July 8th. Nest #5. The Leatherback. This nest was found by Police Officer Lefler at about 2:30 AM. He was puzzled by the way the huge tracks circled all around the beach, and by the handful of eggs left on the sand near the nest (both leatherback traits) It was advised not to relocate ate the eggs, as they could be as deep as shoulder length, so the entire nest area was ropped off for observation. This nest will not be assigned a leader..this will be a group project for the entire PISTP and any other beaches & state agencies that will be involved. This will be a once in a lifetime hatch for many of us.
August 31st. The night before last, 3 holes were dug in the nest by an animal whose tracks closely resembled a fox. The largest hole was dug just over where we believe the eggs to be. Luckily the eggs/babies were not disturbed.
The excavation of the Leatherback went great, and with a record crowd in attendance, finding a live baby in the nest was such a treat!!! The final count was 71 hatched eggs, 16 unhatched, 1 semi-pipped undeveloped hatchling, and a stack of "spacer" eggs about the size of marbles (opening one of these revealed a clear gel inside-very interesting.)
Check out: Carolina Beach, NC Leatherback Sea Turtle Nest #5, 9.14.2009. Link below
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 Close up of eggs left on the sand.
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 Eggs left on the sand.
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 Latherback tracks
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 Tracks being measured.
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July 8th. Nest #6. Officer Laffer continued his patrol and came across a Loggerhead nesting on the beach. Pleasure Island Sea Turtle Cooridenator and the nest mom got to see this mama turtle finish up her nest. The clutch of 93 eggs was moved to higher ground. This turtle was wearing 2 tags, it will be interesting to find out a bit about her history.
Sept, 4th. Nest # 6 hatched just after dark with a nice boil of about 70 turtles...a great boil from this nest of 93. Due to the hard packed sand in this nest, there never was a depression. These babies turtles literally had to push their way out of the sand. After breaking through they were very energetic on their trip to the water!
This nest will excavate Sept. 7th, Monday at 7:00 PM.
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Below is a message we received about this tagged turtle.
We first saw/tagged her in 2002, when she laid 3 nests here on Bald Head Island. We hadn't seen her again until this year when she nested on June 25th at 2AM. What makes this even more special is this turtle nested the morning after one of our beloved island residents and turtle nest monitors/volunteers for 25 years passed away. It seemed a sign that morning when I was out there watching that turtle nest, especially since we'd gone 5 nights without a nest! We have named that turtle Ann, in honor of this amazing woman who cared so deeply about all
animals, but especially the sea turtles! I am providing her son with updates on this turtle and all the nests that we hope she'll continue to lay on BHI in the years to come.
Thanks so much!
Maureen Dewire
Director of Education/Senior Naturalist
BHI Conservancy
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July 8th. Nest #7. This nest was found by morning patrollers Richard and Barbara. this nest was moved by the PISTP Coordinator, the patrollers along with the nest mons moved 132 eggs to higher ground.
Sept 2nd. Nest #7 hatched just after 10 PM, a nice slow steady boil of approximately 114 turtles came out. With less than 20 eggs remaining in the nest, nest mom Sharon will be keeping an eye out for stragglers, but this was an excellent hatch.
Excavation took place on Sept. 5th., the 7 live babies were a crowd pleaser
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Barbara E. Allinson unless otherwise noted.
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