Inventory of Relocated Nest MB #3

Thursday, June 9 a turtle was reported on the beach in front of Maison-Sur-Mer Condo Complex in Myrtle Beach.  Rob and Donita went to the site and roped off the nest.  

At the request of S.C.U.T.E, Donita, Teressa and Linda went down early the next morning and relocated the nest to 19th Ave S in the Crescent Beach Section of NMB.  103 eggs were in the nest, 102 were relocated. 

57 days later, around 9:15PM, a major boil occurred and the hatchlings came streaming out of the nest.  It was low tide, no moon was visible, a tide pool and sand bar was between the hatchlings and the ocean.  They were hesitant and confused, so the Patrol Volunteers helped them into the water.
 Karlie, Addison and Hayden from Virginia
and

Chance and Courtney from Ohio, helped Teressa search the beach to make no hatchlings were left on the beach.

On Wednesday, Aug 10, the nest was dug up and inventoried.

Donna and Bill did the digging.

Rob helped while Linda explained what we were doing and why to the crowd that had gather. 

On the way to the bottom of the hole, 3 hatchlings were found.

97 empty eggs shells were pulled from the nest.

All wanted to see a hatchling.

The hatchlings were released on the beach and they quickly crawled to the ocean.

Donna was in charge of this nest, and several of her loyal helpers including Lisa, who was on vacation and staying in the complex behind the nest.

Great job!

This says it ALL!!

Thank you all who were involved with this nest.  Thank you to the kids and other spectators who helped on the beach the night the hatchlings emerged.  And a big thank you to Donna for leading the group of volunteers who watched this nest for several nights before it emerged. 

Thank you Julie and Jim for the great pictures. 

Inventory Results:

This nest was laid on June 10, 2011

and emerged on August 6,  Day 57

103 eggs were in the original nest

1 egg was taken for DNA Study

102 eggs were relocated

97 empty shells were found in the nest

5 eggs were unhatched,   4 eggs died in early development, 1 egg died in late development

3 Live Hatchlings were found in the nest and released on the beach

95% Hatching success rate