Conserve Wildlife Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Cape Henlopen’

Rare sea turtle nesting!

Saturday, December 24th, 2011
SURPRISE NEWS FROM THE BEACH

By Stephanie Egger, CWFNJ Wildlife Biologist

Atlantic loggerhead sea turtle. © A.J. Haverkamp

Last summer both New Jersey and Delaware had rare occurrences of sea turtles nesting or attempting to nest on their beaches.  In Stone Harbor, New Jersey this past August, a sea turtle crawled onto the beach and dug two holes in an attempt to nest in an area fenced off for beach nesting birds. Unfortunately, the sea turtle did not lay any eggs and eventually crawled back into the ocean.  Although no one witnessed the event, the turtle left strong evidence behind – its tracks! CWFNJ’s Beach Nesting Bird Program Manager along with other agency biologists was at the scene to evaluate the tracks.  Each sea turtle species has a different track pattern and leaves behind a different shape at their nesting site (their body pit).  It was determined that it was likely a state endangered loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) that attempted to nest. (more…)