Other than being iconic creatures, loggerhead sea turtles and bald eagles wouldn’t seem to have much in common. But both species set new nesting records in Georgia this year, representing amazing comebacks for creatures in danger of extinction only four decades ago.
On Georgia’s barrier island beaches, turtle surveyors tallied 2,292 loggerhead nests this season, which ran May through August. It’s the most nests since surveying began in Georgia in 1989.
A threatened species under the federal Endangered Species Act, loggerhead sea turtles face many threats, the biggest of which is loss of nesting habitat due to coastal development.
Though the nesting season is over, baby loggerheads are still hatching out on beaches — egg incubation lasts 60 days — and crawling into the ocean to begin their life journeys. It’s a sight that biologist Mark Dodd, sea turtle program coordinator for the state Department of Natural Resources, once thought would disappear from Georgia.
As late as 2004, only 358 nests were found on Georgia beaches.
“If you had asked me less than 10 years ago, I would’ve said there’s a possibility we’ll lose loggerhead nesting in Georgia,” Dodd said.
But, since 2009, loggerheads have laid more than 1,700 nests each year in the state.
Still, there’s a long way to go. Federal biologists say loggerheads may be considered recovered if the population shows a 2 percent annual increase for 50 years.
For Georgia’s bald eagles, this also has been a record-setting year — 210 occupied nesting territories, 166 successful nests and 270 young fledged.
That’s cause for jubilation, considering that the bird was absent from Georgia only 40 years ago. Though still legally protected, bald eagles are no longer on the endangered species list.
In the sky: From David Dundee, Tellus Science Museum astronomer: The Draconid meteor shower will reach a peak of about 20 meteors per hour Thursday and Friday nights. Look to the north after dark.
The moon will be last-quarter Sunday. Mercury is low in the east at dawn. Bright shining Venus rises out of the east about three hours before sunrise; it will appear near the moon Thursday morning. Mars rises out of the east about two hours before sunrise. Saturn is low in the southwest at dusk and sets about two hours later. Jupiter is low in the east about two hours before sunrise. Jupiter and Mars will appear near the moon in the predawn sky Friday.
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