Sonny Huntley, Co-President welcomed all to the meeting on April 30, 2024
Kevin Courtney offered the prayer and led the pledge to the flag. He also gave details about "Night at the Races" social.
It was held Wednesday May 1 at Taste of Europe. Great food, fun time, A good time was had by all.
Betting on the next race's winner
Pondering the next winner
Waiting for the next race
Bev James announced the scholarship recipient - Anthony Bynum who is going to Harvard. He will be at our meeting on 5/7.
Speaker :
Amber Kuehn, gave a wonderful presentation about the Hilton Head Sea Turtle Patrol. She sure knows her sea turtles!
Four of the seven species of sea turtles nest on Hilton Head Island: Green, Ridley, Loggerhead, Leatherback. 98% of them are Loggerhead on the Island.
Since 2010 they have been taking DNA from the nest and can identify the females. Also by checking the DNA they have found that they are living longer - reptiles grow their entire life
The reason they come out at night is because they are reptiles and would over heat in the sun. Amber talked about the ordinances that have been inacted to protect the turtles: must fill holes in, can't leave stuff on the beach, lights in beach houses must be downward facing and shielded from the beach. When the hatchlings emerge, their vision takes them to the water. They can be confused by home lights, flash lights, etc. Turtles return every two years to nest. "Stumpy" is Amber's favorite. Stumpy only has one flipper so sometimes receives some assistance with the digging process. The record number nests has been 463. May 1 is the beginning of nesting season and there is already one nest in South Carolina (not here). The Sea Turtle patrol will be busy with relocating nests that are in inappropriate spots, monitoring the nests, and going out to see any violations of the ordinances. Visit Seaturtlepatrolhhi.org to learn more, monitor the nestings, adopt a nest.
Mike Waters attended Spring training in Summerville on May 3. He accepted the above award for VLR - more details revealed at the meeting on May 7.