SI Nests 17 and 15 Inventoried

Nest 17 was the last one laid on Sullivan’s and was found on July 16 by Linda Rumph & Phyllis Nathanson. It was laid up against the steep dune escarpment at Station 16 where it would have flooded in the next King Tide and relocated to a proper dune north of Station 19 where the 81 eggs incubated for 50 days when the hatchlings came out on September 4. Today we discovered 73 empty eggshells, 6 undeveloped eggs, one dead hatchling and two live hatchlings still in the nest. Linda released those two to crawl to the water in front of an appreciative Labor Day crowd of onlookers. Hatch Success was 90.1%.

Nest 15 was laid on a good dune near the walkover steps at the Station 18 path. It did not have to be moved, so we do not know how many eggs were laid. It was discovered by Joanne Staton & Diane Brumley on July 13 and incubated for 52 days before hatchlings emerged on September 3. We had to count each empty eggshell to be able to report the number of eggs laid. We found that 112 eggs had hatched, 7 were undeveloped and no hatchlings dead or alive were still in the nest. That means including our maternal DNA sample egg, the total number laid was 120. Hatch Success was 93.3%. Little Gus Pearlman was proud to show us the large horseshoe crab he found and had up in the dunes near his grandparents' house on the front beach at Station 18. He says when he grows up he wants to live there and be a "turtle man" and work with the sea turtle nesting program on Sullivan's Island.

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