Wildlife Diversity Program Quarterly Report for October–December 2025
Extended Non-nesting Period For a Loggerhead Sea Turtle
by Matthew Godfrey, Sea Turtle Biologist and Sarah Finn, Sea Turtle Stranding Coordinator
S ea turtles are prolific breeders, laying multiple clutches of more than 100 eggs each during a single nesting season. They are also capital breeders, relying on their stored fat reserves to supply them with the energy needed to nest repeatedly during the breeding season. For this reason, adult female sea turtles usually require time to build up sufficient energy reserves for reproduc- tion and thus, typically lay eggs only every second or third year. In July 2025, a loggerhead female was documented nesting twice on Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Eggshells from both nests were collected to check the DNA fingerprint for this turtle against known nesters in NC, SC, GA and Northern FL (the Northern Recovery Unit). This analysis revealed that the last time she had been documented nesting was in June 2011, on Cape Lookout National Seashore. It is interesting that this turtle delayed 14 years between nesting seasons and demonstrates that long- term monitoring can reveal unexpected behaviors. Another possi- bility is that this turtle nested outside of the range of detection during her 14-year “disappearance”, but that too is interesting as it reinforces our recent understanding that nesting beach fidelity in some sea turtles is more relaxed than previously thought.
Loggerhead female CC003813 that had a 14-year break between nesting seasons in North Carolina.
Loggerhead sea turtle nesting crawl on Cape Lookout National Seashore.
MATTHEW GODFREY/NCWRC
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