We had a surprise yesterday afternoon. Our last Nesting Site showed evidence of an emergence. A Nesting Site is an area where the Mama spent a good amount of time, but the nest chamber was not located by our patrol. Mama came in on August 4th.
Our best guess is that the nest hatched during the rains on Friday into Saturday. After digging an arms length deep, our patrol found the nest. That makes this Nest #96. Unfortunately they found many deceased hatchlings. Sadly the heavy rains must have stopped their progress out of the nest. Nature isn’t always kind.
Nest #96 Inventory
Hatched Egg Shells – 107
Unhatched Eggs – 3
Pipped – 0
Live in Nest – 0
Dead in Nest -66
We choose to focus on the 41 hatchlings that emerged!
**This conservation work for protected sea turtles on Caswell Beach is authorized by the NC Wildlife Resources Commission (ES Permit 23ST03).