We have Nest 37! Zone 3 walkers Jane Magioncalda and Sandy MacCoss called in a crawl 100 yards north of Boardwalk 3. Bill Greubel responded and found Nest 37. This mama left the nest high enough that it was able to be left in situ.
Photo Credit: Glex Cox
Nests 34, 35, & 36
Susan and Bill Miller walking on Zone 1 called in first reporting a nice crawl with 2 possible body pits south of Camp St. Christopher. Mike Vinson probed and found Nest 34 with 104 eggs which were relocated near the camp's boat storage area.
Initially, Zone 3 walkers Judy Morr, Lindsay Capps and Kathy Thompson found two in and out crawls, and Judy Morr took GPS readings on both. Then they came to a promising crawl just south of Boardwalk 4 complete with a cute baby opossum keeping watch. Sandy MacCoss and Jane Magioncalda probed the area to find a shallow Nest 35. 143 eggs were relocated to a safer area.
Zone 2 walkers Paula Baram, Heather Fife, Charlane Faught and Joanne Gallivan found 2 crawls, both behind the houses just North of Pelican's Nest. Since all of the assigned Wednesday probers were busy, Bill and Linda Nelson agreed to come take a look. The first one which went into the rocks was a false crawl, then Bill began probing the other crawl coming in behind the 4th house North of the Club. He worked for about an hour and could not find any eggs. Then Linda relieved him and found the eggs for Nest 36! 149 eggs were relocated about 500 feet South of Boardwalk 6.
Check out the tracks from this mama - it looks like we may have had another visit from Barnacle Bella! DNA will tell us for certain when we compare with nests 9 and 21 once results come back.
Nest 33
Bill and Linda Nelson, Patt Tamasy, and Lindsay Capps called in early with a crawl between Boardwalks 3 & 4. Judy Morr probed and found 119 eggs which were moved to a safer area behind the original nest.
Sharks & Seabrook Island
Shark interactions, while rare, are of course dangerous and Tidelines has an article that includes some sound advice for avoiding such interactions:
https://tidelinesblog.com/2021/06/11/shark-bite-at-seabrook-island/
Sharks are considered apex predators, meaning they have few natural predators of their own. However, this status is frequently mischaracterized and sensationalized, especially in regards to human interactions. There are an average of 4 unprovoked shark-related fatalities globally per year. For perspective, it is estimated that humans kill approximately 100,000,000 sharks each year, largely to harvest nothing more than their fin. That's nearly 4 sharks per second. Since sharks are being killed more quickly than they can reproduce, the population of sharks and rays has declined by over 70% in the past 50 years and half of the world’s oceanic shark species are now listed as either endangered or critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Sharks are remarkably important to both ocean food webs and terrestrial ecosystems, as they help maintain a balance between the populations of their prey species and animals further down the food chain. Removing sharks from the equation creates a runaway predatory effect further down the chain, which would likely lead to the decimation of a variety of species, even potentially including the oceanic microorganisms that we depend on to create the majority of the oxygen we breathe.
Some tips from the aforementioned Tidelines article for avoiding shark interactions:
Swim close to the shore
Be sure to swim, dive or surf with others
Avoid swimming at dusk and dawn
Avoid wearing shiny jewelry in the water
Avoid areas where there are large schools of fish or dolphins
Avoid areas where animal, human or fish waste enters the water
Avoid deep channels or areas with deep drop-offs nearby
Avoid going into the water if you are bleeding or have open wounds
Look carefully before jumping into the water from a boat or jetty
Leave the water if schooling fish or other wildlife start to behave erratically or congregate in large numbers
If you see a shark, leave the water as quickly and calmly as possible and avoid excessive splashing or noise
Nests 30, 31, & 32
Lesley and Tony Gore, their granddaughter, Lexi, and her friends, Olivia and Meagan, and Bill and Susan Miller all got up before sunrise to walk Zone 4. The first crawl they came upon was right in front of the Bird Sanctuary. Sandy MacCoss, with help from Lesley, carefully located Nest 31. The 100 eggs were relocated away from the bird area.
Shortly after calling in this first crawl, another was found between the Bird Sanctuary and the spit. Valerie and Mark Doane probed for eggs and found 133 eggs much deeper than usual. Nest 30 was relocated to a safer location.
Bill Greubel and Anna Wechter walked Zone 3 and immediately found a promising crawl near Boardwalk 6. As they continued their walk, Joshua and Amanda Shilko made it to the beach to help probe and discovered Nest 32. The 124 eggs were relocated to a safer spot. Bill also spotted an obvious in and out crawl near Boardwalk 1 which was marked as a false crawl.
