We’ve had a bunch of emergences, boils and excavations over the past few weeks! Here’s a recap for your reading pleasure:

NEST #1:  8/19/2014

Dennis and company arranged for a beautiful boil on the night Jane brought her entire extended family to the beach, and since then the good times have continued rolling. In the course of three nights Nest #1 saw 27 hatchlings emerge and was excavated on the 19th. During the excavation the gang found 31 egg shells, with 2 live hatchlings and 8 unhatched eggs. The hatchlings were released and a swell time was had by all!

Nest #2: 8/20/2014 

The next night a large crowd gathered to watch the unveilling of Louise’s Nest #2 in Southern Shores! The team found 90 egg shells in the nest, with 1 live hatchling and 5 unhatched eggs. Only one of the unhatched eggs had reached stage three and it was leucistic! The live hatchling ran down the red carpet (beach) and disappeared into the waves! 

Nest #3:  9/5/2014 6:30PM

Rick and Mary Ann worked very hard to get their hatchlings to safety after an emergence during a bright quarter moon. Their quick thinking and watchful eyes saw 84 little hatchlings to safety. During the excavation on the 5th, the team found 7 little hatchlings and 7 unhatched eggs, with one dead hatchling pipped inside the nest. After releasing the 7 hatchlings down the runway at sundown, they all entered the water in less than 15 minutes! 

Nest #4: 9/5/2014 7:30PM 

Everyone calls Stephanie and Michelle perfectionists, but they’ve started taking it a little too seriously! After witnessing a beautiful boil and three consecutive nights of hatchlings emerge, the team gathered for the excavation. Rae, Jack and Mason starting digging, and were anticipating finding hatchlings but soon realized they were deep enough to be at the eggs.  Erika and Ayden were sorting the eggs while Camden and Riley moved sand away from the egg chamber.  Jeanette and Erika shared in the digging.  After a few minutes a little movement was spotted way down in the nest. 

Four little loggers were down near the eggs! After all the broken egg shells were taken out of the nest everyone realized that ONLY broken egg shells were taken out of the nest! Yes, we had 100% success! First perfect nest in years! Michelle immediately took on the task of designing t-shirts in the moonlight before the turtles were released. Look for the ladies in their “Perfect Parents of Nest #4-100% Success” shirts at the Holiday Party. 

Nest #5: 9/3/2014

Barb and Jonny were definitely in a hurry to get their nest sitting duties over with, and they arranged for their nest to boil right on schedule on day 56!!  This resulted in their nest being one of the first excavated, much to the dismay of Nests #3 and #4. Every night after the boil brought a few more hatchlings! During the excavation the diggers found 106 egg shells with 8 hatchlings in their shells and only 3 unhatched eggs! You don’t get too much better than that! The 8 hatchlings made it down the runway without issue, and with a guiding hand they were off into the mooonlight!

Nest #6:  9/10/2014 6:00pm

Oh Nest #6, how you worry us so. Peggy and Mary Lou had their hands full when just last week the nest was predated by a fox! The sly bandit snuck in the middle of the night and took at least 20 eggs, leaving carnage and broken hearted nest parents. After some precautions were set in place their hopes were not completely dashed when they observed a partial boil of 4 hatchlings, but still not the success they were hoping for.  On Sept. 10th KC and the gang excavated the nest and aside from the 20 hatchlings that were lost there was NOT A SINGLE UNHATCHED EGG. Even two eggs that had puncture marks were able to hatch and make it to the ocean! Great news from this underdog (or should we say fox?)!

Nest #7: 9/10/2014 7:00pm

Elaine and Kenny had their work cut out for them on this relocated nest! Their sinkhole appeared on day 54, much to the alarm of everyone who rushed to make sure they weren’t missing any hatchlings, but luckily the hatchlings waited…and waited…and waited…until five days later when they finally decided to come out and face the world! With all the rain it was hard to tell if there was any hatchlings emerging during the nights, so the nest team had to simply wait for the excavation.  Nesters welcomed about 50 people to face the moment of truth on Wednesday night.  After the diggers began, the hole just kept getting deeper and deeper! Where were the hatchlings! After about 10 minutes of digging the first hatchling was found and in total 4 hatchlings were pulled from the heavy, drenched sand. Nine unhatched eggs were found in the nest, with a few pipped from their shells. The heavy wet sand would have made it very difficult for the fantastic four to make it out of the nest themselves! The team said goodbye to the little hatchlings when dusk took over with Karen Fitzgerald recording their sendoff.  In case you missed the main emergence event which took place on Day 59 on Sunday, September 7, here is the link to the video footage taken by volunteer Terry Brown —enjoy!! http://t.co/e2zUQtcGcTvia @YouTube.