Inventory NMB Nest #5-Windy HIll

Donna, Marilyn and Elmer came across NMB Nest #5 around 43rd Ave S, Windy Hill on July 10th.
103 eggs were in the nest, 102 eggs moved back to the dunes.  1 egg taken for DNA Study.

53 days later, Sunday, Sept 1st, very windy on the beach.  Only evidence of an emergence were a few tracks on the lower section of the beach and reports from beach walkers of hatchlings on the beach around 11;30PM.  No depression, no hole and no tracks were ever seen inside the nest area of at the egg chamber.  Margaret reporting seeing a small hole and one lone set of tracks on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 12 around 10AM.  These were not here when she passed the nest area about 1/2 hour earlier.  Very hot on the beach, sand was very hot but tracks seemed to go straight to the water.

Egg chamber Monday Morning, small, very slight depression not enough to indicate an major emergence



 



 Single track deep in the sand, very hard to see, bird tracks cross over it

Another view of single track

 

Few tracks on the wetter sand, again very hard to see

 

One hatchling appeared to walk up into the dunes, before turning back to the ocean

 

 

 Time to Inventory

 

 

No evidence of nest, no hole, no depression

 

Crowd starts to gather

 

We have shells

 

 

Margaret and Candy have been digging

 

 

and found 4 live hatchlings deep in the egg chamber. 

Donna shows everyone the hatchlings

 

 

And she shows everyone what a whole egg looks like



 

One last check of the egg chamber to make sure no hatchlings or shells are left behind

 

 

Hatched and unhatched eggs rim the hole

 

The Fab Four waiting to start their journey 

 

 

These kids were fascinated and kept coming back for "one more" look

 

Maddy  releases  the  hatchlings

 

 

And the race is on....

 

 

Yes, cool sand

 

OOPS!!!  Now how do I crawl?

 

Do I have to go there?

 

 

Holt makes sure all made it to the water and disappear

 

Thank you Rachelle and Holt for your pictures.

 

Thank you Donna, Janice and Maddy for watching this nest...The hatchlings seemed to disappear without a trace

 

Inventory Results:

 

Nest was laid on July 10th, 103 eggs, 102 moved back to the dunes, 1 taken for the DNA Study

 

Major emergence on Sept 1,  Day 53

 

95 eggs hatched, 7 whole eggs of which 2 appeared to be infertile, 5 died in early development

 

4 live hatchlings deep in egg chamber, released on the beach

 

No dead hatchlings

 

93.13% hatching success rate

 

Great job!!  A huge thanks to all who watched this nest all summer