On a miserable cold, windy and wet morning on the beach, the turtles rewarded the walkers with several tracks. Norm Powers called with a track just north of Boardwalk 6. The Middleton's responded and found Nest #26. With Norm's help, they moved the 117 eggs to 200 yards south of the yellow house in Zone 2.
Terry Fansler was walking zone 2 along with a guest from the Newport Kentucky Zoo & Aquarium, Chad Showalter & his family. Terry had invited them to join her on this morning's patrol. There were 2 crawls.One of the crawls had been reported about 8:30 last night by renters who saw the turtle haeding back to the ocean.They actually marked the spot where they thought there was a nest. There was another crawl just 30 yards down the beach. The area was probed by Judy and Terry with Pat Luzadder assisting by digging a few soft areas. Alas, no eggs were found. A false crawl flag and peg mark the spot. We hope we are presented in a couple months with babies coming from a hidden nest.
Nests 24 & 25 - They Just Keep Coming!
Today was a busy morning on Seabrook Island’s beaches.
Just after dawn Arline DeGennaro and Pat & Bill Greubel reported a crawl. Terry Fansler, Beautsie Zahrn and Sandy MacCoss responded. Bill, Terry and Beautsie probed and dug up and down the wandering crawl. Finally Bill found the nest which was high enough to leave in situ.
Meanwhile Sandy drove down the beach to respond to a crawl and Loggerhead still on the beach reported by Sarah, Betsy and Chris Quinn. After they made sure the Mama made it back to the Ocean, Sandy found the nest and they all helped move the eggs to a higher location.
With nests 24 and 25 we have 5 nests in the first three days of June. The torrid pace for June, on the heels of a record May provides plenty of reason to be optimistic about a very busy 2017 season!
Nests 21, 22 & 23 - Hot Start for June!
This first two calls of the morning were from Norm Powers and Deb Wiehn on Zone 3. The first was a crawl at Boardwalk 4 which turned out to be a false crawl. The second was a crawl near Boardwalk 1 at the end of the myrtles. Bill and Eileen Middleton responded and Bill found Nest #21. The 124 eggs were moved to a new location on Zone 4.
Zone 1 had the most activity today. Melanie Jerome, Gayle Evans and Anne Snelgrove reported a meandering crawl about 300 yards past the vehicle entrance. A few minutes later they called again with another crawl in front of the Danger sign. Tim Morawski responded and found the 103 eggs in Nest #22. The crew moved the 102 eggs to just north of the vehicle entrance on Zone 1.
Meanwhile, Judy Morr responded to the meandering crawl. After extensive probing, Judy found nest #23. The 98 eggs were moved to higher ground north of the vehicle entrance.
A great start to June!
Nests 19 & 20 - A New Record for May!
With nests 19 & 20 we have broken the all time record for nests in May on Seabrook Island!
The morning began with Bill and Eileen Middleton reporting a crawl on North Beach between Boardwalk 1 and the first dog sign. Jen Gibson responded and found Nest #19. The Middletons and Jen moved the 120 eggs to higher ground just down beach from the first dog sign. Esther and Bill, friends of the Gibson's visiting from Switzerland, were thrilled to see the whole process.
Just seconds after the first call, Veronica L'Allier, Ginger Seabrook and Bob Mason called with a crawl just up beach from the Club. Before Bill Nelson could be called to respond, the walkers called with a second crawl just a few feet closer to the Club. The first crawl was a
false crawl.
After probing extensively, Bill dug a 6 foot round body pit, 12 inches deep and started probing again. After much effort, Nest #20 was finally found. The 115 eggs were moved to higher ground about 100 yards up the beach.
Nests 17 & 18
The moms like long weekends.Two came in last night and gave us nests 17 & 18.
Nest #17 was laid before the first house up beach from the club on Zone 2. It was found by Karen Sewell and Judy Benko. It was a very shallow nest and 7 eggs had already predated by a raccoon. Bill Nelson with his two grandsons worked with Harvey Gibson and the ladies to move the nest of now 127 eggs (there were 134 to start) to the nest area on Zone 2.
Nest #7''s screen is in the pathway from a house. There are pink flags to mark it and we will put additional signage around the area this afternoon.
Nest #18 was found by Valerie and Mark Doane on Zone 3 near boardwalk #2. The nesting Loggerhead came in and around three times before laying a nest of 113 eggs. The nest was moved to Zone 2.
Zone 4 found two horseshoe crabs in need of help to get back to the water. Amanda and Josh Shilko gave them a ride.
Two more nests and we'll have the record for May!
