Our nests are hatching and emerging now. We invite you to join us for early morning and evening excavations. We will invite you via this web site to excavations when adequate public parking is available.
See our Excavation Schedule
We update our list every day. Because we plan to excavate nests 3 days once they emergence, we cannot predict in advance when that will be, so check daily, or ask us on the beach during our early morning patrol. Everyone is welcome to attend. There will be many more coming up, as we have a lot of nests this year.f you miss
What is an excavation?
Sea turtles actually hatch from the egg 1-3 days before they emerge from the nest cavity. Once they emerge, they make their way to the sea. Once a nest has emerged, we wait 3 days to give all the hatchlings an opportunity to make it out of the nest on their own. On day 3 after an emergence, we dig into the nest, excavate it, to take an inventory of the contents. We count all the empty egg shells (shards), the unhatched eggs, and any hatchlings that may be trapped of dead in the nest. This is an excavation. The nests we dig into at this event have already hatched and emerged on their own. We are just taking an inventory. Once we complete our inventory, we return the contents back into the nest, except for any live hatchings, which we release near the shore.
What will you see at an excavation?
You will see the contents of the nest, shards, unhatched eggs, live and/or dead hatchlings remaining in the nest.
When are excavations held?
We excavate nests in the early morning or late evening.
Excavations may be postponed or canceled due to weather without notice.
Some nests are located in areas with little or no access for the public near by. These nests may be excavated without being posted here. If you are on the beach, you are welcome to attend.
Excavations are done in the morning and in the evening. Please pay attention to "AM" or "PM" on the schedule.
Please use the resources below to identify locations of excavations. Accesses that are labeled with a number and "N" are located north of Main Beach off of North Fletcher Ave. Please make sure you know where you are going before you leave to attend.
