Turtle nesting season 2026

Back Bay NWR’s first nest

Written by: Lauren Billodeaux Mowbray, Supervisory Wildlife Biologist, Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge

It was almost a shutout, but at the end of August our sea turtles decided to grace Back Bay NWR with their first nest.  We have been teased with two green sea turtle false crawls this year and last night, one laid a nest.  0.4 Miles south of our dune trail a female green sea turtle made a big mess laying a nest right at the wrack line.  She threw a ton of sand which fooled us for a bit on where nest might be however we did locate a nest of 123 eggs.  We then moved the nest up to the upslope of the fore dunes right near the nest.  A sensor was placed in the nest, and the nest was cage and flagged.

We expect this nest to be closer to 70 days of incubation so that puts hatching close to the end of October.   There is expected to be light pollution at this nest however the late hatch date may be too cold for emergence.   It is undecided if we will have nest sitters, but I will keep all those who attended the training in the loop on the decision. 

Update on False Cape nests #1 & #2:  Nest #1 is expected to hatch early next week.  Due to the short turnaround time on getting nest sitters scheduled, False Cape is using those who are already False Cape volunteers.  We will keep you posted on FC#3 nest that will need nest sitters at the end of September as there might be an opportunity to bring on new volunteers.   As for Nest #2 it is expected to hatch around the 29^th of August.  There will be no nest sitters at this nest, but I will keep you posted on the nest status. 

Sea turtle nest sitting training on Mon., August 10 at 6:30pm

Sea turtle nest sitting training will take place on Monday, August 10 at 6:30pm at the South Building of the Virginia Aquarium (the one near the Adventure Park and next to Ocean Breeze). There is paid parking at this building but it does not apply to after hours events. While there are no nests on the wildlife refuge beach at this time we still have one month of sea turtle patrols left for the season.

Loggerhead sea turtle nest found on Monday, July 27!

Written by: Erica Ryder, Visitor Services Specialist, Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge

This past week has been full of sea turtle activity! On Saturday, July 25 a false crawl was found in between the Seaside and Dune Trails. The false crawl was made by a green sea turtle. Interestingly, this crawl is quite close to the previous green sea turtle false crawl.

While the green sea turtle did not return to our beach, a loggerhead sea turtle nest was found on Monday, July 27! After much digging the patrolling team, nest response team and Virginia Aquarium found the eggs. The nest was laid approximately 1/8 of a mile from the North Carolina border, in an area with steep sand dunes. To best protect the nest it was relocated near the first nest of the season, right at the border. The expected hatch date for this nest is September 25.

Crawl just north of the Dune Trail at Back Bay NWR

Written by: Lauren Billodeaux Mowbray, Supervisory Wildlife Biologist, Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge

Yesterday, July 9, 2026, morning around 6:30 we detected a crawl just north of the Dune Trail at Back Bay NWR.  Upon the team’s arrival we noted that it was a green sea turtle crawl.  The turtle crawled all the way up to the dunes, so we were hopeful of a nest.  In the first spot where she hit the dunes, she seemed to turn around pretty quickly in grass and on a steep slope.  Then she looped down and went back up on the dunes in a second location, and we hoped that was going to be a nest.  It was a larger dig area, and it looked like she started to dig a body pit but after lots of digging we found no nest cavity.  We also noted that there was no thrown sand and coyote tracts all over the area as well as coyote marking.  Our hypothesis is that she was digging a body pit and was interrupted by coyotes and headed straight back to the water.  

We did leave a post at the site in case we get indications later in the year of a hatching. Unfortunately, today we got no signs of another crawl so she may have gone south the attempt a nest.  

Nest #3 for VA Beach located on False Cape State Park

Written by: Lauren Billodeaux Mowbray, Supervisory Wildlife Biologist, Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge

Once the turtles got started, they continued.  Last Thursday, July 2, 2026, we had nest #3 for VA Beach and it was located on False Cape State Park.  I was actually on the patrol that morning and found a smaller loggerhead crawl 0.8 miles south of the Wash Woods beach ramp on False Cape SP.  This momma did a nice long crawl over a wide beach and up into the dunes.  She managed to tuck her nest right in the grass so once the eggs were located we were able to put in a sensor and cage in place.  

With the nest being up in the dunes, I’m expecting an earlier hatch and maybe we will see hatchlings around the 55-day mark.   We have no concerns with lighting or public at this site so we will not be nest sitting this nest.