UPDATED 15 AUGUST: Kemp's Ridley Nests at Outer Banks by Jackie
Orsulak : Rare Kemp's Nest on OBX The sea turtle nesting season
of 2012 has begun on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and
awesome things are happening! So far we have six loggerhead
nests, as well as Nest #5, a Kemp’s ridley nest we are calling
“Kaylie’s Nest.” For those of you new to Outer Banks sea turtle
nesting, the Kemp’s ridley (Lepidochelys kempii) is the smallest
and rarest of the world’s sea turtles. They primarily nest on an
18.6-mile stretch of sand that runs across Rancho Nuevo, Mexico;
there is also a small population established on South Padre
Island, Texas, and they are occasionally found elsewhere,
including the beaches of North Carolina. There once were many
Kemp’s ridleys. These turtles would come ashore in what is known
as an arribadas (mass nesting). Over a period of a few days,
hundreds of turtles would come to nest on the beaches of Rancho
Nuevo. There is a video of 40,000 turtles coming ashore to lay
their eggs in one day