Endangered Loggerhead Wild Nest becomes nest # 17

 Not our typical nest, as this nest is what is considered a wild Nest.  A wild nest will be a nest that was not found and known about.  This will typically happen in the rare case that maybe the wind, rain, storms or maybe beach raking have erased any signs of the tracks or body pit.  

The dedicated NMB STP Volunteers are out walking the NMB, Briarcliffe/Meher Baba Beach and what is known as No Mans Land 7 days a week.  They walk in all kinds of weather, rainy windy days, hot humid days and some of the most beautiful sunrise days, looking for crawls or body pits, unless it is unsafe to walk.  

A call coming into the hotline around midnight, about Baby Sea Turtle Hatchlings in the Highrise parking lot and pool area.  NMB STP Volunteer Chuck arrived, finding several hatchlings.  Other People indicating that more were found in the parking garage and pool area before he arrived and had been safely brought to the Ocean and released.  He then searched all over seeing many tracks in the walkway and going into the dunes leading to the bright lights of the Highrise and pool area. Sadly, he could not find tracks leading to on the beach, leading us to believe that most if not all had gone the wrong way.

 This miss orientation could be devasting to the endangered Baby Sea Turtle Hatchlings, as they have a limited amount of energy that they should be using to make their trek to the Sargasso Sea.  This miss orientation could drastically lesson their chances of having enough energy as they swim to the Sargasso Sea (a floating bed of seaweed.) The Hatchlings will spend much of their juvenile years in the protection of this seaweed. But we are always hopeful as the Hatchlings that were recovered, were released on the sand close to the Ocean to enter the Ocean fairly quickly.

 Early morning at daybreak Volunteers are there to help look for any signs of a wild nest and any more hatchlings that may be displaced. More hatchlings are found and safely brought to the Ocean to start their journey of life.

 Luckily the nest was found right off.  Because of the danger of being in the walkway, with heightened chances of being walked on and again going the wrong way into the dunes towards the buildings, roadway and parking garage this nest will be immediately inventoried.

We are so thankful for all the people living in this Highrise and surrounding areas and people on the beach alerting us of the Hatchlings and keeping an eye out for the precious little Sea Turtle Hatchlings. As reports coming from people living here, were that they were still finding the baby Sea Turtle Hatchlings the following morning. Thanks Sherry and all that helped spread the word to help these endangered Sea Turtle Hatchlings

Here are some of the tracks all leading the wrong way, away from the ocean to the dangers of the parking garage, pool and roadway.  The NMB STP Volunteers are actively looking and finding Hatchlings that were misoriented by the bright lights of the high rises.  Every minute counts, they need to go out to the ocean to start their journey of life, the longer they are wandering in the dunes, pool and roadway the more dangerous it is for their survival.  

 NMB STP Volunteers are vested in finding the Nest because if more baby hatchlings come out of the nest they would most likely go towards the Highrise lights or if they came out the sand would be too hot for them.  Time is of the essence.

Well Chuck has found the nest, by carefully following the tracks and looking around he spotted the area circled in black.

   

 I'm pretty sure everyone was expecting a tough and challenging day in finding the egg chamber, if it was able to even be found.  A sense of relief and an overwhelming sense of happiness' at the same time, knowing the remaining hatchlings will be safely released if some hatchlings were still in the egg chamber.

An inventory on the nest is done right off, any live Hatchlings will be released immediately

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Whole unhatched egg and the empty eggshells will be counted to determine the nest successes rate.

the results are pretty good for a wild nest.

                                                             140 eggs in this nest

                                                             20 whole eggs unviable

                                                             120 hatched eggs

                                                             16 live hatchlings in this nest (released on the beach immediately)

                                                                Hatch success rate is 86 %

This is a picture of where the egg chamber was and the miss orientation going to the bright lights.  Such a devastating encounter for the endangered Sea Turtle Hatchlings.  This is a very good example of why Sea Turtle nest are protected and relocated when there is a chance of the bright lights in the background.                    

Hatchlings found in the nest and hatchlings found around and, in the parking garage are immediately released on the Beach to start their journey of life.

Ok now the NMB STP Volunteers are making a second sweep looking for any stragglers that may still have been in the dunes or hiding in the parking garage that have not previously been found.

We are checking the pool area again as hatchlings were found in the pool previously the night before.

And oh, my heart, a hatchling is spotted swimming in the pool. and then another. and towards the outer edge trying to hide are a couple more.  And then just as the Volunteers thought we had them all, they look in the drains just to rule them out and 3 more Hatchlings!!!

 All together 8 more endangered Loggerhead Sea Turtle Hatchlings.  They are immediately brought to the Oceans edge and ran to the ocean soon disappearing in the ocean waves. this pool will be much bigger than the one they were just in.  An overwhelming feeling of serenity has filled our hearts as the Baby Hatchlings are on their way to start the journey and adventure of their lives.

3 Baby Hatchlings were found in the drain, if you look close he/she almost looks like he/she is hugging the whale.  Hope this little Hatchling doesn't think whales are this small.

The little one that tried to swim away. Soon he/she was released on the ocean beach near the water to swim in much deeper and bigger waters.

All Sea turtles are endangered; they are federally and state protected.  Special guidelines, training and permits are required to work with Nesting Sea Turtles, Hatchlings, Nest and Stranded Sea Turtles.

If you are in NMB or Briarcliffe areas and encounter a Nesting Sea Turtle, Hatchling or stranded Sea turtle please call immediately

NMB STP VOLUNTEER

843-213-9074

ANYTIME OF DAY OR NIGHT

NORTH MYRTLE BEACH PROTECTED ENDANGERED SEA TURTLE NEST #16

 This endangered Loggerhead Sea Turtle did her job well.  Looking for the right spot to nest, she crawled through the opening of the sand fence.  Then going up into the Dunes before turning a little to the left and heading down again, where she appeared to try to nest but abandoned that spot. She then meandered to the other side of the sand fence opening but still behind the sand fence. she appeared to have possibly nested in this area, maybe even turning facing the ocean before nesting.

The crawl was studied more intensely while trying to determine the route she had taken before laying her eggs.

While more of the NMB STP Volunteers arrive to help with this nest, so do the beachgoers.  The excited Volunteers are in their happy place, sharing their knowledge and passion with amongst fellow volunteers and beachgoers coming to see what is going on.

This nest is too close to the walkway so it will be relocated just a little way north to a more protected area in the Dunes. We will take this opportunity to count the eggs while we carefully relocate them.  The new egg chamber will replicate the original nest.  It will resemble an inverted light bulb, just around 6-7 inches at the top of the sand leading to a rounder, wider area at the bottom of the nest. The new egg chamber will be at the same depth as the original egg chamber.  This is all done very carefully and by guidelines and permits as all Sea Turtles are endangered and protected.  96 eggs were found in this nest, 95 were safely relocated.

One egg will be used for DNA studies that will help in the future conservation's efforts of the elusive endangered Sea Turtle species.

Great job to all of the NMB STP Volunteers out walking every day and all of the Volunteers helping. 

 All are making the difference to help save the endangered Sea Turtle species.

All Sea Turtles are endangered; they are federally and state protected.  Special training, guidelines and permits are required to work with Nesting Sea Turtles, Nest, Hatchlings and stranded Sea Turtles.

If you are in the NMB or Briarcliffe areas and encounter a nesting Sea Turtle, Hatchling or stranded Sea Turtle please call

NMB STP HOTLINE

843-213-9074

ANYTIME DAY OR NIGHT

NMB protected endangered Loggerhead Sea Turtle nest #15

 Wow the wind can do so much to the crawl and body pit of the endangered Sea Turtle.  As Volunteers of the NMB STP they are very aware that with the wind and rain, sometimes tracks can be very faint to almost nonexistent. But the NMB STP are on the lookout for all of this. 

The track coming up from the ocean in the wet part of the sand stand out, still very clear to see and recognize.  Ther are some very excited NMB STP Volunteers this morning as they know how much their participation in finding crawls and nest will have on the future of the endangered sea turtle species.  All making the difference to help save the endangered Sea Turtle species.

All are excited to have found this crawl this morning.

Many beachgoers are in the right place at the right time.  The NMB STP Volunteers are in their element; they are always so excited to share their knowledge and passion on what we are doing and why.  They will learn this is done only by permits, with special training and guidelines.  Many will go home with a new appreciation on how we can all help the endangered sea turtle species. One never knows what impact this may have on some, to make this their future endeavors of helping in the conservation efforts.

As you can see in this picture, how the wind has blown much of the body pit.  We were thankful the person who saw this Sea Turtle while nesting and called this in. They do have experience with Sea Turtles and kept their distance and did not interfere. 

Probing is done and eggs were quickly found.  This is a very busy and unprotected part of the beach.  To give this nest the best chance of survival, these eggs will be relocated according to the endangered species guidelines and permit.

89 eggs were found in this egg chamber, a small nest.  There were also a few eggs that had a Calcium tail attached to the egg.  Both of these could indicate it is towards the end of her nesting season.  But we will only know this once the DNA results come back.

Once the eggs are carefully relocated to a safer part of the beach, a cage and poles will be put up around this new egg chamber to protect the eggs during their incubation. Signs indicating this is a protected endangered Sea Turtle nest will be added to this nest also.  

One egg will be used for DNA studies; the outer shell will carry just the DNA of this particular mother at this point. 

The information gathered from this egg will be shared in a national database to help with many of the unknowns of the elusive sea turtle species.  Just some of the information from the eggshell will let us know how often she is nesting, where she has nested, also how many how many years in between she may have nested just to name a few.

Great job to All of the NMB STP Volunteers who are out walking every day and everyone helping to make sure this nest is protected.  They are all making the difference in helping to save the future of the endangered sea turtle species.

All Sea Turtles are endangered; they are federally and state protected.  Special guidelines, training and permits are required to work with Nesting Sea Turtles, Nest, Hatchlings and stranded Sea Turtles.

If you encounter a Nesting Sea Turtle, Hatchling or stranded Sea Turtle in the NMB or Briarcliffe areas please call

NMB STP HOTLINE

843-213-9074

ANYTIME DAY OR NIGHT

 NORTH MYRTLE BEACH SEA TURTLE TALKS

THIS IS A FREE PRESENTATION AT THE NMB HISTORICAL MEUSEUM ON WEDNESDAYS FROM 2-3 given by the NMB STP outreach program.

THIS IS FOR ALL AGES YOUNG AND OLD. COME AND LEARN ABOUTH THE ENDANGERED SEA TURTLE SPECIES NESTING RIGHT HERE IN THE CAROLINAS.

A nice way to spend the afternoon, all are welcome!!!