Nesting Season Statistics | Alabama Sea Turtle "Share the Beach" volunteer program

Nesting Season Statistics | Alabama Sea Turtle "Share the Beach" volunteer program: "Nesting season begins in May and that's when we begin to see females coming ashore to lay their eggs. They lay an average of 100 eggs per nest. The incubation period is from 55 to 70 days.


Alabama's coastline is divided into several areas which are patrolled by Share the Beach volunteers. These volunteers devote their time to searching for new nests, marking the nests and protecting the nests and hatchlings from natural and, more likely, human-related dangers.


In 2005, thirty-seven loggerhead nests and one possibly Kemps Ridley were identified along the coast. Throughout the summer, the coast was impacted by four named storms which affected the sea turtle nests by inundating them with water, covering them with large amounts of sand, or washing them away.


In the 2006 season, Forty-five loggerhead (Caretta caretta) nests and one Kemps Ridley were identified from Dauphin Island (Mobile County) east to Alabama Point (Baldwin County) near the Florida state line. Only four nests were lost due to Tropical Storm Alberto and a non-tropical storm in mid-October. Many of the nests were adopted through the Adopt-A-Nest program, which provided the funds needed to purchase a new Polaris ATV. It is estimated that 3,603 hatchling safely made it into the Gulf of Mexico."