Loggerhead sea turtle nesting in Georgia hit a new high on Tuesday for the fourth straight year.
More than 2,241 nests — last year’s record total — have been documented on barrier island beaches as of Tuesday morning, said Mark Dodd of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
The count had reached 2,243 by Tuesday morning, according to www.seaturtle.org. That’s the site where the dozens of volunteers, researchers and agency employees who patrol Georgia’s beaches each day for nests and hatchlings log in their findings.
Dodd expects the final nest count to be at least 15-20 nests more than last year, though still short of the 2,800 nests the federally threatened species needs each year to be considered recovered.
Turtles are still nesting, though more slowly as the season winds down, and there are 11 nests of unknown species documented. Post-season genetic analysis will determine how many of those nests can be added to the loggerheads’ tally.
Both North Carolina and South Carolina are having record nesting years, too, Dodd said.
via Sea turtles break their Ga. nesting record | savannahnow.com.
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