Empty Nests!

By
vturtle
on September 22, 2008 11:13 AM | | Comments (0)
It  is  that  bittersweet  time  of  the  season,  when  all  our  nests  have  hatched  out!  Our  last  nest  has  hatched  out  and  now  we  have  time  to  reflect  on  this  successful  season  and  prepare  for  the  coming  of  Spring  and  our  2009  Loggerheads.
 
A  big  TURTLE  THANKS  to  all  of  you  who  have  stayed  so  committed  to  our  Sea  Turtle  preservation  program.  The  Park  should  have  final  statistics  for  you  soon.  Turtle  hugs  to  all  and  hope  to  see  you  on  the  beach! 
vturtle 

Turtles vs Fay!

By
vturtle
on August 23, 2008 6:27 PM | | Comments (0)
With  21  nests,  still  left  to  hatch  out,  we  were  keeping  our  fingers  crossed  that  unwanted  tropical  storms  would  stay  away.  Turtles  are  tough  and  Hunting  Island  Turtles  are  for  the  most  part  holding  their  own.  The  high  waves  and  winds  of  Faye,   did  manage  to  shut  down  Cabin  Road.  But  the  dedicated  effort  of  all  Turtle  Volunteers,  has  for  at  least  this  storm,  saved  the  day  and  most  nest  were  safe  and  out  of  Faye's  harm  --  sadly  there  were  three  nests  that  succumbed  to  Faye.
 
On  a  brighter  note,  our  early  inventories  are  showing  a  better  hatch  rate  average  than  last  year.  We  project  this  increase  in  hatching,  to  continue  and  hope  that  Fay  hasn't  opened  the  door  for  more  storms  to  head  our  way.  A  special  Turtle  THANKS  to  Buddy  Lawrence  and  Karen  Whitehead,  who  are  tending  to  our  nests  almost  daily.  They  have  been  diligent  in  fighting  off  the  menacing  raccoons.  Now  all  we  need  is  a  couple  of  storm  fighters.
 
Look  for  Wendy's  complete  update  with  nesting  stats  and  think  sun!!
vturtle         

Inventories!

By
sticky turtle
on August 9, 2008 9:11 AM | | Comments (0)

Inventories have been going very well! we've inventoried about 10-12 nests and almost all of them have contained live hatchlings. Of course, we do have eggs that unfortunately don't hatch, but with the majority of the babies making it to sea, we must pat ourselves on the back for a job well done.

Speaking of inventories, any volunteer who is interested in helping with the inventories is more then welcome to come out to the beach in the early morn and dig up a nest. I find it more interesting than relocating the nest because you get to see hatched eggs and hatchlings. Everyone is allowed to participate.... just ask to dig and you're more then welcome to! Call the Nature Center for details on the morning inventories.

The Nature Center is doing a program every Thursday evening in August (so far), and we are desperately in need of volunteers to walk along the beach and help the visitors understand our mission. They are also needed to 'keep the peace.' If you are interested, please call the Nature Center at 843-838-7437. We would love to see you there!

Last Morning Patrol!!

By
vturtle
on August 5, 2008 3:34 PM | | Comments (0)
We  had  hoped  the  Turtles  would  have  a  few  more  nests  for  us.  I  guess  we  should  not  be  greedy,  they  have  provided  us  with  many  very  busy  and  active  morning  patrols.  We  are  always  sad  to  end  our  morning  patrols,  our  last  patrol  will  be  this  Wednesday,  August  6th. 
 
So,  starting  this  Thursday,  no  more  morning  patrols,  but  lots  of  hatching  to  come.  Many  of  our  early  nests  have  already  hatched,  and  it  should  be  interesting  to  see  just  how  this  season  compares  to  other  years.  
 
Look  for  an  upcoming  announcement  on  a  supper  fun  night  with  lots  of  Turtle  surprises!!  Until  then,  enjoy  your  mornings  sleeping  in  and  know  that  you  and  your  teammates  have  made  a  positive  impact  on  tomorrow's  ecology.
 
A  big  Turtle  THANKS  to  all!!!

Volunteers

By
kathleen
on August 4, 2008 11:35 AM | | Comments (0)

Even though we have not had any nests this past week, we are going to continue doing our early morning patrol at 6 am. We asked the volunteers to continue in their diligent efforts with us for a few more days and thank you for all your hard work. The early morning patrols will have their last day on Aug 15th. Again, thank you and hope to see you in the morning.

Nest #10 Inventory

By
kathleen
on July 31, 2008 3:59 PM | | Comments (0)

Nest 10 was inventoried today; we found 4 live babies and 4 dead ones. There were 54 unhatched and 62 hatched eggs, making for 55% hatch success. No new nests or false crawls. We are up to 60 nests, the last one being found on Tuesday in Zone 4. Sorry you haven't heard from me in a while, my internet has been down. Good luck over the next couple of days.

Internet Down

By
sticky turtle
on July 28, 2008 10:09 PM | | Comments (0)
Hey Everyone,

Our internet has been down at the Nature Center, so we apologize for the lack of blogs! Let's see what we've got going on...

Nests 1, 2, 3, 4, and 10 have hatched or are in the process of hatching right now. We've inventoried nests 1, 2, 3 and 4. Nests 1 and 3 had live hatchlings, and the other two didn't.

For all interested in seeing an inventory, Nest 10 will be inventoried on Thursday or Friday, the date hasn't been set yet.

In other news, a wild nest was found in Zone 6 by a kayaker. Unfortuantely the only reason she saw it was because it had been ravaged by raccoons. By the time we found it, there was nothing left of the nest but egg shards :(

A note to the volunteers: if you are using one of Buddy's wire cages for a nest, you MUST make sure to dig down at least 8 inches to sink the cage into the ground. Burying it too shallow will not stop those pesky raccoons!

Nest #59E

By
kathleen
on July 24, 2008 11:04 AM | | Comments (0)

On Wednesday, Steve found Nest 59E in Zone 5, along with 3 false crawls. There was also a false crawl in zone 4.

Today there was no activity on the beach. We did inventory Nest #2 and realized it had been ravaged by ghost crabs and racoons two nights in a row.

Beach at Night

By
kathleen
on July 22, 2008 10:41 AM | | Comments (0)
We will present a walk on the beach at night every Thursaday night. Starting in August and September, you must preregister for this activity. The limit will be 30 people per walk. Again, the Beach at Night walks will be on Thursday nights in August and September, preregistration required.

Nest #58

By
kathleen
on July 22, 2008 9:48 AM | | Comments (0)
Nest #58 was located in Zone 6; it had 108 eggs and was relocated to Zone 4. Nest #2  hatched last night, and Nest #6 has pipped.

Nest #3 Hatched!

By
sticky turtle
on July 20, 2008 1:15 PM | | Comments (0)

Nest #3 in Zone 1 hatched late last evening, Buddy reports. This morning a straggler was seen at 6 am by a tourist walking the beach to catch the sunrise. Apparently, the hatchling had a beat up flipper... will we have a new generation of Momma Stumpy on our hand?

Way to go babies for making into the ocean! Good luck to you :)

Numero Uno

By
sticky turtle
on July 19, 2008 10:07 PM | | Comments (0)

Nest #1 was inventoried today, and much to the delight of the Monday volunteers, a few live hatchlings popped out of the nest to greet them. Many pictures were taken and hopefully some of them will be put up soon! There were a total of 148 eggs, 16 of which were unhatched. Unfortunantely, we did find one dead hatchling, but the rest of them made it!

Way to go baby turtles!

I am having trouble posting pictures for some reason, so here are the links. Hopefully you won't mind clicking them :)

Photos courtesy of: Bill Roschen

http://s277.photobucket.com/albums/kk46/stickyturtle27/?action=view&current=mMhdxIMUGNXC3bNQ6R7gxkqtArsj7B0300.jpg

http://s277.photobucket.com/albums/kk46/stickyturtle27/?action=view&current=KKak-CrXsOl0xMw4KFobzTKUC8DDbF8a030.jpg

http://s277.photobucket.com/albums/kk46/stickyturtle27/?action=view&current=hwL7vpQLU0YJOnNJq3iDNtut2NZ5e5PN030.jpg

http://s277.photobucket.com/albums/kk46/stickyturtle27/?action=view&current=EGnE40CBU91EJf2DI3WDvPuo-oV3hmLh030.jpg

http://s277.photobucket.com/albums/kk46/stickyturtle27/?action=view&current=bBhkik8zz00b-GekKE1JWRAiIHEV-txO030.jpg

http://s277.photobucket.com/albums/kk46/stickyturtle27/?action=view&current=B6Qdfn86K9Xs5k33k0GSJZOspoxgvXMZ030.jpg

Nests #56E & #57

By
kathleen
on July 19, 2008 10:33 AM | | Comments (0)

Thursday our diligent volunteers paroled the beach in the severe downpour and found Nest #56E in Zone 3. Friday's group found Nest #57 in Zone 2, and 86 eggs were relocated to Zone 1. Today, we had a false crawl in Zone 6. So they're still out there, we're just waiting for the next big bang of nests.

Turtle Stats

By
kathleen
on July 19, 2008 9:48 AM | | Comments (0)
Project Beach          May June 2005 2006 2007
Waties Island 1 3 ND ND 17
North Myrtle Beach 0 2 ND ND ND
Myrtle Beach 0 4 ND ND ND
Myrtle Beach SP 0 4 3 0 2
Huntington SP 0 4 5 14 5
SCUTE 4 59 62 80 68
Sand Island 19 ND ND ND
South Island 23 93 122 102 83
Cape Island 124 667 826 1027 531
Lighthouse Island 23 116 232 195 178
Bull Island 14 56 ND ND 116
Dewees Island 1 10 9 21 7
IOP/Sullivan's Island 3 18 56 15 26
Folly Beach 9 39 37 51 20
Kiawah Island 33 134 154 201 85
Seabrook Island 8 35 51 64 16
Botany Island 38 249 219 214 112
Edingsville 7 27 73 90 57
Edisto Beach SP 6 60 94 71 66
Town of Edisto Beach 2 30 88 50 66
Harbor Island 2 12 39 28 18
Hunting Island SP 5 42 90 62 64
Fripp Island 5 23 40 31 14
Pritchard's Island 3 16 71 66 26
St. Phillips Island 4 ND ND 7
Hilton Head Island 18 112 163 186 112
Daufuskie Island 4 27 ND ND 19
Total 337 1861 2434 2568 1715

They Did It!

By
sticky turtle
on July 17, 2008 10:10 PM | | Comments (0)
I am very happy to report that Nest #1 has hatched! It started to "boil" around 8:15 and it didn't take too long for the babies to reach their way to the water. Steve was the first one to notice that the babies had appeared, and we sat there and watched in awe as they crawled into the surf.

Pictures were taken (without flash, of course) and hopefully I'll have them up within the next few days!

For my first nest, this was a great one! Best moment of my turtling career, definitely. :)
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