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Sea Turtles

Our turtle nests have started hatching!

Loggerhead sea turtle nests take about 60 days to incubate. When the eggs hatch the baby turtles or hatchlings "boil" out of the nest, that is they all crawl out at the same time. Three days after the nest "boils" the BHIC sea turtle team excavates the nests to determine how many eggs were laid and how many of the eggs successfully hatched. Sometimes we find live hatchlings in the nest when this happens we carefully remove them and release them into the ocean.

You can join us for one of the excavations by checking the website for dates and times or find flyers at Turtle Central.  The table bellow contains information for nests that have already been excavated.  The turtles that have "names" in the last column are satellite tagged turtles.  Click on the turtle's name to see where she's traveling!

 

These photos were taken at two of this season's nest excavations.  The individuals wearing the bright green shirts are nest monitors.  Nest monitors are Conservancy trained volunteers and island residents that watch over the sea turtle nests for the approximate two month incubation period.  They also assist Conservancy staff and interns with turtle nestings, hatchings, and excavations.  Every turtle nest is excavated - or dug up - 72 hours after it "boils" or hatches.  We conduct excavations to count the number of eggshells, unhatched eggs, dead hatchlings, and live hatchlings in each nest and from that data we determine the success of the nest.

   

A junior nest monitor holds a hatchling from the excavation of nest #2.  This hatchling was allowed to crawl its way to the ocean after being photographed and observed by those attending the public excavation.

                                         

If you look closely you can see that these folks are watching a little loggerhead hatchling crawl its way into the ocean.

                      

These hatchlings were found when we excavated nest #24 up east beach.  We found a total of eight fiesty hatchlings that were

Beach Furniture and Loggerheads

It take so much energy for a female loggerhead to hoist herself out of the water and up the beach in search of a suitable nesting site.  Sea turtles can mistake beach furniture or toys for a desirable nesting area with heavy vegetation. Unfortunately, she doesn't know to avoid these potential dangers.  If a sea turtle encounters beach chairs, toys, tents, kayaks or boats she may be spooked and choose not to nest or, worse, she could become entangled in the clutter! A trapped sea turtle may become stressed and dehydrated and in the worst case, could die from her unfortunate encounter.

Please help sea turtles by removing your furniture, toys, and recreational equipment from the beaches at night.  Your actions will help protect our endangered sea turtles. 

The picture below shows a BHI turtle that walked over toys, around chairs, and pushed a kayak six feet out of her way (expending too much unecessary energy).  This turtle, an experienced female, persevered and successfully laid her nest.  And, thanks to the quick thinking of BHI-Conservancy interns who removed tent ropes which blocked her path back to the ocean, she made it back to the water.

Sea Turtle Protection Program efforts include:

• Nests with rectangular cages made out of chicken wire - buried about 12 - 15 inches under the sand
• Sea Turtle interns patrolling the beach all night mid-May - mid-August 9pm - 6am
• Tagging - metal flipper tags with a series of letters and numbers, PIT tags, and 4 satellite tags every year & measure turtles
• Volunteer nest monitors (island residents that are trained by BHIC) which are assigned nests to monitor throughout incubation and sit by as hatching approaches.  if they are there for the hatching they will help the hatchlings to the water.
• Nest excavations - 72 hours after a nest hatches we will dig up the nest to determine the success and release any live hatchlings that had not yet made it out
• Turtle Walks - educational program - includes a powerpoint presentation about the various species of sea turtles, threats to turtles, and conservation efforts and you have the chance to see a nesting sea turtle provided that one comes up to nest during the program

Research Papers

Hawkes L.A., A.C. Broderick, M.S. Coyne, M.H. Godfrey, and B.J. Godley.  2007.  Only some like it hot - quantifying the enfironmental niche of the loggerhead sea turtle.  Diversity and Distribution, 12.

Hawkes, L.A., A.C. Broderick, M.H. Godfrey, and B.J. Godley.  2007.  Global Change Biology.  13: 1-10.

Satellite Tracking Program

Where sea turtle go and what they do when they leave their nesting beaches remains a mystery. What is known is that sea turtles currently face conditions that threaten their existence like never before. The threats include overexploitation, incidental capture by commercial fisheries, coastal construction and pollution. As a result, all seven species of sea turtles are impacted worldwide. Tracking their movements helps researchers to better understand the migratory paths and foraging behavior. This knowledge helps to improve existing laws and regulations to protect the sea turtles while minimizing the potential burden of those restrictions.

Each sea turtle is fitted with a high-tech data transmitter that will relay information about its location via satellite. Seaturtle.org will compile the data and post tracks online. Billie was named by Ann Cathcart, resident of Bald Head Island, who writes: "Our family has been involved with the Bald Head Island Conservancy and the turtle program for several years. We named her Billie in memory of our husband/Dad who was a Conservancy Board member, and nest monitor extrordinaire! He always used the gatherings at the nest around hatching time to educate and entice folks to get involved with the work of the Conservancy. We thought this was a perfect way to honor his love for the turtles and the Bald Head Island Conservancy.