Image: OIBI AI-generated illustration of sea turtles. Not a photograph of Bald Head Island’s 2026 nesting season.
BALD HEAD ISLAND, N.C. — Sea turtle monitors recorded 129 loggerhead nests on Bald Head Island during the 2026 nesting season, with more than 11,000 hatchlings reaching the ocean by late September, according to a season update published by the Bald Head Island Conservancy.
The figures, reported as of September 26, reflect months of beach patrols by the Conservancy’s Sea Turtle Protection Team and volunteer nest monitors. The organization said its team patrolled for 144 days, including 71 full nights, recording 173 false crawls in addition to the nests. A false crawl occurs when a turtle comes ashore but returns to the ocean without nesting.
More Than 11,000 Hatchlings
According to the Conservancy, 126 of the season’s 129 nests had hatched by September 26, producing more than 11,000 hatchlings. The reported hatch success rate was 81%, while the emergence success rate was 79%. Two nests remained active, and one was lost during a June king tide event.
The protection team identified at least 48 individual sea turtles during its work: 47 loggerheads and one green sea turtle. All recorded nests were laid by loggerheads. The green turtle came ashore twice on the same night without nesting and was not observed returning during the season, the Conservancy reported.
A Familiar Loggerhead Returns
One returning turtle stood out. On May 15, the team encountered a loggerhead named Sandy covering a newly laid nest on East Beach. Identification tags confirmed that she was a previously documented nesting turtle first observed on Bald Head Island in May 2002.
The Conservancy said 2026 marked Sandy’s 11th documented nesting season on the island. She was one of 12 returning turtles identified by the team; collectively, those turtles laid 47 nests, or approximately 36.4% of the season’s total.
The Work Behind the Numbers
The monitoring program depends on repeated surveys of the shoreline, identification of nesting activity and continued observation of nests through hatching. Those observations help document which turtles return, how many nests are laid and what happens to the eggs and hatchlings.
The Conservancy recognized its 2026 protection team members Olivia Bowers, EJ Britt, Julia Serra and Carolina Kornegay, along with volunteer nest monitors, for their work during the season.
Source and attribution: This report is based on the Bald Head Island Conservancy’s September 28, 2026 nesting-season update. The nesting totals and success rates are the Conservancy’s figures as of September 26; they should not be interpreted as final numbers for later dates.