The world according to me....

The days are getting shorter, the sunsets have a deeper orange color and there is a slight chill in the air. Autumn means the end of the nesting/hatching season, and the last nests laid in the summer are nearing the end of their incubation period. Recently, loggerhead hatchlings the last nest laid in Pine Knoll Shores emerged during one night. Three days later, the volunteers excavated the nest to free any remaining live hatchlings and to verify incubation success. About 12 people arrived to watch and help as one single live hatchling was removed from the bottom of the nest and sent on its way across the sand to the sea. The final tally from the excavation: 87% of the eggs produced hatchlings that left the nest. Not bad for a late season nest that was subjected to high swash from several tropical storms and hurricanes a few months back. With the hatching season winding down, it is time to turn our attention to the increase in strandings of dead or injured turtles that always seems to occur with the onset of cooler weather (and cooler water temperatures).