WSAV talks to Sea Turtle Patrol about the end of nesting season and the ongoing hatching season. While nesting season on Hilton Head Island has officially come to a close—marked by two full weeks without a new nest laid—hatching season is in full swing!
This year has been an extraordinary, record-approaching season for Hilton Head Island’s sea turtles, yielding our second-highest nest count in history. We logged 414 nests on the main beach and 13 nests on the pocket beaches, with dozens of nests still waiting to emerge!
How We Monitor Hatching Season
When a nest reaches 45 days of incubation, Sea Turtle Patrol begins monitoring it closely for physical signs of hatching, such as a depression in the sand or tiny flipper tracks.
Three days after the emergence, our team conducts an official nest inventory to calculate the hatching success rate. During these inventories, we occasionally discover “stragglers”—hatchlings that didn’t make it out with the group. We gently assist these late bloomers down to the water’s edge so they can begin their three-day, 70-mile swim to the Gulf Stream. We hope to see the females return to Hilton Head to nest in 30 years!
How You Can Help Through October
Hatching season continues on Hilton Head Island through the end of October. You can help protect our emerging hatchlings by following these simple beach rules:
- 🚯 Leave No Trace: Pick up all trash and beach gear before leaving.
- 🕳️ Fill in Holes: Smooth out deep sand holes that trap hatchlings.
- 💡 Lights Out: Turn off or dim beachfront lights and use red-beamed flashlights at night instead of white flashlights/flash photography, which disorient hatchlings making their way to the ocean.
▶️ Watch the full WSAV video report here or read the complete WSAV news article.