I HARDLY KNOW WHERE TO BEGIN! Last night we had activity at 8 nests before 11:00pm! New Moon gravity pull? Stars aligned? Whew!
- Nest #13 had 39 hatchlings at 8:20.
- Nest #29 had 3 hatchlings at 8:29.
- Nest #34 had one more hatchling at 9:07. This one did a pole dance for a while before making it down the runway.
- Nest #31 had 90 very disoriented hatchlings at 9:36.
- Nest #25 had 48 hatchlings at 9:53
- Nest #35 had 5 more hatchlings
- Nest #14 had a hatchling earlier in the evening and it decided to boil at the same time as #29. A nice visitor called and stayed with Lucy to help. She was able to get more visitors to help with #14. Nest #14 had about 69 hatchlings and Nest #29 had about 40. 50% were disoriented due to bright lights at the golf course. All this and Nest #15 had 5 more hatchlings with more wonderful Visitors helping!
Just WOW! Thanks to all Volunteers and Visitors who joined in to help other teams in their times of need last night!! More Turtle Ambassadors for sure! It truly takes a village!
Today Morning Patrol …Nest #26 hatched early morning hours with 1 hatchling in the runway.
Nests #’s 13, 14, 29, 35 (outside runway), 25, 23 all had more hatchling tracks (unless runways had not been swept) Between Nests #14 & #29 there were turtle tracks that led up into the dunes. We followed them up and didn’t find any.
Crab holes: Nests #’s 14, 29, 39
- NEST #21 INVENTORY
- Live Hatchlings – 2
- Dead Hatchlings – 1 (found yesterday)
- Pipped Eggs – 1
- Unhatched Eggs – 14 (5 had been clipped by crabs)
- Hatched Egg Shells -95
OK, can we please have a few minutes to recuperate today? Let’s hope so because tonight is another night!!!
This conservation work for protected sea turtles on Caswell Beach is authorized by the NC Wildlife Resources Commission (ES Permit 21ST03)