. Ants were already invading the
nest because of the broken eggs, so we removed the whole ones and relocated
them next to her second nest at 21st Avenue. We have put extra tall sticks
and yellow caution tape around both of Stumpy's 21st Ave. nests as well as
the in situ nest at 8th in anticipation with the beach being swarming with
people tonight.
Charlotte Clarke, Jenifer Shinners, Karen McCoy, Beth Carnes, and Karen
Nameth all reported tracks in front of 11 Beachwood East in Wild Dunes.
This turtle left an open egg chamber and crawled farther up before laying
her eggs. She got tangled in some old sticks from a rotten sand fence but
managed to lay 85 eggs there. Since this nest was on a downhill slope away
from the ocean and was just below the spring tide wrackline, the eggs were
relocated to 56th Avenue.
Barb Bergwerf and Mary Pringle were out on the beach at
9th Avenue looking for Stumpy to return when the Wingate family from Columbia, North
Augusta, and Tennessee called. They were staying on 45th Ave. and had been given our
brochure by Carroll Realty. They were worried because a turtle was on the beach at 43rd
Ave. and other people were shining lights on her and taking flash photos. We rushed up
there and found that it was our friend Stumpy who laid nests #10, #18, and #31. This was
way out of her usual neighborhood south of the pier. She had left her original body pit with
an open egg chamber and moved higher in the dunes to dig again. We had to be careful
because she was lying with her head facing the water and the people. So the people had to
move around to the landward side of her. We waited until she started dropping her eggs.
When they started to overflow the egg chamber that was too shallow, we removed about 60
or 70 of them to a bucket so she wouldn't crush them. After she finished, we made a deeper
hole and put all 120 eggs together. Not one was broken this time. Stumpy has broken our all
time record number of nests which
is 42 laid in 1998 and 2000, and received a round of applause when she reached the water.
Nest # 42
This morning Elaine Caraviello found tracks between 28th and 29th Avenues.
The turtle dug two egg chambers which she left open down low on the beach
and then nested below the spring tide line. Her eggs were very shallow, but
the tracks didn't show any flipper abnormalities to show that she had
trouble digging. Because of the poor location, we had to move the 112 to a
good dune at that same location. This ties our record for the most nests
when we had 42 nests in 1998 and in 2000.
Nest #41
On July 15th Karen McCoy found tracks at Seascape Condominiums. The night before Larry
Bailey of Spartanburg SC had watched the turtle come out of the water and lay her eggs at
about 11 pm. She tried to climb the steeply scarped dune and then laid 103 eggs at the base
of it where the tide would
have destroyed the nest. The eggs were relocated to a spot near the path at 30th Avenue.
Nest #40
On July 13th our 40th nest was found by Nancy Houser and by Mary Riley of Michigan.
It was laid at the base of the rock wall at Beach Club Villas in Wild Dunes where it would have been
destroyed by the next flood tide. There were 142 eggs which were relocated to Ocean
Point.
Surfside Gets Some Help
Surfside has a buoyancy problem...until it is medically solved, the
team at the Turtle Hospital came up with a temporary solution. A diver's belt and a three pound
weight have been put around Surfside's middle. The turtle is noticeably more active and enjoying
chasing a crab around her tank. Not good news for the crab!!!
Nests #38 & #39
On July 10th Elaine Caraviello found tracks near the 29th Avenue path.
This nest was laid in a perfect place, so after the eggs were located it was marked and left
where laid on a beautiful high dune. This turtle made her way around a sandcastle on her way
in.
Another July 10th nest was found by Nan Herron and Nancy Houser and was also reported by
Mary Riley, a visitor from Michigan who looks for turtle tracks every year when she visits the
Isle of Palms. This turtle crawled in front of Shipwatch Condos and ran into old buried sand
fencing on her first dig. She crawled a few feet away and successfully laid 106 eggs. However,
the location was unsuitable and the eggs were relocated to Ocean Point.
Nests #36 & #37
Marilyn Colen found tracks at Grand Pavilion in front of the
hotel at Wild Dunes. Fortunately the nest was below the spring tide
wrackline and was a candidate for relocation because this spot is lighted by the hotel pool lights and has people on the beach at all hours of the night.
Since there are so many nests at 56th Ave and we are not supposed to clump so many in
one place, the 110 eggs were moved to 31st Avenue.
Carol Killough and Helga Greim both spotted tracks near Station 17. Mary Ellen and Erene
found the eggs in spite of a rather confusing track and body pit with wrack involved. They
were judged to be in a good enough place, so they were left in situ. This makes 4 nests for
Sullivan's and more to come we hope.
Then just as the DNR plane flew over, Barb and I were checking out two
different pairs of tracks near Dewees Inlet. The first at Ocean Point was an obvious false
crawl where the turtle hit the piled up wrack and turned around and left without digging. The
second, farther into the inlet, showed that she crawled for a long way and made it over the wall
of sticks, turned around some and found a place where a nest would have been possible,
BUT there was no sign that she actually dug. We probed this small area thoroughly and declared it
another false crawl - the 4th one here in 3 days!
Nest #34 & #35
Our turtles are still busy. This morning Helga Greim
and Aussie Geer found
tracks at Station 19. The nest was laid up on a dune in a very nice spot.
The location of eggs was confirmed on the first poke of the probe stick and
the nest was marked and left in situ. This is Nest #34.
Then there were 3 sets of tracks in the northernmost Isle of Palms section.
Nancy Houser found a false crawl at Mariner's Walk, then she found a nest
in front of Shipwatch (#35), and finally another false crawl at Dewees
Inlet. There were 126 eggs at Shipwatch which were moved to Ocean Point.
The track measurements for this nest did not match the ones where the eggs
were at Shipwatch. This turtle has false crawled at the inlet for the last
2 nights. We now have 20 false crawls for the season, but with so much
activity this is not unusual.
Nest #33
On July 5th Lee Jeffries of Wellesley Massachusetts, who was staying at 128 Ocean Blvd.,
found tracks in front of 216 Ocean next to the 3rd Ave. path. She called the IOP Police who
contacted the Turtle Team. The nest was very low on the beach and would not have survived the tides,
so the 75 eggs were moved higher at that location. Mary Lou Coombs will protect this nest.
Nest #31 & #32
Just as we predicted, Stumpy returned on the 4th of July to lay her 3rd
nest of the summer. She made a false crawl (found by Wendy McCool Lewis) at
3rd Avenue and almost disturbed Nest #1. However, the scarped dune was a
little too steep for her, so after going under someone's tent frame left on
the beach, she went back out. Then she re-emerged at 9th Ave. just up the
beach. These tracks were found by Mary Perry and Ruthann Schwinn. Here she
managed to lay 85 eggs and broke 15 of them. Ants were already invading the
nest because of the broken eggs, so we removed the whole ones and relocated
them next to her second nest at 21st Avenue. We have put extra tall sticks
and yellow caution tape around both of Stumpy's 21st Ave. nests as well as
the in situ nest at 8th in anticipation with the beach being swarming with
people tonight.
Charlotte Clarke, Jenifer Shinners, Karen McCoy, Beth Carnes, and Karen
Nameth all reported tracks in front of 11 Beachwood East in Wild Dunes.
This turtle left an open egg chamber and crawled farther up before laying
her eggs. She got tangled in some old sticks from a rotten sand fence but
managed to lay 85 eggs there. Since this nest was on a downhill slope away
from the ocean and was just below the spring tide wrackline, the eggs were
relocated to 56th Avenue.
Nest #31 & #32
Just as we predicted, Stumpy returned on the 4th of July to lay her 3rd nest of the summer. She made a false crawl (found by Wendy McCool Lewis) at 3rd Avenue and almost disturbed Nest #1. However, the scarped dune was a little too steep for her, so after going under someone's tent frame left on the beach, she went back out. Then she re-emerged at 9th Ave. just up the beach. These tracks were found by Mary Perry and Ruthann Schwinn. Here she managed to lay 85 eggs and broke 15 of them. Ants were already invading the nest because of the broken eggs, so we removed the whole ones and relocated them next to her second nest at 21st Avenue. We have put extra tall sticks and yellow caution tape around both of Stumpy's 21st Ave. nests as well as the in situ nest at 8th in anticipation with the beach being swarming with people tonight. Charlotte Clarke, Jenifer Shinners, Karen McCoy, Beth Carnes, and Karen Nameth all reported tracks in front of 11 Beachwood East in Wild Dunes. This turtle left an open egg chamber and crawled farther up before laying her eggs. She got tangled in some old sticks from a rotten sand fence but managed to lay 85 eggs there. Since this nest was on a downhill slope away from the ocean and was just below the spring tide wrackline, the eggs were relocated to 56th Avenue.
CLICK on thumbnails to enlarge photos.
Nest #30
Georgia and Bill Burson had reached the end of their section and were leaving the beach when they saw tracks at the WD Property Owners' Beach House. This turtle made a very small compact body pit and laid 156 eggs! This is the largest clutch for this season so far. They were right in the vehicular access path and also would be washed out by the tide near the foot of the constant renourishment project at Beach Club Villas. (This even goes on during turtle season since OCRM has given them an open-ended "emergency" permit.) The only thing to do was relocate, so they were taken to a nice dune at Ocean Point.
Nest # 29
On June 29th, a rainy morning, Catherine Malloy and Brian Duffy found tracks at 34th Avenue. The presence of eggs was confirmed and since the nest was in a good place, it was marked and left alone. With the rain beating down, the turtle team checked two additional sets of tracks... both were false crawls.
Nests #28
On June 27th Judy Guarino found tracks at Seascape Condos in Wild Dunes where a turtle came ashore but went back without nesting. Then she saw more at Summer House several blocks down the beach. This time she did nest, but it was in a very thick layer of spartina wrack (sticks) which made finding the egg chamber a real challenge. When we did locate them, we found that 5 were already broken perhaps by falling into the hole past the sharp sticks. Our guidelines tell us to relocate nests below the spring tide line and this nest certainly qualified for that. So the 101 remaining eggs were taken to a much better place at Ocean Point
Nests #26 & #27
On June 25th Steve Robling found a nest at Station 14 on Sullivans Island. This is likely the same turtle who laid Nest #12 on June 12th. She climbed the same scarped dune and laid her eggs where they will get lots of hot afternoon sun, so we are shortening the Estimated Hatch Date slightly on this one. We did not move the nest and hope that no more erosion will occur before hatching. The second nest for June 25th was found by Anne Royall and Pam Jones in front of 802 Ocean Blvd. The tracks were faint because of the wind and rain and the nest was high enough on the dune to be left in situ. The presence of eggs was confirmed by Mary Alice Monroe (Kruesi) who also found the eggs at Station 14 today and the nest was marked.
Nest #25
On June 24th tracks were found by Kathey O'Connor and Glenn and Grace Rhodes
and Kim and Mary Yost at Access Path 26A. This turtle had come in around low tide just before dawn
and her tracks stretched forever to the
water's edge. The location of the eggs was confirmed and the nest was marked and left in situ.
Nest #24
Around midnight on June 23rd the crowds on the beach at Mariner's Walk
in Wild Dunes watched a loggerhead lay her eggs in the exact spot where one tried unsuccessfully
to nest 24 hours earlier. The people stayed back and quietly watched as she deposited 143 eggs in
the sand. Nancy Houser, Turtle Team member, of Ocean Point was there to make sure she was not bothered.
Again, as has happened so many times this year, the nest was up against a steeply eroded
dune and would have been destroyed by the tide, so the eggs were relocated to Ocean Point.
Nests #21, #22, #23
Another triple nest day which
is unprecedented for our nesting project. On June 22nd
Barbara Machnik and Sue Bozeman found tracks leading up
to the newly installed sand fencing near 54th Avenue. Unfortunately
the fencing is below the spring tide line (too close to the water) and
the turtle was blocked by it when she tried to get into the dunes. She
laid her 118 eggs there and they were relocated to 56th Avenue
The second nest of June 22nd was found at 12 Beachwood
East in Wild Dunes also by Barbara Machnik and Sue Bozeman.
This is the same place where we have lost nests to the tide, so
the small clutch of 69 eggs was moved to 56th Avenue.
At last a nest laid in a good place found by Grace Rhodes on
June 22nd at 24th Avenue. This turtle made a small compact
body pit in a good spot. We're hoping for more nests to be left in situ.
Starting at 6 AM the turtle team was spread all over Isle Of Palms.
After searching for the day's nests, we all ended up at 56th Ave. which has become a safe haven for nests
that would otherwise be destroyed by our high tides.
SC Turtle Hospital Has a Busy Day
A busy day at the Turtle Hospital at the SC Aquarium. On Wednesdays Dr. Tom Sheridan somes by to give all the patients the once over. Each turtle is weighed, examined, has blood drawn (if necessay) Once all that is done it's lunch time for the 5 rehab turtles. Definitely the best part of the day in ther minds.
Nest #20
The third nest of the day for June 21st was found by Eric and Beth Hyman and their children from Atlanta who watched this turtle lay her eggs near Ocean Club around 1 am. Unfortunately she crawled up against a scarped dune and knocked sand down covering evidence of her nesting when she turned around to leave, so that the nest was not visible the next morning. The Hymans called the next afternoon just before the 6.6 foot high tide which would have destroyed the nest. So even though we don't move eggs more than 12 hours after they're laid, we knew that these HAD to be relocated and right away. They were taken to nearby Ocean Point. Walking back from the nest relocation, we were ankle deep in water.
Nest #19
The second nester for June 21st crawled ashore at 16 Beachwood East in Wild Dunes and laid 97 eggs. Bob and Gail Low were patrolling the beach and discovered the tracks. Unfortunately one egg was found broken and out of the egg chamber, so 96 were relocated to 56th Avenue because the nest was below the spring tide line and flooding would be likely. .
Nest #18
Probably the same turtle as Nest #10. On the night of June 20th people saw her trying to dig her egg chamber near the 9th Ave. Path. However, her left rear flipper was halfway gone from an old healed wound and she wasn't able to make a deep hole. As she filled and overflowed the egg chamber, about 30-40 eggs were piled up under her body. We were able to reach under her and safely remove these into a bucket before she crushed them as she did at Breach Inlet on June 9th. They were safely relocated to 21st Avenue with only 3 eggs smashed by her this time.
Nest #17
On June 16th Charlotte Clarke found tracks in front of 15 Beachwood East. The turtle had made two body pits, laying 146 eggs in the second one. They were moved from this flood prone area to near Access Path 31A. This is the largest clutch of egg so far this season. Her tracks showed her to be a very large turtle.
Caretta has his annual physical
Caretta had his annual checkup today. Dr. Tom Sheridan checked out
the Aquarium's star resident. It took a lot of manpower to get Caretta out of the Great Ocean
Tank and ready for his "physical". He was weighed, measured and given the once over by Dr. Sheridan
CLICK on thumbnails to enlarge photos.
Nest #16
The second nest for June 15th was found by Kathey O'Connor and Grace & Glenn Rhodes at 27th Avenue near nest #2. The tracks measured the same size as Nest #2 and there was a 13 day interval between nests, so this is possibly the same mother as Nest #2. The eggs were above the spring tide line although not on an elevated dune, so they were left where they were laid.
Beautiful Morning on the Beach
Nest #15
On June 15th Diane Goff and Joe & Barbara Machnik found our 15th nest
in front of the rock wall at Beach Club Villas. The turtle had tried to dig an egg chamber and
hit underground rocks but then crawled a few feet and tried again successfully. The eggs were moved away from
the base of the rock wall and relocated near the 18th fairway at Ocean Point near nest #14.
CLICK on thumbnails to enlarge photos.
NEST#14
Also on June 13th Linda Faia found tracks between Ocean Club and Ocean Point. The turtle had laid her nest of 106 eggs at the base of an eroded dune which was severely scarped. For this reason the nest was relocated to a safe spot nearby close to the 18th fairway of the Links Golf Course.
NEST#13
On June 13th Donna Hainley, Beth Carnes, and their walking group found
a nest laid right in the middle of Access path 56A. Because of all the spartina wrack the body pit was
not very distinct and the nest site had already been trampled by early morning
beach goers. The eggs were relocated to a nearby spot out of the way of pedestrian traffic.
NEST#12
The first Sullivans Island nest was found on June 12th by Helga Greim
and Linda Love near Fort Moultrie. The tracks were very hard to see because they were
mostly in the wrackline and only above the high tide line. The turtle climbed a steep dune and
laid her eggs very high. This nest will get full sun all
afternoon and should have a slightly shorter incubation time than some others laid this week.
NEST # 11
This morning Bob Clarke found tracks at 48th Avenue near the Citadel Beach
House. They were rather hard to see in all of the spartina sticks which
also made the body pit indistinct. The location was well within the flood
zone. She even had to crawl over a large palmetto log going back to the
water. After we all analyzed the field signs, Bev found the eggs. One was
broken and 140 were moved to a suitable dune near the 31st Avenue path.
There were two odd-shaped oval eggs.
Nest #10
The final one was reported by Pat & Howard Fields and John McCormick at
Breach Inlet. The turtle had made a very very long crawl and then evidently
had a problem digging because she had broken 20 of her eggs while covering
up the nest. Even though she laid 107, a good number, we counted 20 of them
smashed. Ants were everywhere drawn to the broken contents. So we cleaned
off the remaining 87 eggs and moved them to a suitable dune near the 1st
Avenue Path.
Nest #9
Then Sue Googer and Linda Bettelli found a nest at 39th Avenue which didn't
have to be moved. It was marked and left in situ.
Nest #8
This morning tracks were found at 13 Beachwood East by Marilyn Colen, Joan
Marchetti, AND Charlotte Clarke. The turtle had laid eggs up against a
severely scarped dune where we are instructed not to leave nests because of
the potential for flooding. So we moved them to 56th Avenue. The nests
are getting kind of crowded in that neighborhood just as it was a few
years ago.
Nest #7
Brian Duffy and Catherine Malloy discovered the second nest of the day on June 8th at 46th Avenue.
The eggs were below the spring tide line and 4 of them were broken by the turtle when she covered
the nest. So out of the 136 eggs laid, 132 of them were moved higher at that same place.
NEST #6
On June 8th Sue Bozeman found tracks at 56th Avenue. This nest is very close to Nests #3 and #4.
The location was good enough for it to be marked and left where laid.
NEST #5
This nest was laid in the Dewees Inlet area on June 7th and the tracks
were discoverd by Jim Ueberroth and Cindy Bergstrom. The turtle dug and laid her eggs in a
very thick layer of spartina wrack right at the high tide line which made finding them a real
challenge since the field signs were very faint. The eggs
were moved up to just beyond the spring tide line, the 3rd row of wrack at that same location.
While the turtle team was working with the nest, we saw Sally Murphy and her DNR crew doing their
nest survey along the SC Coast.
Nest 4 at 50th Ave.
Jeremy's Smile Says it All.
On June 4th Sammie Ferrigan and Jeremy Schwarb found our 4th nest at 50th Avenue.
This is a very low spot where the tide destroyed
a nest last year, so the 89 eggs were relocated to a more suitable dune at 56th Avenue
Isle of Palms Has An Early Morning Visitor
This turtle was still on the beach laying eggs at 6:30 a.m.
on June 3rd when Dolores and Carl Korz found her.
She was quite large and we watched her finish up and return to the water.
The first Sullivans Island nest was found on June 12th by Helga Greim and Linda Love near Fort Moultrie. The tracks were very hard to see because they were mostly in the wrackline and only above the high tide line. The turtle climbed a steep dune and laid her eggs very high. This nest will get full sun all afternoon and should have a slightly shorter incubation time than some others laid this week.
NEST # 11
This morning Bob Clarke found tracks at 48th Avenue near the Citadel Beach
House. They were rather hard to see in all of the spartina sticks which
also made the body pit indistinct. The location was well within the flood
zone. She even had to crawl over a large palmetto log going back to the
water. After we all analyzed the field signs, Bev found the eggs. One was
broken and 140 were moved to a suitable dune near the 31st Avenue path.
There were two odd-shaped oval eggs.
Nest #10
The final one was reported by Pat & Howard Fields and John McCormick at
Breach Inlet. The turtle had made a very very long crawl and then evidently
had a problem digging because she had broken 20 of her eggs while covering
up the nest. Even though she laid 107, a good number, we counted 20 of them
smashed. Ants were everywhere drawn to the broken contents. So we cleaned
off the remaining 87 eggs and moved them to a suitable dune near the 1st
Avenue Path.
Nest #9
Then Sue Googer and Linda Bettelli found a nest at 39th Avenue which didn't have to be moved. It was marked and left in situ.
Nest #8
This morning tracks were found at 13 Beachwood East by Marilyn Colen, Joan
Marchetti, AND Charlotte Clarke. The turtle had laid eggs up against a
severely scarped dune where we are instructed not to leave nests because of
the potential for flooding. So we moved them to 56th Avenue. The nests
are getting kind of crowded in that neighborhood just as it was a few
years ago.
Nest #7
Brian Duffy and Catherine Malloy discovered the second nest of the day on June 8th at 46th Avenue.
The eggs were below the spring tide line and 4 of them were broken by the turtle when she covered
the nest. So out of the 136 eggs laid, 132 of them were moved higher at that same place.
NEST #6
On June 8th Sue Bozeman found tracks at 56th Avenue. This nest is very close to Nests #3 and #4.
The location was good enough for it to be marked and left where laid.
NEST #5
This nest was laid in the Dewees Inlet area on June 7th and the tracks
were discoverd by Jim Ueberroth and Cindy Bergstrom. The turtle dug and laid her eggs in a
very thick layer of spartina wrack right at the high tide line which made finding them a real
challenge since the field signs were very faint. The eggs
were moved up to just beyond the spring tide line, the 3rd row of wrack at that same location.
While the turtle team was working with the nest, we saw Sally Murphy and her DNR crew doing their
nest survey along the SC Coast.
Nest 4 at 50th Ave.
Jeremy's Smile Says it All.
On June 4th Sammie Ferrigan and Jeremy Schwarb found our 4th nest at 50th Avenue.
This is a very low spot where the tide destroyed
a nest last year, so the 89 eggs were relocated to a more suitable dune at 56th Avenue
Isle of Palms Has An Early Morning Visitor
This turtle was still on the beach laying eggs at 6:30 a.m.
on June 3rd when Dolores and Carl Korz found her.
She was quite large and we watched her finish up and return to the water.
NEST #6
On June 8th Sue Bozeman found tracks at 56th Avenue. This nest is very close to Nests #3 and #4. The location was good enough for it to be marked and left where laid.
NEST #5
This nest was laid in the Dewees Inlet area on June 7th and the tracks were discoverd by Jim Ueberroth and Cindy Bergstrom. The turtle dug and laid her eggs in a very thick layer of spartina wrack right at the high tide line which made finding them a real challenge since the field signs were very faint. The eggs were moved up to just beyond the spring tide line, the 3rd row of wrack at that same location. While the turtle team was working with the nest, we saw Sally Murphy and her DNR crew doing their nest survey along the SC Coast.
Nest 4 at 50th Ave.
Jeremy's Smile Says it All.
On June 4th Sammie Ferrigan and Jeremy Schwarb found our 4th nest at 50th Avenue. This is a very low spot where the tide destroyed a nest last year, so the 89 eggs were relocated to a more suitable dune at 56th Avenue
Isle of Palms Has An Early Morning Visitor
This turtle was still on the beach laying eggs at 6:30 a.m. on June 3rd when Dolores and Carl Korz found her. She was quite large and we watched her finish up and return to the water.
CLICK on thumbnails to enlarge photos.
Second New Turtle to the SC Aquarium Turtle Hospital
Kelly Thorvalson drove north to collect a turtle that had stranded at Garden City SC, near Myrtle Beach. Click on the Turtle Hospital button at the top of this page to follow all the turtles being cared for at the SC Aquarium
Channel and Hamlin Released on Folly Beach
CHANNEL READY TO GO
Two of the Turtle hospitals longest residents were released on Folly Beach today. Hamlin scooted to the water while Channel was little more leery about the whole idea of leaving his pals at the turtle hospital.
CHANNEL at the Aquarium
CHANNEL at the Beach
Hamlin had a chance to meet the fishermen that saved her life.Two of the three young men that found Hamlin trapped by the lines of a crab trap were on hand to help Hamlin back to the ocean.
05/26/05
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