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Topsail Island has 26 miles of coastline.
Each mile is surveyed every morning to identify sea turtle tracks and nests from May through August.
SEA TURTLES  DIG THE DARK
Please keep oceanfront lighting to a minimum.  Lights disorient nesting mothers and lead hatchlings away from the sea, a trip they cannot survive.
In North Carolina the nesting season is mid-May through August.
The Loggerhead Sea Turtle comes ashore to nest 3 to 5 times during a nesting year.
She deposits an average of 120 eggs per nest.
The eggs will incubate in the sand for about 60 days.


After all the hatchlings have pipped out of their eggs, 
they emerge from the nest together and race to the sea.
Weighing in at about two ounces, their first challenge on our beach
is escaping the deadly grasp of the ghost crabs.
Once in the water they must hide from both bird and fish predators, 
and the swim to sea weed rafts and the Sargasso Sea begins.

It is a long swim to maturity.
It is estimated that 1 in 1000 survives the first year,
and as few as 1 in 5,000 - 10,000 survive to adulthood.
No one has the answer to this.
In 20 to 30 years the surviving hatchlings will reach adulthood.
The females will return to their natal beaches to lay their eggs and the cycle begins again.

5 sec video clip 1
 

5 sec video clip 2
 
Surprise daylight visitor
 This sea turtle came to nest about 5 PM.
She left behind nest 125 eggs.
The turtle photos  link  to short video clips. 
In the first clip, the turtle has deposited her eggs, 
filled in and covered the egg chamber, 
and is in the process of throwing sand over the nest area.
In the second, the turtle crawls back to the sea.
As a rule, Loggerhead sea turtles come ashore to nest after dark.
These photos were obtained using a telephoto lens.




YEAR
TOTAL #
Crawls
 # Nests
# False Crawls
# Eggs
# Live Hatchlings
# Unhatched Eggs
# Dead Hatchlings
2007
 111
 61
 50
 7,146
 5,152
 1,832
 162
2006
 166
 94
 72
 9,838*
 7,750
 1.179
289
* date incomplete, 20 nests lost hurricane ernesto
2005 105
 72
 43
 7,460
 5,107
 1,244
208
*901 missing eggs, hurricane ophelia
2004
98
55
43
6,783
5,349
1,219
215
2003
134
80
54
9,882
8,260
1,531
91
2002
162
86
76
10,307
8,866
1,246
195
2001
130
79
51
  9,045
7,721
1,271
53
Volunteers can keep in touch
by joining our  list!
Please go to - http://groups.msn.com/TopsailSeaTurtle
and sign in.  This is a members only list.
To send an email to the list:
TopsailSeaTurtle@groups.msn.com
 

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