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Home | Research | Birding on Bald Head | Internships | Barrier Island Study Center | Turtle Hatching
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!

| Nest# |
Species |
Hatch Date |
Total Number of Eggs |
Number of Eggs Hatched |
Turtle's Name |
| 1 |
loggerhead |
7/22/08 |
148 |
141 |
|
| 2 |
loggerhead |
7/24/08 |
140 |
124 |
|
| 3 |
loggerhead |
7/29/08 |
142 |
140 |
|
| 4 |
loggerhead |
? |
11 (predated) |
10 |
|
| 5 |
loggerhead |
8/1/08 |
96 |
55 |
|
| 6 |
loggerhead |
7/27/08 |
105 |
103 |
|
| 7 |
loggerhead |
7/26/08 |
101 |
94 |
|
| 8 |
loggerhead |
7/29/08 |
144 |
128 |
|
| 9 |
loggerhead |
7/27/08 |
139 |
128 |
|
| 10 |
loggerhead |
- |
LOST - fox predation |
LOST |
|
| 11 |
loggerhead |
8/2/08 |
85 |
81 |
|
| 12 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 13 |
loggerhead |
7/31/08 |
141 |
136 |
|
| 14 |
loggerhead |
8/3/08 |
114 |
105 |
|
| 15 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 16 |
loggerhead |
8/2/08 |
125 |
110 |
|
| 17 |
loggerhead |
8/3/08 |
93 |
74 |
|
| 18 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 19 |
loggerhead |
8/5/08 |
90 |
86 |
|
| 20 |
loggerhead |
8/8/08 |
114 |
72 |
|
| 21 |
loggerhead |
8/5/08 |
142 |
133 |
|
| 22 |
loggerhead |
8/6/08 |
124 |
117 |
|
| 23 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 24 |
loggerhead |
8/9/08 |
91 |
87 |
|
| 25 |
loggerhead |
8/14/08 |
109 |
105 |
|
| 26 |
loggerhead |
8/16/08 |
134 |
124 |
Uga VI |
| 27 |
loggerhead |
8/9/08 |
96 |
94 |
|
| 28 |
loggerhead |
8/12/08 |
149 |
144 |
|
| 29 |
loggerhead |
8/13/08 |
100 |
94 |
|
| 30 |
loggerhead |
8/13/08 |
123 |
112 |
|
31
|
loggerhead
|
|
|
|
|
32
|
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
33
|
loggerhead |
8/13/08 |
150 |
135 |
|
| 34 |
loggerhead |
8/19/08 |
|
|
|
35
|
loggerhead
|
8/18/08 |
|
|
|
36
|
loggerhead
|
|
|
|
|
37
|
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
38
|
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 39 |
loggerhead |
8/13/08 |
96 |
96 |
|
| 40 |
loggerhead
|
8/17/08 |
|
|
|
41
|
loggerhead
|
|
|
|
|
42
|
loggerhead
|
8/17/08 |
121 |
117 |
|
43
|
loggerhead
|
|
|
|
|
| 44 |
loggerhead
|
|
|
|
|
45
|
loggerhead
|
|
|
|
|
46
|
loggerhead
|
|
|
|
|
47
|
loggerhead
|
|
|
|
|
48
|
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
49
|
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
50
|
loggerhead
|
|
|
|
|
|
51 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 52 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 53 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 54 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 55 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 56 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 67 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 58 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 59 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 60 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 61 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 62 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 63 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 64 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 65 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 66 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 67 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 68 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 69 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 70 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 71 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 72 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 73 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 74 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 75 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 76 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 77 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 78 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 79 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 80 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 81 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 82 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 83 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 84 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 85 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 86 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 87 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 88 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 89 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 90 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 91 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 92 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 93 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 94 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 95 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 96 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 97 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 98 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 99 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 100 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 101 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 102 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
|
| 103 |
loggerhead |
|
|
|
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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 
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