Turtle Nest

It's been 90 days since the turtle nest was found and we never saw any turtles, so today we dug it up because it's past the time that they should have hatched. We didn't know if there'd be anything in there since there's never been a turtle nest recorded on Sand Island. We found 83 hatched eggs and 6 unhatched eggs. Most of the unhatched eggs were unfertilized but 1 had a baby turtle that didn't make it. It looks like they hatched a couple of weeks ago but we didn't see the tracks so it was probably one night when it rained. Very few turtles survive to adulthood, so out of the 83 we'll be lucky to even get one that makes it to breeding age. Lots of turtles hang out here but they usually nest at French Frigate Shoals.

Here's Greg digging for the eggs. They were about 3 ft. deep so the little turtles have a tough time digging their way out.

Here's Barry Christenson counting the hatched eggs.

I just put this picture up since there was turtle news today.