Gary McGraw, Turtle Team leader, says…

Summary   15 Nests   19 False Crawls

First nest “Dottie” emerges ! This is an update to July 24th^th. This is the exciting time of the season when we see those determined little hatchlings racing to the sea [well OK, sometimes we only see their beautiful little tracks]. On July 23^rd Jim Anderson patrolling north found a myriad little tracks leading to the sea from Dottie’s nest. Can you believe it was day 67 when the state’s normal incubation time is 57 days ? And more action was in the works. Esther found nest #14 just north of the shoal. Olivia was conducting the turtle patrol with a visitor when they found nest #15 just a little south of the shoal. Olivia graciously agreed to name it “Meredith” in honor of the visitor. It was an impossible nest to locate but Brucie was successful so the turtle team agreed by acclimation to name this one “Meredith/Dixie” [No, don’t ask me why Brucie is ‘Dixie’].

The Turtle Team would like to ask for your help in two ways. First, please call for ALL activities you see while walking and second, please ask people not to disturb the area around the nests.

PLEASE CALL When walking and you see signs of ghost crab holes; fox tracks; or turtle tracks, please call a member of the Turtle Team. It is better to receive two calls than to receive no calls. You are the team’s “eyes and ears” on the ground.

DO NOT DISTURB If you see anybody changing something at the nest site, please ask them to wait for a member of the Turtle Team. Between 6:30 AM when Jim Anderson observed Dottie’s emergence and 10 AM when we checked out the site, someone had raked clean the lower portion of the runway. The Turtle Team could not look “at the field signs” to see the turtle tracks exiting the runway. This kind of information helps the team figure out what is happening.

As of today, the number of loggerhead nests are 212, 1933 and 854 for NC, SC and GA, respectively. Our turtle friends on IOP/Sullivan’s have reported 16 nests and 11 false crawls [although informal info says they have 19 nests].

Inventories: Most of you think we should inform Dewees Islanders of the date and time we will conduct inventories; and to alert families there may be dead hatchlings uncovered. We are working toward making this happen.

Cheers, Gary on behalf of the Dewees Turtle Team

Scorecard: Nest # Given Name

1 Dottie…  emerges on July 23^rd ! Da ta Da ta !! Drum roll please !!

2 Ted … up next … any day now.

3 Anne … up next … any day now.

4 Reggie/Toone

5 Gretchen

6 Gretchen Too

7 Esther

8 Toone/Will [Washed Away]

9 Nick/Katy

10 Nick

11 Jill/Sallie

12 Peter/Erica

13 Janet

14 Esther

15 Meredith/Dixie