There is a turtle inventory scheduled for 7:30 this evening, so long as the weather holds. This nest was watched by a fox and moved twice (history below.) To get to the inventory, go to the end of Osprey Walk and walk to your left about 10 minutes.  It is better to leave your dog at home, but you are welcome to bring a cocktail to toast the sunset.

An inventory is a way for us to learn about the hatch success rate of a particular nest, and a way to assist weak hatchlings who might not otherwise make it out.  We never know what we are going to find: there may be dead hatchlings, rotten eggs, empty eggshells, or live turtles.  While we appreciate that the fact that a live turtle can etch an indelible memory in the mind of a child or adult and help build our community culture of conservation, we need to keep in mind that this is a scientific process and part of a large scale conservation and citizen-science effort.  Inventories are conducted carefully in order to collect as much specific data as possible. Each member of the community has a valuable job to do, even if it is just to sit quietly and watch the hatchlings slip into the sea.

The members of the turtle team will set boundary lines along the beach.  Watchers can line up along this boundary to give any hatchlings a clear path to the sea.  This is NOT a dog-friendly event.  Dogs must be on leashes and must stay a clear distance beyond this boundary.

• The excavator focuses on the nest, donning rubber gloves to dig gently into the nest cavity.  If at any point live hatchlings are encountered in a group at the top of the nest, the team will close up the nest to let it hatch on its own and cancel the inventory until the nest hatches naturally.  The excavator places piles of eggshells in groups of 10 on the sand, separating shells and unhatched eggs.  Viable hatchlings are placed in a bucket until the nest is totally excavated.  Then, making sure that all observers are safely behind the lines, the hatchlings in the bucket will be released to make their way into the ocean.
• The data collector focuses on the data.  He or she calls for the data requested by DNR and supervises the excavation and inventory protocol.  The data collector is prepared with clipboard, camera, forms, and writing utensils.  As the nest is inventoried, they will count eggshells, pipped eggs, unhatched eggs, dead hatchlings and live hatchlings.  They will make note of any special circumstances like leucosystic (white-pigmented) hatchlings or deformities.

The remainder of the crowd will serve as observers.  They will stay behind the boundaries and watch quietly.  Once the inventory is complete, the excavator and data collector will help keep people well out of the water, standing with still feet so any hatchlings washed back in by waves will be safe.

We will be inventorying nest 2, which was laid on June 4 on the North End of the island and found by Esther and Jimmy. We were delighted to find tracks from 40-50 hatchlings this week.

Because the nest was in a washover area, we relocated it to a higher dune. About two weeks ago, the North beach got hammered with onshore east winds over a period of days, resulting in higher waves which coincided with the astronomical high tide, called a spring tide. On July 15th, team Leader Gary went out to check nest two and reported the following,

The easterlies never did diminish with steady 20 knot winds; as a sailor I would say the seas were angry; we waded along the beach; arriving at nest two as the seas were sweeping away the remaining dune. Our small retainer wall had completely washed away. We waited only a few minutes before the complete egg cavity was exposed; the three of us crouching by the scarp; Moe holding the red bucket; S & S scooping eggs from the dune into the bucket as fast as possible. We lost one egg which broke open; spilled blood; and revealed a 60% developed hatchling with 40% egg yolk still attached. I could see the head. The remaining 110 eggs were relocated higher in the dune so may or may not survive.

We were sad but without us all of the eggs would have been washed away. So if we saved only one, then that would be one saved.