becoming increasingly hard to find. 

 Beach development has diminished their 

 territory. 



"Not only has their habitat been 

 taken over by houses and hotels, but 

 even when birds or turtles find a place to 

 nest, their nests often are 

 disturbed by growing 

 populations of humans and 

 pets," Allen says, noting 

 that the N.C. Wildlife 

 Resources Commission this 

 spring is researching why 

 the numbers of nesting 

 piping plovers is low in the 

 state. The study will count 

 nesting pairs in North 

 Carolina south of Cape 

 Lookout — where less is 

 known about the bird 

 because land is in private 

 hands — and make 

 recommendations. 



The piping plover, 

 which usually returns to 

 where it last nested or was 

 raised, is remarkable for 

 the haste with which its 

 young leave the nest. Born 

 in a shallow depression 

 lined with shell chips, 

 pebbles or other debris, the 

 chicks stay in the nest only 

 long enough for their down 

 to dry, then they hop onto 

 the beach with their 

 parents. 



"Once the babies 

 hatch, it's only a matter of 

 several minutes to an hour 

 at most till the young are 

 off running around," Allen says. "They 

 can't fly for some time, but they are 

 running around quickly." 



By the time the piping plovers have 

 learned to soar in June, the mysterious 

 loggerhead sea turtles have already 

 begun crawling out of the ocean to lay 

 their eggs on the beach. Weighing 

 anywhere from 200 to 300 pounds, the 

 female slowly makes her way from the 

 water under the cover of darkness to 

 nest at the base of sand dunes on the 

 ocean-facing beach where she was born. 



She digs a hole, deposits about 120 

 eggs the size of Ping-Pong balls, covers 

 them and then returns to the water, a feat 

 that takes 45 minutes to more than an 

 hour, depending on the turtle's skill. 



Each nesting season, she may lay 



four to six clutches, says Ruth 

 Boettcher, North Carolina sea turtle 

 project coordinator for the N.C. Wildlife 

 Resources Commission. 



"Once the female finishes covering 

 up the nest, there is no more parenting 

 — the female leaves the nest, and the 

 hatchlings are left on their own to fend 

 for themselves," she says. 



After depositing her eggs, the 

 female swims to foraging grounds 

 somewhere off the Atlantic coast. 

 Incubation temperatures determine the 



sex of each egg — cooler temperatures 

 make more males, warmer ones result 

 in females. No one knows for sure how 

 many eggs actually survive to become 

 mature sea turtles, but estimates range 

 from one in every 5,000 to one in every 

 10,000, Boettcher says, 

 noting that the loggerhead 

 is threatened worldwide. 



Although beach 

 development has cut into 

 the wide-open sandy 

 spaces that the sea turtles 

 need to ensure their eggs' 

 safety, artificial lighting 

 has also disoriented 

 hatchlings on their way to 

 the ocean. Other dangers 

 come from ghost crabs, 

 foxes and raccoons that 

 find them delicious. Even 

 when baby loggerheads 

 reach the water, life is 

 tough as "everything 

 wants to eat them," 

 Boettcher says. 



Once they enter the 

 water, they swim freneti- 

 cally eastward until they 

 reach the Gulf Stream, 

 where, if they are lucky, 

 they find a large floating 

 raft of sargassum weed 

 that harbors food and 

 shelter. For several years, 

 they float along with the 

 current, eating and 

 growing. No one knows 

 exactly how long they 

 wander, a period called the 

 "lost years," before 

 returning to inhabit our coastal inshore 

 and nearshore waters, weighing from 

 20 to more than 100 pounds. 



Across the Coastal Plain, the 

 reappearance of another species — 

 this one endangered — is anticipated. 

 North Carolina now has most of the 

 remaining free-ranging red wolves in 

 the United States, of which 90 percent 

 are born wild. 



Declared extinct in the wild in 

 1 980, the last free red wolves were 

 captured in Texas and Louisiana, bred 



Bob Sools 



14 MARCH/APRIL 1997 



