Each nesting season, from May 1 to October 31, N.C. Coastal Reserve and N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission staff monitor the nine miles of Masonboro Island Reserve’s beach for sea turtle nests. During the 2024 season, the reserve documented 42 nests and 45 false crawls. A false crawl is when a sea turtle comes ashore to lay eggs but returns to the water without depositing them due to various reasons including visual or noise disturbance or less-than-ideal nesting conditions. These crawls look similar to a nesting crawl. Five nests were lost entirely to the un-named tropical storm on September 16th, 2024.
Of the 42 nests documented, 40 were laid by loggerhead sea turtles. This is typical, as loggerheads are the primary nesters in North Carolina. Only two nests were made by green sea turtles. The species of turtle can be identified by the track pattern they leave in the sand. Loggerhead tracks will alternate their flippers, similar to the butterfly stroke, to pull themselves up the beach, whereas green sea turtles will move their front flippers in unison leaving flipper marks that are in line with each other.
Multiple turtles this year who nested on the island had track abnormalities. This likely indicates an injury. In the two photos below, you can see the difference between normal and abnormal tracks. Typically, we find alternating flipper marks, resulting in asymmetrical, S-shaped tracks along the beach, but judging by the look of the abnormal track with a small indentation along the middle of the crawl, it is likely this turtle had some type of flipper injury. Luckily, staff were able to see this individual during a nesting attempt and confirmed that in fact, this turtle was missing one of her rear flippers.
"It's always remarkable to see how determined sea turtles are to nest. We've seen that some of those with abnormalities may have to false crawl three to four times before they finally are able to successfully nest!" - Morgan Penrose, Stewardship Specialist
This conservation work for protected sea turtles at Masonboro Island is authorized by the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission (ES Permit 24ST21)
Check out this resource to learn more about the sea turtle monitoring that occurs on Masonboro Island Reserve.