Kudos to all those volunteers who have been monitoring our island beach for sea turtle activity during these really hot and humid days. Evidence of outstanding commitment!
The Tuesday volunteers and guest hit the beach today just as the sun was beginning to manifest its reign over yet another steamy day.
Nests were checked, ghost crabs battled, quick inspections of two recently emerged nests completed. We were happy to see evidence of a handful of overnight hatchling stragglers who made their way to the water from Nest 2R which officially emerged yesterday.
As we approached the upper end of the island, we had a pleasant surprise. Nest 03 had emerged overnight at 54 days. This nest was discovered by our Thursday team on June 5. Our momma came in, crawled to the top of the dune, slid down a little, made a quick right turn and created her body pit in the perfect spot. No need to move those eggs!
This nest was plagued by ghost crabs almost from the beginning. During its incubation, we caught and relocated a total of 18 ghost crabs from around the nest. Even today, as we discovered a typical emergence hole, there where lots of ghost crab tracks over and around the hatchling tracks. There was also evidence that some hatchlings may have been dragged away from the emergence hole or as they were heading for the ocean. We searched diligently for any hatchlings who may have been waylaid from their journey by the pesky ghost crabs, but none were found. We are confident most of them were already swimming their way toward the safety of the Sargasso Sea nursery grounds. Safe travels little ones!
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