Rangers excavate season’s last sea turtle nest on Ocracoke

A baby Loggerhead sea turtle crawling on the sand. [NPS photo by J. Bushman]

Ocracoke Island’s last remaining sea turtle nest was excavated this week in what looks to be a banner year for nests on Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

Sea turtle nesting season has completed for Ocracoke, but there are still six nests incubating on Hatteras Island and one nest left on Bodie Island, the National Park Service said.

The Island Free Press reports it’s been another impressive sea turtle nesting year, with 315 nests recorded on the seashore by early October. Last year, there were 228 nests on Cape Hatteras and in 2019, a record-breaking 473 nests.