Loggerhead sea turtles in Georgia are experiencing a record number of nests this summer. The Georgia Sea Turtle Cooperative, a network of dozens of volunteers, researchers and employees with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, recorded 2,366 nests by June 22. The number climbed to 2,800 by the end of the month. Researchers project the total number to reach 4,700 by the end of the season—far more than the previous record of 4,072 set in 2022 and the highest since nest counts began in 1989. Female loggerheads (Caretta caretta) are hitting the beaches of Sea Island in synchronized pulses about every 12 to 13 days, said DNR Sea Turtle Coordinator Mark Dodd in a press release. “We’re having these really big pulses,” Dodd said, “and then these slow days.” The agency credits conservation efforts such as cooperative monitoring and nest protection for the success of the species, considered threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.
