Loggerhead Turtles (2007)

Gang,

This is a video of the Loggerhead turtle nest that we monitored last summer. Hopefully you'll be able to see why it's so exciting!

Loggerhead turtles are an endangered species. Their numbers continue to decline because of incidental capture in fishing gear, harvests, coastal development, increased human use of nesting beaches, and pollution.

In the U.S., the Loggerhead's nesting areas are divided among four states: Florida (91%), South Carolina (6.5%), Georgia (1.5%), and North Carolina (1%).

Adult Loggerheads weigh 200 to 350 pounds and measure about 3 feet in length. In the southeastern US, nesting is at its peak in June & July. Average nest size varies from 100 to 126 eggs that look like ping pong balls and feel leathery. You'll see a nest & the eggs in the video!

Loggerheads reach sexual maturity at around 35 years of age, and generally return to the area where they were hatched to lay new eggs! This amazes me. Loggerheads nest at night. The time it takes for eggs to hatch is related to the temperature of the sand. The temperature also determines the sex of the hatchlings! So, the nests here on the OBX produce more males than females - resulting in fewer nests each year.

Here's the gig -

• Keep our beaches clean.
• Please don't dig big holes and not fill them back in before you leave.
• DO NOT approach a nesting turtle, even though it's fascinating. They can hurt you, but more importantly, we don't want them to feel threatened enough to leave.

That's all folks! ~ Colleen