Soaring numbers of sea turtles have been nesting this summer at both Cape Lookout and Cape Hatteras national seashores/NPS file
Sea turtles have been nesting in high numbers at Cape Lookout and Cape Hatteras national seashores this summer, and the number of hatchlings has been soaring in both parks.
According to the tally kept at seaturtle.org, through mid-day Friday there had been 487 nests at Cape Lookout, and 422 at Cape Hatteras. At Cape Lookout, the hatch success was 40.6 percent, while that at Cape Hatteras was 79.4 percent.
For some comparison, last year just 169 nests were counted at Cape Lookout, with a 47.4 percent hatch success percentage, while Cape Hatteras counted 166 nests, iwth a 58.5 percent hatch success.
In terms of species, Cape Hatteras has counted 402 loggerhead turtle nests, 19 green turtle, and one Kemp's ridley. At Cape Lookout, 477 nests were loggerhead, and 10 green turtle.
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