THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 23, 1996 TAG: 9608230072
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY JENNIFER MCMENAMIN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NAGS HEAD LENGTH: 107 lines
Staring intently at a sandy hole about the size of a bowling ball, Bonnie Creech spotted what she had been waiting 15 days and nights to see: movement in the loggerhead turtle nest.
``I was standing right there looking at it when all of sudden the sand moved and a little head popped up,'' she said Wednesday night, her voice rising with excitement. ``His head was out for the longest time just looking around and seeing what the world looked like.''
The Oreo-sized reptile squirmed from the nest and tumbled into the hand-dug trench that stretched nearly 100 feet to the frothy waves of the Atlantic.
The baby, who left peanut-sized flipper tracks along the smooth surface of its birthplace, was the year's first loggerhead born on Outer Banks beaches north of Oregon Inlet.
``He did great,'' said Millie Overman, coordinator of the Kitty Hawk-based volunteer conservation group, Network for Endangered Sea Turtles, also known as NEST. ``He did just what he was supposed to. He was beautiful.''
Nearly all Outer Banks newborns are male because of the cool sand in the northern beaches. Sand temperature determines sex.
The turtle came from a 6-square-foot nest - one of 10 within NEST's patrol area - that local volunteers had been watching for 15 consecutive nights from sundown until after daylight. Wednesday was the 70th night of an incubation period that ranges from 55 to 80 days.
With sleeping bags and pillows, coffee and card games, books and bug spray, about a dozen nest watchers set up camp and cleaned out the trench they dig every night to guide the hatchlings from the nest to their watery home.
After the appearance of the first turtle, onlookers who circled the nest became restless.
``Come on babies,'' Overman cooed, looking over the black beach netting that filtered out the light on three sides of the nest. ``You can do a lot better if you come all together. None of this one-at-a-time business.''
``Come on baby,'' Creech chimed in. ``Your brother is already out there waiting for you.''
Loggerheads usually ``boil'' at birth, experts say. The term comes from the bubbly appearance of the sand as hatchlings spill from the nest by the handfuls.
But Overman said this year's babies have broken all the rules.
One female loggerhead laid her eggs hours before Hurricane Bertha skipped west of the barrier islands.
Another - the mother of Wednesday night's hatchlings - lumbered ashore at 8 a.m. in broad daylight, defying the convention that turtles lay their nest only by moonlight.
``I think those turtles heard me give that lecture about how it happens,'' Overman said. ``And they said, `OK, let's make her eat everything she said.' ''
Two hours later, the nest watchers were lounging on bed rolls, reading, snacking and smoking when a shout rang out at the nest:``Babies!''
As volunteers scrambled for a view of the nest, three more hatchlings headed for the flashlight-lit trench. Overman and the more-experienced nest watchers lined the trench like streetlights, guiding the babies toward the waves with their flashlight beams.
``They'll follow a pair of white tennis shoes - anything white,'' Overman said as the turtles turned and headed for the flashlights behind them. ``That's how light-sensitive they are.
``That's why we're here. They'd head to the light over at that pier if we weren't.''
Met by encouraging words and ``oohs'' of delight, the small creatures got their bearings and began what seemed like a purposeful march to the sea.
As the first waves hit the hatchlings and sent them tumbling backward in the frothy water, Overman ordered the observers to stay still until the turtles were relocated.
Ghost crabs were not as friendly. They danced along the water's edge, hoping to make a meal of the turtles.
``They act like it's a fast-food chain,'' Overman said, chuckling as North Carolina Aquarium worker Liz Plymell chased the crabs away from the trench. ``They just sit and wait for 'em.''
Crabs are only the first predator the baby loggerheads must avoid. Sharks, sea gulls, grouper, shrimp-boat nets, pollution and even floating trash take a heavy toll.
Loggerheads, classified as a threatened species and protected under the Endangered Species Act, migrate as far north as Virginia Beach in the summer and south to Florida and the Gulf of Mexico in the fall and winter.
By some estimates, only one in 10,000 baby loggerheads survives. Scientists say it takes 20 to 25 years for the 1-ounce hatchlings to grow to adult size of 300 to 400 pounds.
The volunteers hope they have helped.
Said Christy Brown, a 31-year-old Kill Devil Hills resident who camped out with her 13-year-old daughter, Ashley, and husband, Jeff: ``It's all worth it with just that one little baby.'' MEMO: WANT TO WATCH?
Network for Endangered Sea Turtles, or NEST, is now watching 10
nests. Volunteers are needed and will be trained on the spot.
Interested people can call (919) 441-8622. Include your name,
telephone number and when you can sit.
NEST is a nonprofit North Carolina organization. All of its programs
- medications and nutrients for the turtles, transportation and nesting
supplies - are paid for by T-shirt sales and volunteers. Donations are
also welcome. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos by DREW C. WILSON, The Virginian-Pilot
ABOVE: Judy Roughton, left, Millie Overman, David Brown and Ashley
Brown put up black netting around three sides of a loggerhead turtle
nest at Duck. Bonnie Creech, in background, digs a trench from the
nest to the ocean for the turtles to use. RIGHT: A baby loggerhead
turtle, shown here in a file photo, faces constant peril from
potential predators. By some estimates, only one in 10,000 survives.
BELOW RIGHT: Overman, with the Network for Endangered Sea Turtles,
locates a nest on the beach. by CNB