Inventories of Nests 2 and 3 on IOP July 18

The first two inventories on the Isle of Palms were both successful this morning. We are still waiting for Nest 1 to produce hatchlings, but are not very hopeful at this point.

Nest #2 was found on May 16 by Bill Evans with June and George Bianchi on patrol that morning and contained 106 eggs.  It was down low on the beach in the flood zone between 36 and 37 near the coyote den and was moved to 30A for safety. It incubated for 60 days before the hatchlings came out. Today's inventory revealed 94 empty eggshells out of 106 eggs laid, 11 undeveloped eggs and 1 live hatchling that June released to crawl to the water. Hatch Success was 88.6% and Emergence Success was 87.7%, a great outcome.

Nest #3 was found on May 18 at the 40^th Avenue path by Ann Evans, Terri Stafford, Renee Rivlin and Penny Portman. It contained 109 eggs that incubated for 58 days after being moved to 30A. There were 105 empty eggshells, 11 undeveloped eggs and 2 live hatchlings left in the nest today. Terri and Ann released them to crawl into the water. Hatch Success was 96.3% and Emergence Success was 94.4%. We are off to a good start with these two nests.