No new sea turtle nests or crawls for Caswell Beach today!
As far as existing sea turtle nests, unfortunately 6 nests were overwashed again overnight, and the unusually high tides have now affected an additonal nest. Of all of our nests, #7, which was due to hatch earlier this week, has experienced the worst inundation and at multiple times.
While some overwash is not considered too damaging early in incubation, a lot of overwash towards the end of the incubation period can be catastrophic. The other 5 nests still have a good chance of survival.
Fox Predation
And just to keep us on our toes, a young fox dug out Nest #4 early this morning. This is the first documented fox predation Caswell Beach has had in a few years. Caroline, a visitor in the OKI Villas , captured photos and video of the young culprit after his visit to the nest. Thank you, Caroline for the documentation of this event!
Nest #4 had hatched on Sunday evening with 91 hatchlings. Per NCWRC protocol, an emergency excavation is done when a hatched nest has predation. The Team was called out and the inventory was completed. We know many had hoped to attend this excavation and inventory and are disappointed that this happened.
Nest #4 Inventory Results:
Hatched Egg Shells – 95
Unhatched Eggs – 7
Pipped – 1 (crab attacked)
Live – 0
Dead – 0
*All Nest Inventory results can be located in a separate tab by hovering over Season Updates.
Special thanks to the Roth family from Raleigh who called about a hatchling at the edge of the surf in front of the Villas. This could have been a hatchling from Nest #4 that escaped the fox! He was weak and had likely been washed back in the rough surf. We placed him beyond the breakers to let the tide pull him out!
We appreciate the calls! Please call us if you see any activity at a nest, mama sea turtles on the beach or hatchlings on the beach.
910-368-6323
**This conservation work for protected sea turtles on Caswell Beach is authorized by the NC Wildlife Resources Commission (ES Permit 24ST03).
Want to help? Please consider donating to our efforts to protect sea turtles at Caswell Beach Turtle Watch Donations.
Fox Predation
Nest Overwash
Nest 4 Inventory
