Sea Turtle Project
The Carolina Beach Nest #8 has hatched! It didn't quite happen in the typical way, but we found out about it thanks to the fox(es) that have been hanging out there. A dedicated volunteer who has been checking the nest in the morning noticed this morning that the fox had chewed all the way through the cage and dug an extremely deep hole in the nest. A lone baby was hanging out in there, alive and well, but no sign of anything else. Worried, we dug a bit deeper to try to find the nest, and were surprised to find the eggs all there...hatched!! Our theory is that the nest hatched sometime during the storm, and due to the intensity of the wind and rain, no sign was left for us to be able to tell that they had hatched. I never received any calls about wayward turtles, so I feel confident that the babies made it safely to the water. We released the healthy live baby, and removed 116 hatched and 10 unhatched eggs. And yes...although we all, even the state, thought that the nest was a Green Sea Turtle nest...the baby was a Loggerhead!! :)
Sea Turtle Hatched Video
Sea Turtle Releae Video
Did you know that STM has adopted a sea turtle nest? After a vacation last year to Wilmington, NC to visit former STM teacher Mrs. Morrison, Mrs. O’Rourke adopted a sea turtle nest. Students from Pre-K through Grade 5 have been studying these amazing creatures during their library classes. We are all anxiously awaiting the hatching of our nest sometime during the week of October 3 – 7th. If you wish to see some amazing footage of sea turtles done by the Pleasure Island Sea Turtle Project, click on the link provided. Ask your child about the books and videos we have watched. They have a great deal of information to share about migration!
