The loggerheads have officially arrived in force on Seabrook Island with 4 new nests and 5 false crawls this week.
Sunday, May 16
It was an exciting morning and all of our probers were called to the beach but no nests were found. There was one crawl on each of the four zones. While none of them resulted in nests, it was a good sign that nests were coming soon!
Wednesday, May 19
Walkers Judy Morr, Kathy Hanson, and Kathy Thompson called in a crawl at 6:09 am on Wednesday morning between Boardwalks 2 & 3. Valerie and Mark Doane probed the very shallow body pit and relocated Nest 2 with 148 eggs to a safer location.
Thursday, May 20
Zone 3 walkers Lynne Madison and Karen Preston were the lucky walkers on Thursday when they were greeted by a big mama turtle still on the beach! Attempts to locate any nest that may have been laid were unsuccessful at the time.
Friday, May 21
Zone 3 remained popular as walkers Jane Magioncalda and Sandy MacCoss first called with a promising crawl north of Boardwalk 6. Bill Greubel responded and quickly found Nest 3. The 145 eggs were moved further back on the dune.
Further down the beach, Jane and Sandy found a meandering crawl between Boardwalks 2 and 3, near Wednesday’s Nest 2. Valerie and Mark Doane responded and found Nest 4. The 135 eggs were moved back further on the dune. The mama went for a nice long stroll after laying her eggs.
Bill Greubel decided to have another look at the crawl left by the mama encountered by Thursday morning walkers. A fresh set of eyes proved to do the trick as he found Nest 5. The nest was left in situ high on the dune at Boardwalk 2.
For more information about turtles and turtle patrol, go to siturtlepatrol.com
-Submitted by Joshua Shilko