Loggerhead hatchlings at 30th Avenue leaving the last Isle of Palms nest to hatch the morning after Hurricane Ian on Oct. 1. (Photo by Mary Pringle).
The 2022 loggerhead nesting season was unusual in several ways. The Island Turtle Team was expecting a dip in nesting numbers, but that did not happen. Instead, we had an average number of 43 nests on the Isle of Palms and a higher than usual number on Sullivan’s Island at 14 nests with 8,004 in the state. The record number of nests for Sullivan’s is 15 which was the number in 2016 and again in 2019. We are expecting a spike in nest numbers in 2023. It will be interesting to see if that happens since the dip did not happen this season. A total of 4,602 new turtles were added to the population on our two islands. Sullivan’s had an excellent hatch rate at 91.3%. The Isle of Palms did not do so well mainly because of predation by coyotes on the first night when they probably saw the turtle crawling up on the beach to lay her eggs. Our team does not patrol until first light, and by that time the damage was already done in six nests, all in Wild Dunes.
There were 371 eggs destroyed by them, but out of these same nests we were able to salvage 290 eggs which were relocated and hatched. This meant that 7.6% of the 4,862 eggs laid on IOP were destroyed by coyotes, the largest loss from predators ever recorded here and the major cause of the hatch success of only 74.1%. The coyotes south of Wild Dunes have not yet learned to ambush sea turtles as they come out of the water, and the Turtle Team was able to save those nests by using heavy plastic screens to protect them. It is not likely that these adult nesting turtles were attacked by coyotes who only wanted to eat the eggs. Another problem in 2022 was the continuation of beachgoers digging and leaving large holes on the beach which can interfere with nesting adults and especially with tiny hatchlings trying to get to the ocean. Although the IOP City Council did not pass a requested ordinance concerning holes, the IOP Police Beach Services officers did begin a campaign to educate beachgoers about this danger to sea turtles as well as humans. The city is also planning to have turtle shaped signs on most of the beach access paths with holes being the first item on the list of ways to help loggerheads succeed in nesting. Once again, the weather cooperated although there was a drought early in the season and then excessive rain later on. Hurricane Ian at the end of September did not affect any of the few remaining nests when it passed by. We were more fortunate than some nesting beaches farther north who lost multiple nests.
It was strange that quite a few of the early nests produced hatchlings during the daylight hours, either late in the afternoon or early in the morning. Normally they emerge from the sand several hours after dark when there is a drop in the temperature after the summer sun goes down.
Despite the problems above, 2022 proved to be a good season, and for that we are grateful. And we are always appreciative of the many participants who patrol the beach every day of the week, the vacation rental companies who hand out brochures to front beach rental visitors to let them know about the Lights Out ordinance, the fire and police departments who are always willing to help when needed, and the city administrations on both islands.
