The temperatures and the Loggerhead Sea Turtle activity are both heating up. We have a total of five new nests for the week of Sunday, 11 May, through Saturday, 17 May. Mother’s Day brought thunder, lightning, rain, and nests number two and three! Jen Gibson and Wendy Holschuh reported two crawls, one of which became Nest 2 with 109 eggs which was relocated north of Boardwalk 6. The other crawl didn’t reveal any eggs, but we have marked the area and will continue to monitor it for signs of activity. Nest 3, which was left in situ, was found by Marnie Ellis and Bob Enzerra after getting a call from Camp Saint Christopher after someone saw a turtle laying a nest near the kayak shed. Due to the rain and wind, no turtle tracks were seen, so we were very fortunate to receive this information.
On Tuesday, 13 May, the rains finally ended, but the nests continued. The area where the renourishment project was conducted last Fall is proving to be very lucky this year. Debbie Fink and Penny Mallory found Nest 4 slightly north of The Club. 124 eggs were relocated above the high tide line near the original nest.
On Wednesday, 14 May, JoAnne Lewis, Wendy Holschuh, Lisa McDonald, and Bev Wall found Nest 5 on North Beach. Sadly, a coyote found the nest before the turtle patrol did. Sixty viable eggs from the original 118 were relocated.
The turtles waited until Saturday, 17 May to present our beach with Nest # 6. Edna Bickett, Jen Gibson, Jane Magioncalda and Joe Ficarra found the crawl slightly north of The Club in the turtles favorite real estate this year. This momma turtle was very smart and came in during high tide, but obviously spent hours laying her nest even though there were only 77 eggs. The nest was relocated to higher ground.
Please continue to leave the beach as you found it. This is more important than ever as we no longer have trash receptacles on the beach. There are recycling and trash containers at the roadside of the boardwalks for your convenience.
Rose, the juvenile Green Sea Turtle that was rescued on our beach, continues his/her difficult road to recovery at the Sea Turtle Care CenterTM. You can check on her current status at https://scaquarium.org/rose
Submitted by Anne Snelgrove for Seabrook Island Turtle Patrol
(Image Credit: Seabrook Island Turtle Patrol)