DNA Project
Since 2010, N.E.S.T. has participated in a multi-state genetics research project to answer several basic sea turtle nesting questions. By collecting an egg from every nest, biologists can use DNA genetic fingerprinting (CSI for sea turtles) to identify individual sea turtle females, to gather information about sea turtle nesting behavior and habits, and to provide a census of the actual nesting population. In the area monitored by N.E.S.T., over 380 DNA samples have been analyzed with over 200 unique individual female “fingerprints”.
This data gives us a good idea of:
The species of the turtle - Loggerhead (our most common), Green, Kemp's Ridley, Leatherback, or even a surprise Hawksbill
How many clutches of eggs (nests) each nesting female lays in a year
If the turtle is nesting on more than one beach
How close together or far apart each individual turtle lays her nests, both within the same summer and from year-to-year
The number of turtles nesting in more than one state
How often each turtle nests; every two years, three, more, less?
How precisely a daughter returns to her hatching beach to lay her own eggs
Cool facts we have learned about turtles in our nesting population:
(turtles laying at least one nest between Nags Head and the VA/NC state line)
Some turtles have been very site specific, nesting in a very limited range.
Ten turtles have nested exclusively between the NC/VA state line and Oregon Inlet and returned more than one season.
One turtle laid two nests within a third of a mile of each other in Kitty Hawk in 2012. In 2019, she again laid two nests one-half mile apart in Kitty Hawk in the same area as in 2012! When she returned in 2022, she laid one nest that season in Duck.
A 2016 mom laid three nests that were all located in Nags Head within 3 miles of each other. So far, 2016 has been her only nesting season.
A turtle in 2020 laid four nests in a 5-mile area in Nags Head; three were less than 2.5 miles apart. In 2024, she laid five nests, one in Duck, one in Kitty Hawk, and her last three nests were laid less than 3 miles apart in Nags Head, in the same area as her three closest nests in 2020.
A new mom in 2022 laid four nests in Duck, less than 4 miles apart!
A turtle laid one nest in her first season in 2015. She returned to lay five nests in 2018, 2020 and 2022; all sixteen nests within a range of less than 7 miles.
A Green Sea Turtle who began nesting in 2021 in Nags Head and returned in 2023 has laid all her nests within a 7-mile stretch. Her sister, however, laid her first nest on Bald Head Island and her second just a few miles south of Nags Head at Pea Island. This is very interesting as it is thought that they hatched the same year and maybe even from the same nest.
2. Some turtles are far less site specific, nesting up and down the coast in multiple states. In NC, the average distance between nests for a loggerhead turtle mom is 81.9 km (51.7 miles) which is more traveling between nests than in other states which show the average distance is only 31.8 km (19.6 miles).
The maximum distance between nests by any of N.E.S.T.’s turtles is 556 miles. In 2017, a turtle began her nesting in Florida laying two nests. She then traveled to NC laying three (possibly four) more nests as far north as Corolla.
In 2018, a turtle began her nesting in Florida, traveling up almost to the NC/VA border to lay a nest in Carova - 546 miles from her first nest.
It is not as though the turtles just keep moving up the coast laying nests. They tend to jump north and south throughout the nesting season. In 2019, two first-time nesting moms were long distance travelers. One laid her first nest in Vilano Beach, FL, traveled to Corolla for her next nest, and then finished south in Fort Fisher, NC. Another mom had an impressive nesting season laying at least five (and possibly up to seven) nests. She began in Holden Beach, NC, went south to Cumberland, GA, then back even further north to Southern Shores, winding up her first nesting season. In 2024, she returned to Georgia for her nesting season.
A turtle whose first nesting season was in 2019, beginning at Cape Hatteras, traveled to Northern FL to end the season. She waited 3 years to lay four nests in NC, one nest in the Northern Outer Banks in Carova very close to the NC/Va state line. Three years later she laid three nests in 2025, all three in NC.
An impressive turtle who has been nesting since 2011 and has laid over twenty-five nests (eight in the Northern Outer Banks). Up until 2021, she laid four or five nests a season. In 2021, she laid six, maybe seven, nests. She nested in 2011, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021 and in 2022, when she laid one nest in Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Over the years she has nested on ten different beaches from FL to VA.
3. Previous studies suggest that individual loggerheads average three to four nests a season and return every two years. Results from our data show interesting variations.
To date, turtles have laid one to eight nests in a season in NC; the average number of nests laid by turtles is 3.6 per year. For the entire study area (NC-SC-GA-FL-VA-MD), the average is over six nests.
Nesting in consecutive years is not common but one turtle laid nests in 2012 and 2013! She waited three years before nesting again in 2016. She returned in 2018 laying four, possibly five nests. In both the 2020 and 2022 seasons, she laid six nests! Over the years, she has laid a total of 31 nests, including five in 2024. With the exception of her first nest in 2012, which she laid in Corolla, this turtle lays her nests in a 30-mile area from Nags Head to Salvo.
Nesting histories show that turtles may nest every other year, or every 3 years, or 4 years, and some even vary the gap between nesting seasons. For example, a turtle who began nesting in 2011, returned in 2012, then 2016, skipping seasons to return in 2020, then 2 years later. In 2025, she laid five nests, all in Corolla, two in the same location. In fact, 13 of her 17 nests have been laid in the Corolla-4WD area.
In the 2021 nesting season, four returning moms had wide gaps since their previous nests – 6, 8, 9 and 10 years! In 2022, three of our Northern Outer Banks turtles returned after many years – one after 9 years, one after 10 years and one after 11 years!
4. Looking at DNA results in recent nesting seasons, we have learned the following interesting facts and nesting behaviors of sea turtles who nested in the Northern Outer Banks.
In the 2024 nesting season:
The first nest laid in NC was May 6 in Oak Island by a Loggerhead; the first nest laid in the Northern Outer Banks was May 30, also by a Loggerhead.
The last nest laid in 2024 in NC was September 19 at Cape Lookout National Seashore by a Green. The last nest laid in the Northern Outer Banks was laid by a Loggerhead on August 21.
Eleven new moms in 2024. Six laid only one nest. All nested only in NC, except one, who laid her first nest in Georgia, a distance of 415 miles.
Nesting histories show that three turtles who returned in 2024 lay nests almost exclusively in the Northern Outer Banks. One turtle has been nesting since 2012.
A South Carolina turtle, whose nesting history began in 2010 laying her two nests on the same island, returned to the island to nest in 2014. She does not nest until ten years later when she laid her only nest in 2024 in the Northern Outer Banks.
In the 2025 nesting season:
The first nest laid in NC was May 8 at Topsail Island by a Loggerhead; the first nest in the Northern Outer Banks was laid on May 27, also by a Loggerhead.
The last nest laid in 2025 in NC was by a Green on October 4 at Cape Hatteras National Seashore; the last nest laid in the Northern Outer Banks was August 17, also by a Green.
Six turtles were first time moms, all Loggerheads. Our first three nests laid in 2025 were by first-time moms laying their first nest.
Of our returning moms, two has been nesting since 2010. It is interesting to note that one nested in the Northern Outer Banks for the first time. She has laid a total of 24 nests in three states, NC, SC and VA, on seven different beaches. Another turtle laying nests since 2011, mostly in the Corolla area, laid two nests in the same location in 2025!
A turtle who has been laying nests every three years since 2016, laid five nests in the Corolla area in 2025, four within 5 miles of each other and two were in the same location.
Here are some sea turtle nesting history examples from the DNA study.
This turtle has nested every 2 years since 2015 within the same 30 miles.
