Videos of Loggerhead Sea Turtles Hatching at Emerald Isle

Here are a couple of videos taken of Loggerhead Sea Turtles hatching on Emerald Isle North Carolina. Emerald Isle has a dedicated group of volunteers that watch over the nests sea turtles lay at Emerald Isle. The nest usually hatch between 50 and 70 days after they are laid.  To see our nighttime pictures of what the nighttime hatch looks like, click Here. Three days after a nest hatches the volunteers excavate the nest to see if there are any turtles that did not make it out of the nest and to count the number of turtles that hatched. These videos are from the excavation process three days after the nest hatched. This nest had between 92 and 93 turtle eggs that hatched and there were 9 sea turtles that we waiting to leave when the nest was excavated.

The United States Loggerhead Sea Turtle nesting season runs from about May to November. Nesting takes place nocturnally and at 2- to 3-year intervals. Three or four clutches may be laid in a season at intervals of approximately 12 days. Clutch size averages around 115 eggs with incubation requiring 49 to 68 days, about 55 days being average. The hatchlings generally emerge at night.