So how did the mother turtles do nest wise this June compared to past Junes, especially since 2024 is still pacing the 2022 and 2023 seasons? The graph shows nests in June over the past 11 years for Hunting Island and for all of South Carolina. Hunting Island in June has followed the overall up and down nesting trends in South Carolina, EXCEPT when Hunting Island June nests did not drop from 2022 to 2023, but all of South Carolina did. Of course, our 2023 was a new HI record.
We are down year over year going into 2024, but so is South Carolina. So why is our 2024 doing so well overall so far? Our May 2024 was outstanding!! We got off to a really good start.
Can we predict total season nesting numbers from June nests? In my humble opinion, that is tough. Too many factors. A simple look at the data says we could be anywhere from 122 nests as a low, to a high of 238 by season end - quite a range. The average would be around 150 nests based on the past 11+ years. Let’s see where we end up. Any bets?
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