public turtle nest inventory
Loggerhead and Green Sea turtles nest in South Carolina. Once those nests hatch the local teams jump into action to do a cool turtle nest inventory! These can be a hidden activity if you don’t know about them. Here is what to expect at a South Carolina turtle nest inventory.
IMPORTANT NOTE | These are not widely promoted because crowd control and safety for people and any remaining hatchlings is a concern. I’ve mentioned some ways you can find out about them but please be mindful and respectful of the desire to keep these safe and controlled.
What is a turtle nest inventory?
MONITORING LOGGERHEAD NESTS | Keeping our loggerhead sea turtle’s habitat hospitable for their nesting patterns is high priority for our state parks. Once a nest is laid the park takes note of it’s location and extracts a single egg to collect data on the mother turtle. They then secure the area to ensure it goes undisturbed while nature runs it’s course. Once the babies have hatched and made their way to the ocean (usually happens in the night) the park staff wait a few days and plan the inventory.
HOW TO KNOW ABOUT THEM | follow this Facebook group. They’ll often post notifications of inventories all up and down the coast of SC. It’s often easiest to go to the ones in HBSP bc parking is plentiful and you’ll know exactly where it is. But there are others on the beach where you’ll have to use public beach access parking.
Normal state park admission applies when attending an inventory in the park, so keep that in mind if you don’t have the annual pass. Then it’s simple –– just show up a little before the scheduled time to get a prime viewing spot and be respectful of the team doing their work.
The staff and volunteers will draw a line in the sand (literally) as a marker for how close you can get. A ranger is walking around explaining the nesting process along with more info about loggerhead or green sea turtles.
Meanwhile volunteers are digging away to reach the nest. The nests aren’t usually too deep but sometimes sand can layer over them to make it more of a process to extract eggs.
A FEW THINGS THEY’RE LOOKING FOR | They’re most curious about the number of eggs and if any viable loggerhead babies remain. It’s not super common but occasionally there are some live hatchlings who did not make it out of the nest. If some are found then they’re given the opportunity to crawl to the ocean to begin their aquatic life. As cool as it would be to see a lingering turtle, rangers are quick to note that this isn’t ideal. A single baby turtle released is a prime target for another hungry sea creature.
WHAT ELSE IS COOL | One of the things I found most fascinating is how much info they know about the mother turtle just from extracting an egg. The nest we saw inventoried was from a mother turtle who has been laying in HBSP since 2014. In fact, it’s the only place she’s ever nested! How cool!?! There was a gap of about 3-4 years where she went quiet but she came back this year.
More about the state parks
We love our local state parks and have explored in there quite a bit. Check out more info on the trails, nature center, playgrounds, etc. right here!