Digging Up A Nest On Our Own

Saturday morning was our turn at excavating a nest - NB4 was ready to be unearthed.  Even though Steve had the day off, he came out to see it, learn some more.  We're back on the learning curve again, so every experience counts.  Steve got the camera and I got to work.  Not far from the surface I began pulling out hatchlings, some dead, but some alive.  At first the live guys were lethargic, but we quickly watched them wake up and begin their own delayed frenzy.  Steve had to get the bucket to put the live ones in so we wouldn't lose them as I was still digging up shells and turtles.  This was my first time digging up the nest, and I'll admit it was a little gross, but nothing I can't get over considering my years at the zoo.  

Once I hit the bottom and there were no other live turtles, it was time to take them to the water.  We set the bucket down shoreward of the water, to let the turtles run down the beach.  One at a time I took them out and placed them on the wet sand.  They all oriented themselves well and started to make the journey toward the ocean.  Some were faster than others, others had obvious issues.  A few still had curved carapaces, some had flipper problems.  After some time, we took them to the water's edge, hoping this would better encourage them to keep moving.  After several trips we had them all in the water.  Again, some were better than others.  I moved a few deeper so they wouldn't get washed ashore.  Soon they were all out of sight and we headed back to count the remains: 87 hatched shells, 55 unhatched or pipped (hatchling broke through shell but didn't emerge), 16 dead hatchlings in nest, 17 live released in the water.

Soon Steve was gone and the beaches were left to me.  I had two nests on Bradley, both relocated.  Later I removed the small screening from several nests meaning that we should have a lot of emergences soon.  NB1 seems like it should emerge at any time, and NB3 should be very close.  After biking North Middle, and finding no crawls, I headed south.  I didn't find any crawls on South Beach, but I did find a lot of people.  It's hard to remember the day of the week out here, but we always know when it's Saturday because of the boaters on the north and south tips of Ossabaw.  I had to weave around them to scan for turtle crawls, and fortunately found none, since I'd have 50 people watching me.  The Mule then started giving me problems as it acted like it was running out of gas even though it had plenty.  Not wanting to get stuck in the rising tide, I took the barely used road on the south end.  Even though the road was rough, it was fun because I had never seen that part of it.  There were Lantana flowers everywhere - vibrant reds and oranges.  Big pine trees, old rolling hills from older dunes.  Steve and I will have to do more exploring down there.  By this time the Mule was running normally again.  I arrived at the South Middle kayak and headed over for the last beach.  It was hot and sunny, and I hate that I'm often stuck on this beach with no shelter in the afternoon.  

I drove through the dunes and headed south first.  The Oystercatchers were at the nest, so I let them be.  We're still hoping for one chick, so better to not disturb the parents.  The number of shorebirds grows every day as they are returning from nesting, some as far as the high arctic.  I hit the south tip and turned north.  I didn't find a crawl until the north end.  The body pit was very long, which meant more area to probe.  Luckily, I found it at the tail end, and didn't have to work the rest.  I had to relocate it and was relieved when I found a good dune 30 feet away.  By now I was sunburned and tired.  I was soon on my way south.  I didn't find any emergences this day, though some looked like there might have been.  My untrained eyes are have some trouble deciding between sea turtle hatchling and ghost crab.  When I saw the tracks from NB2 with Mark it was very obvious, so I am trying not to second guess myself.  When I see it, I'll know.  

I made it home late, just as late as Steve the day before, and he had so much more work than I.  I don't know, I guess I am that slow.  After data entry, we went to Andy's for dinner and cat time.  Panner has really grown a liking toward us and finally naps on the couch with us.  We're glad to be a substitute family for them.