View at Your Own Risk
DeBordieu property owner, John Snodgrass, is a man of many talents, not the least of which is photography! Click Here for the stunning slide show Mr. Snodgrass put together featuring some of the wildlife at DeBordieu. Thank you Mr. Snodgrass!
WARNING: side effects of viewing these pictures include the overwhelming desire to purchase property at DeBordieu Colony, just south of Pawleys Island South Carolina.
Nature
Beach Sweep is this Saturday!
DeBordieu/Pawleys Island Beach Sweep is this Saturday, September 18.
Beach Sweep/River Sweep is South Carolina’s largest one-day volunteer cleanup event of its kind. Every 3rd Saturday in September thousands of South Carolinians clear beaches, rivers, lakes, marshes, and swamps of aquatic debris.
DeBordieu Colony owner/volunteers are encouraged to “Bring Your Gloves, Wear your Walking shoes, and Meet at the Pavilion Rec Center at 11:30 am.”
The cleanup, organized by the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium and S.C. Department of Natural Resources, has taken place annually since 1988 – when Sea Grant first started it. The Sweep takes place in conjunction with the International Coastal Cleanup, coordinated by the Ocean Conservancy. Once the Sweep is over, the Ocean Conservancy tallies all of the debris data. This data helps us learn the sources of litter so we can stop pollution before it starts.
Aquatic debris is a danger to our wildlife, our safety, and our economy. DeBordieu, Pawleys Island, and the entire coast of South Carolina is so very fortunate to have such a vast amount of wonderful aquatic resources.
Beach Sweep is a great way to care for those natural resources. If you are a DeBordieu property owner and wish to sign-up, please contact:
Geoff Groat, geoffgroat@debordieu.com or the
DCCA Adminstration Office, dcaadmin@debordieucolony.org.
Oh, and by the way, while you’re out there on that beautiful beach, please let me know if you have questions about any of the great opportunities to own oceanfront property at DeBordieu! Or feel free to search the website, www.DeBordieu.com.
There has never been a better time to consider a purchase at DeBordieu!
“I Dig Sea Turtles”
Volunteers walk at sunrise during nesting season looking for the large turtle tracks leading from the ocean to the dunes and back. When tracks are found, volunteers use clues to determine the nest area. Pool cues are used to probe the sand and locate the egg chamber. An average nest of 120 ping pong size eggs may need to be moved if it is laid in an unsafe place such as below the spring tide line or in a high foot traffic area. Volunteers cover the nests with a plastic mesh to protect it from predators and erect a sign with the nesting date.
At about 50 days of incubation, volunteers begin to look for a depression in the nest indicating hatching activity beneath. When a nest hatches usually at about 55-60 days, hatchlings make a mad dash to the ocean following the fluorescence of the waves as long as they are not lead astray by onshore lighting. Three days later, volunteers conduct a nest inventory near sunset. A notice is posted at the kiosk at DeBordieu’s main pool at the Beach Club giving the time and location. At the inventory, a volunteer tells visitors about the procedure and printed information is handed out. The nest contents are dug out and data is recorded. Sometimes live hatchlings are found in the nest that weren’t able to emerge on their own. Volunteers put the hatchlings on the beach and let them crawl to the ocean and ‘imprint’. At maturity, 25-30 years, female loggerheads will return to the beach of their birth to nest.
You can help loggerheads!
• Lights Out! Turn off oceanfront lights by 10 p.m. during nesting season. Lights can disorient adult turtles and hatchlings.
• Keep Our Beach Clean! Take your beach items home with you, fill in holes and leave the beach clean and clear at night for sea turtles.
• Avoid Disturbing Sea Turtles! If you see a sea turtle on the beach, crouch down and be still until she has started dropping her eggs. At that point you can move in closer, staying behind her and enjoy watching an age old wonder of nature!
For more information on S.C.U.T.E., or to find out when the next DeBordieu turtle inventory is taking place, give me a call or email.
Update on the “Egret Tree” at DeBordieu
A couple of months ago I blogged about the egrets nesting behind the Miller House on Island Green at DeBordieu, just south of Pawleys Island. I was showing property down there today and snapped this shot. The baby egrets have hatched and are beginning to leave the nest! I have never, EVER seen so many egrets in one tree. In fact, we’re all calling it the “Egret Tree.”
On a personal note: I have a baby leaving the nest as well. Tomorrow I am flying with Joey to Ithaca College in New York for orientation. I know just how those momma egrets feel. I’ll be back in the office on Thursday, just in time for the big 4th of July weekend and celebration at DeBordieu! Exciting times!
“Going Broody at DeBordieu!
Take a look at some of these great pictures we got the other day of some egrets nesting at DeBordieu, just south of Pawleys Island.
Nesting is a natural instinct shared by birds and humans alike, when preparing a home for their families. In birds it is known as “going broody”, and is characterized by the insistence to stay on the nest as much as possible, and by laying new eggs.