Tropical Storm Edouard

First, the good news... See nest number 44 (or is it 45 -- I meant to count this afternoon). I am so overdue on a nesting update for all the staff and volunteers! We have so many hatching at the moment that none of us have a spare minute, but we'll get it accomplished by Wednesday at the latest.



With TS Edouard spinning just offshore, making way for the Texas/Louisiana border, I had to relocate this lovely 103 egg nest to a dune just north east of the original site.



The storm will have little impact here, other than erosion and wave action. The seas are already pretty impressive.



The dunes are rapidly disappearing near Pensacola Pass.



The bad thing about this dune moving is that there's a nest on top that's expected to hatch by the end of the week.



That's a ten foot drop for the little babies!



I think it's quite likely I'll move this nest tomorrow morning and allow it to finish incubating in a cooler. With June 2nd nests already hatching, I imagine there are plenty of hatchlings in this nest, they're just not quite ready to emerge.



A cooler isn't the ideal environment, but it will protect them from the force of the storms increased wave action. They'll be safe from ghost crabs there as well. I just hope the dune holds until tomorrow morning -- I won't get out there until at least 3am.