Inventory Results for Nest 1

Nest 1 was inventoried on Friday, July 16 and it was a great nest to start out hatchling season!

Nest 1 was found by Sandy MacCoss who was assisted by Lucy Hoover. It hatched in 69 days.

Egg Shells: 100

Unhatched Eggs: 10

Live Hatchlings: 2

Dead Hatchlings: 0

Hatch Success: 85.4%

Emergence Success: 83.7%

In case you are wondering what to compare these numbers to as the season progresses, these are our final numbers for last season:

Mean Hatch Success: 63.5%

Mean Emergence Success: 58.9%

Below are the last year's numbers for the entire state of South Carolina. As you can see, we were well above average last season (and for several seasons before this). Each beach has its own challenges so it's not always meaningful to make comparisons, but in general, 50% or above is a positive outcome.

Mean Hatch Success: 45.3%

Mean Emergence Success: 42.8%

Nest 69

Walkers JoAnne Lewis, Wendy Holschuh, and Gail Koornick called in the only crawl of the day toward the end of the spit on Zone 4. This crawl proved to be trickier than it looked as the entirety of the body pit was in well over a foot of soft sand, making the nest chamber hard to locate. Even Leo from the Seabrook Island Equestrian Center helped look for it! Joshua Shilko examined the crawl in the afternoon and was able to locate 126 eggs. Bill Nelson assisted Joshua in relocating the nest near peg #4.

Photo Credit: Glen Cox

Nest 68 and Nest 1 Boil

Today brought us nest 68 and more hatchlings from Nest 1!

Zone 2 walkers this morning Marnie Ellis, and Vicky and Bob Becker called in a crawl just south of Boardwalk 6. The mama knocked over the post for Nest 62 while depositing her eggs. Judy Morr and Lesley Gore probed and Nest 68 was left in situ.

Additionally, we have our first full nest boil! Dozens of babies emerged from Nest 1 last night. Check out the video below!

Hatchlings Begin to Emerge From Nest 1 on Seabrook Island

The first loggerhead sea turtle nest laid in South Carolina in 2021 has begun to hatch! A bit shy and a little groggy, the first loggerhead sea turtle hatchlings on Seabrook Island this year emerged after 68 days of incubation and made their way towards the water. Just 4 scouts were observed braving the beach so far, but the remaining hatchlings in this nest should emerge over the next few nights.

Once the babies have had time to clear out of the nest naturally, the Turtle Patrol will do a nest inventory to determine the nest’s hatch success rate to report to the DNR, and they will help any hatchlings left in the nest to the water. Turtle Patrol inventories will not be announced publicly this year so as not to attract large crowds given ongoing CDC recommendations related to COVID-19. If you see the Turtle Patrol on the beach doing an inventory, you are welcome to watch at the walkway that will be set up near the water. We ask that you do your best to maintain social distance from other beachgoers. Please do not approach the volunteers that are working on the nest itself. If there are babies, they will be transported to the walkway to make their trek to the water.

As of this writing, there are 67 loggerhead sea turtle nests on Seabrook Island and counting. This number has already surpassed last season’s total and represents an above-average nesting season for the island. The current nests contain approximately 8,000 eggs! While this may sound like a huge number, very few sea turtle hatchlings actually survive to adulthood. Estimates vary, but it is generally agreed that a nesting female must lay at least 1,000 eggs to result in a single mature adult turtle. This is one of the reasons it’s important to protect both existing nesting sea turtles and their hatchlings from the relatively new pressures they experience from activity on and around our coastlines.

Over the next several weeks, nesting and hatching activities will overlap for our loggerheads until nesting tails off in August. Patrol members are so excited to see the first successful hatchlings of the 2021 season and you can continue to follow along with the patrol’s work through our website, siturtlepatrol.com, and our social media channels, including Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

NOTE: Be sure to select 1080 for sharp resolution of infrared video.

Nests 66 & 67

Marnie Ellis and J-Anna Smith found a nice crawl on Zone 1 in front of the "Danger" sign. Joshua Shilko probed and found Nest 66. The 89 eggs were relocated north of the vehicle entrance. Unfortunately, there is evidence of raccoon predation on this zone; they had dug in and around Nest 66 before it was found, but did not appear to take any eggs.

Lesley and Tony Gore, with their grandson Max, found a beautiful "classic" crawl just north of Peg 2 on Zone 4. Sandy MacCoss, Jane Magioncalda and Lesley all probed and found the eggs for Nest 67. The nest was relocated to the dunes nearby. See the beautiful photo of this crawl below, courtesy of Glen Cox below.