As of May 10th there hasn’t been a sea turtle crawl or nest on our favorite island. There is, however, no reason to despair.
In 25 years of recorded history, the latest first nest of the season on Hunting Island was in 2001 - May 26th to be precise. The earliest first nest was in 2012 - May 3rd. Even that year, our first sea turtle was not the first in the state to nest. Quite a spread between earliest and latest first nest - over 3 weeks. Bottom line, we still have lots of time not to worry about getting our first nest. I doubt we will set a new record for latest first nest on Hunting Island this year.
If we look at South Carolina, Hunting Island has had the first nest of the season in the state, over that same 25 year period, twice - 2004 and 2008. May 13th and 8th respectively. Where are the big first nesters? Cape and Pritchards Islands. Cape has done it 7 times, while Pritchards has done it 4. The also rans at 3 first time nests in the state are Hilton Head, Kiawah, lighthouse Islands and Folly Beach. Some of these islands are not a surprise as they get many many nests every year - the odds are with them. Pritchards is a surprise however.
We have nests on the islands to the north and south of us (Fripp and Harbor), but no worries, our time will come!
Comments