This has been a record-breaking summer for Georgia’s sea turtles

In the summer on Jekyll Island, researchers drive slowly up and down the beach all night, the red-shaded headlights on their utility vehicles illuminating ghost crabs and shorebirds.

Macie Broussard, a research AmeriCorps member at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, checks the time a few hours into her shift in the driver’s seat.

“I usually start drinking my coffee at midnight,” she says.