NESTING PROGRAM
|
Topsail Island has 26 miles of coastline. Each mile is surveyed every morning to identify sea turtle tracks and nests from 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. |
|
2020 HATCHING
TB = Topsail Beach SC = Surf City (north/south of bridge) NTB = North Topsail Beach (north/south of bridge)
DATE |
NEST # |
LOCATION |
HATCH DATE |
#EGGS/#HATCH |
MAY 11 |
1 |
1306 NRI, NTB |
July 26 |
121 / 101 |
MAY 17 |
2 |
386 NRI, NTB |
July 26 |
124 / 102 |
MAY 22 |
3 |
416 Hampston Colony, NTB |
Aug 2 |
|
MAY 22 |
4 |
392 NRI, NTB |
July 26 |
136 / 36 |
MAY 25 |
5 |
264 Topsail Rd, NTB |
Aug 2 |
|
MAY 28 |
6 |
1521 NRI, NTB |
Aug 3 |
124 / 71 |
MAY 29 |
7 |
NTB |
Value |
|
MAY 31 |
8 |
NTB |
||
JUNE 1 |
9 |
SC |
Aug 7 |
|
JUNE 2 |
10 |
1177 N. Anderson TB |
Aug 2 |
144 / 103 |
JUNE 3 |
11 |
NTB |
||
JUNE 3 |
12 |
NTB |
||
JUNE 3 |
13 |
216 Topsail Rd, NTB |
Aug 3 |
Value |
JUNE 5 |
14 |
NTB |
||
JUNE 5 |
15 |
NTB |
Aug 4 |
Value |
JUNE 6 |
16 |
1111 N Anderson TB |
8-4 |
113 / 21 |
JUNE 7 |
17 |
SC |
||
JUNE 7 |
18 |
SC |
||
JUNE 8 |
19 |
SC |
||
JUNE 8 |
20 |
SC |
||
JUNE 9 |
21 |
SC |
||
JUNE 11 |
22 |
NTB |
||
JUNE 12 |
23 |
NTB |
||
JUNE 15 |
24 |
SC |
||
JUNE 16 |
25 |
SC |
||
JUNE 18 |
26 |
NTB |
||
JUNE 18 |
26 |
NTB |
||
JUNE 18 |
27 |
SC |
||
JUNE 18 |
28 |
NTB |
||
JUNE 19 |
29 |
NTB |
||
JUNE 19 |
30 |
NTB |
||
JUNE 20 |
31 |
NTB |
||
JUNE 22 |
32 |
TB |
||
JUNE 22 |
33 |
NTB |
||
JUNE 23 |
34 |
SC |
||
JUNE 24 |
35 |
NTB |
||
JUNE 24 |
36 |
NTB |
||
JUNE 26 |
37 |
TB |
||
JUNE 27 |
38 |
NTB |
||
JUNE 28 |
39 |
NTB |
||
JULY 2 |
40 |
SC |
||
JULY 2 |
41 |
NTB |
||
JULY 2 |
42 |
NTB |
||
JULY 3 |
43 |
NTB |
||
JULY 3 |
44 |
SC |
||
JULY 4 |
45 |
NTB |
||
JULY 5 |
46 |
SC |
||
JULY 5 |
47 |
TB |
||
JULY 6 |
48 |
TB |
||
JULY 6 |
49 |
NTB |
||
JULY 6 |
50 |
NYB |
||
JULY 6 |
51 |
NTB |
||
JULY 7 |
52 |
SC |
||
JULY 7 |
53 |
TB |
||
JULY 8 |
54 |
NTB |
||
JULY 9 |
55 |
NTB |
||
JULY 10 |
56 |
NTB |
||
JULY 10 |
57 |
NTB |
||
JULY 10 |
58 |
NTB |
||
JULY 12 |
59 |
TB |
||
JULY 13 |
60 |
SC |
||
July |
61 |
NTB |
||
July |
62 |
NTB |
||
July |
63 |
SC |
||
July |
64 |
|||
July |
65 |
SC |
||
July |
66 |
NTB |
||
July |
67 |
SC |
||
July |
68 |
NTB |
||
July |
69 |
NTB |
||
July |
70 |
NTB |
||
July |
71 |
TB |
||
July |
72 |
TB |
||
July |
73 |
NTB |
||
July |
74 |
NTB |
||
July |
75 |
NTB |
||
July |
76 |
NTB |
||
July |
77 |
NTB |
||
July |
78 |
NTB |
||
July |
79 |
SC |
||
July |
80 |
NTB |
||
July |
81 |
TB |
||
July |
82 |
NTB |
||
July |
83 |
NTB |
||
July |
84 |
NTB |
||
July |
85 |
NTB |
||
July |
86 |
NTB |
||
July |
87 |
TB |
||
July |
88 |
SC |
||
July |
89 |
NTB |
||
August |
90 |
NTB |
Value |
|
