SO much has changed from a week ago when we were wondering why no nests had hatched! Coming off of the July King Tides, we have greened a good number of nests and many teams have started nest sitting and educating our beach visitors. Here’s just a taste of what this week brought!
• Hurricane force gusts sand-blasted many of us for several nights, sending sand everywhere and drifting over nests. Outdoor tables at the Lazy Turtle were completely buried in sand, so you can only imagine what the nests looked like.
• We’ve had several boils (even a daylight one!) along with stragglers coming out in the morning. THANK YOU FOR THE HOTLINE CALLS!
• We are finding hatchling tracks heading into the dunes, which means the babies are disoriented from lights, and perishing as a result. Getting increased support for the light interference issue is one of our major ongoing initiatives!
• We have had Wild Nests, which are undiscovered nests, usually because tracks are washed over and they’re not found, or are dubbed a false crawl after eggs were not located. Thanks to the lone wayward hatchling for alerting us!
• We had a scary nighttime beach emergency, with emergency vehicles rushing down the beach in the dark, dodging beach visitors, nest runways and nest sitting volunteers! Thankfully the persons in need were all ok!
• Our nests are NOT hatching in order at all! Is it the new beach sand? Who knows, but they are definitely keeping us on our toes.
• We had a nesting mama decide she wanted to crawl up a nest site runway to lay her nest, laying very close to the existing nest. We’re calling this our duplex nest! Will this be the same Mama for both nests? We will have to wait and see what the DNA tells us. Nest Fidelity is common for Caswell Beach.
• AND, we got to see a daylight nesting mama, who was very cooperative as we gathered measurements and scanned her.
• Our Mamas continue to visit and we hit 100 nests to date! Will we beat our 105 nest record high from 2019? Fingers crossed!
• Our washed up item winner of the week was a mini-frig! Really!
• Our much-wished-for rain deluged our morning patrol today – but they were tough and made it off the beach!
Help us keep things sane out there! Please keep lights off (on the beach and at beach front homes, and please nudge your neighbors to do the same!) If you see a turtle, in any size or state, please call us! This is important for many reasons – the sea turtle’s survival, and our data tracking and reporting. We have amazing support and interest this year from our neighbors and beachgoers.
PS. A reminder about the NC Wildlife Regulations that govern our work.
PHOTO HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK:
**This conservation work for protected sea turtles on Caswell Beach is authorized by the NC Wildlife Resources Commission (ES Permit 26ST03).
Please consider donating to our efforts as we build up our necessary resources for the season.
You can donate at Caswell Beach Turtle Watch Donations.
YOU CAN HELP! If you see a sea turtle mama coming onto the beach and and attempting to nest, please call our hotline immediately (910-368-6323) to notify us. During sea turtle season, we monitor 24/7. Please educate your family, friends, neighbors and especially – your renters. ALWAYS feel free to reach out to us if there is a concern, or you have questions. (All contact info is at the top of the page.)
PLEASE PRINT AND SHARE our Sea Turtle Info Sheet below. If you own a rental or are a renter, please post this for visitors to see. Greater education and understanding will lead to more happy and healthy sea turtles gracing our beaches. Every little bit helps!
CWB Sea Turtle Info SheetDownload