May 14, 2019
Nest 4!
At 6:45 Valerie Luzadder from Zone 1 called to report an interesting crawl right from the beach going up the road to Camp St. 
Christopher, then into the area near the kayak storage area. Judy Morr and Jim Lawrence responded and quickly found the nest. The mama laid 183 large eggs, with 5 broken; the remaining 178 were relocated to an area near the old pier. The walkers were Patrick and Valerie Luzadder, Tom Lamb and Christine Dudzik.
Zone 2 reported a large abandoned beach chair, which they moved close to a private boardwalk, Beach Patrol was notified to remove.
May 15, 2019
Walkers called in a crawl at the end of Boardwalk 6. Terry Fansler, Jane Magioncalda and Mike Vinson responded. It was high on the dunes but the mama just went in and out again. False crawl.
Lesley Gore called to report that nest 4 had been bothered, perhaps by raccoons. It appeared that no eggs were damaged and a fine mesh screen was installed for additional protection. The walkers enjoyed a lovely sunrise but mentioned it was tough going in the high tide.
May 16, 2019
Nest 5!
Walkers Terry Fansler, Gloria Reynolds, Anna Wechter, and Brenda Zack are the lucky “parents” of Nest #5. The crawl was encountered
at the new house being constructed next to the Pelicans Nest. Bill and Eileen Middleton responded with Bill finding the 130 eggs. The nest was moved to higher ground.
On North Beach, the excitement of the morning was about 100 Wilson’s Plovers being active on the beach. Also, a great sunrise photo from Kevin Foltz.
May 16 Special Report
As many of you are aware, Bill Greubel volunteers with the SCDNR to assist with probing and nest maintenance at some of the more remote locations. This is his report from May 16:
“Spent 4 delightful hours on Cape Island. We found 20 nests and had 25 false crawls. I was partnered with Sara who runs Cape Romain. She’s been at this for 30 years and has found over 7500 nests. Talk about a true pro at nest finding! Generally, just one or two probes are needed. We finished early with the other team at 20 nests also. Folks here think it will be a great year beating the 2500 mark two years ago.”
May 17, 2019
It was a high tide morning on the beach but only one mama left a set of tracks. The crawl was just off Boardwalk 9. Bill Greubel responded and after probing declared it a false crawl. North beach reported lots of Red Knots but no turtle activities
May 18, 2019
Nest 6!
Walkers Jennifer, Stuart and Regan Passantino, as well as Lesley and Tony Gore, were the lucky ones today. Right at 6:30 am they found a crawl at Boardwalk 1. Mike Vinson probed and found Nest 6 with help from Terry Fansler and Jane Magioncalda. The nest had 150 eggs and was moved to a safer area.
May 19, 2019
Nest 7!
Walkers on North Beach reported a crawl very close to yesterday’s crawl just north of Boardwalk 1. In a few minutes, another call came in from the group reporting an “in and out” crawl near the first dog sign; Mama made a U-turn below the high tide line. The Doanes were called to investigate. They agreed the second crawl was just a mama investigating a good possibility. They probed the first crawl
with the assistance of Jane Magioncalda and our 7th nest was found. The 115 eggs were relocated to a safer area. Walkers today were Jane Magioncalda, Joe Ficarra, Laura Logan, Amanda Shilko and John Woychick. Towards the spit, they enjoyed watching at least 50 Pelicans “fishing” in one of the large tidal pools. It was a great morning for this group!
-Submitted by Gary Fansler