A loggerhead sea turtle is down in her body pit, throwing sand around after laying her eggs. This one came ashore on June 1, at 25th Avenue on the Isle of Palms. (Photo by Barbara Bergwerf_
Sea turtles normally nest in the dark of night, thereby avoiding detection by predators who may want to harm them or eat their eggs. By instinct, a loggerhead turtle crawls ashore and follows the same nesting procedure every time. First, she might raise her head out of the surf to see if it is a safe spot to come ashore. Lights shining on the beach can discourage her from using that area. Then she crawls out of the water and heads toward the dunes, searching for dry sand to lay her 100-plus eggs.
Once she chooses a spot, she uses all four flippers to dig what scientists call a body pit, which lowers her very large body into the sand, reducing her profile and making herself less conspicuous. She then begins to dig, using her rear flippers as large shovels to create an egg chamber about 2 feet deep. After dropping the tough, leathery eggs into the chamber, she uses her rear flippers to fill the hole and pack down the sand over them. Then she spends quite a long time moving her rear flippers, sitting still, then inching forward, making a large, rounded area and throwing sand around with all four flippers. This might be a way of disguising the spot where the eggs are hidden. Finally, she will crawl back to the ocean, stopping occasionally to take a short rest. This whole procedure can take two hours or more, and it is important not to disturb her or interrupt this amazing process, which is always done precisely the same way.
Before sunrise on June 1, a loggerhead was still sitting in her body pit at 25th Avenue after covering her nest. A family on the beach became worried that she wasn’t crawling and thought she was stuck in the sand on her way to the dunes. They called the Isle of Palms police, who called the Turtle Team. When the Turtle Team began to arrive, four strong, wellmeaning officers were just getting ready to lift her out. We asked them not to do so because this was normal behavior after she had just laid eggs, and she was still moving her rear flippers in the covering motion.
We watched her for at least 45 more minutes until she finally started crawling back to the ocean. At that time, we measured her shell, checked her for external flipper tags and scanned her for internal chips – passive integrated transponders known as PIT tags. This data is submitted to the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources along with the rest of the full report on her nest. We took her DNA sample found in one eggshell which will identify her when matched to the rest of her nests this season. The nest was laid in the path of trucks and emergency vehicles on the beach since she never made it to the primary dune. The 121 eggs were relocated a couple of blocks south to a safe, elevated dune near 23rd Avenue.
If you encounter a nesting turtle on the beach, do not shine any light on her or approach her as she crawls up the beach. This will cause her to return to the water without nesting. Anyone observing a nesting loggerhead needs to quietly stay behind her and not in her sight. You can report unmarked nests or tracks to Isle of Palms Police Department at 843-886-6522 or the Turtle Team at 843-697-8733. Tracks with X’s drawn across them have already been found and documented.
