Witnessing a nesting female Loggerhead sea turtle

Today, August 2, we received a call from a beachgoer who reported a female sea turtle emerging from the water with the intention to nest south of Mickler’s Landing. We had just begun a routine nest evaluation when two of our volunteers speed walked down to the location to witness the nesting process.

The female slowly carried her 200-250 pound body out of the surf and up to the dune where she chose a spot at the base of a 2 foot dune escarpment and began her nesting process. First she digs a body pit by rcking her body side to side, lowering herself into the sand. Then she delicately used her back flippers to dig an egg chamber in the shape of an upsaid down light bulb.

Once the chamber was large enough, she began depositing her eggs. With each contraction, she dropped 1-4 eggs into the chamber ultimately laying an average of 115 eggs. After laying, she began to cover them up with moist sand using her back flippers and then camouflaged her nest by throwing sand with her front flippers. Once finished, she slowly lumbered her way back to the water. Videos below.

The entire nesting process for a Loggerhead takes about 1.5-2 hours from exiting the water to re-entering the water.

A female Loggerhead sea turtle emerging from the water. Video by Uma P.

The female Loggerhead finished nesting and camouflaging her eggs, and is now emerging from her body pit. Video by Debi K.

After nesting, she returns to the water. Video by Debi K.