Dewees Turtle Team leader, Gary McGraw, says,
This is an update to June 30th. Nick found nest #10 near Caper’s Inlet. Mama laid just over a low dune but in a depression. Tides in mid-July are forecast for several days near 6.5 feet so we relocated the nest to a high dune nearby. Jill & Sallie found a false crawl on the south end, then it appears the same mama came back. Jill & Sallie found nest #11 in front of Mitchell’s house. It was up on a dune so left in situ. We had three more false crawls in addition to the one mentioned.
An official from DNR came to visit this past week. Lori & I spent three hours with her walking the full beach and inspecting each nest. We picked up lots of good information. One point we want to stress to walkers … when you are checking the current nests on your walk, please do not walk close to the nest. Your footprints seem to excite ghost crabs who come to look. Stay 5-10 yards away from the nest, but close enough to observe any new ghost crab holes around and inside the cage.
Thanks for all your hard work … we are having an active year. Our eleven nests so far compares to seven nests by this date last year. Our final total last year was 18 nests. As of today, the number of loggerhead nests are 111, 1185 and 549 for NC, SC and GA, respectively. Our turtle friends on IOP/Sullivan’s have 12 nests and 10 false crawls.
Cheers, Gary on behalf of the Dewees Turtle Team
Scorecard: Nest # Given Name
1 Dottie
2 Ted
3 Anne
4 Reggie/Toone
5 Gretchen
6 Gretchen Too
7 Esther
8 Toone/Will [Washed Away]
9 Nick/Katy
10 Nick
11 Jill/Sallie