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Keep an eye out for turtle nests!
This Florida red-bellied cooter chose a nice open sandy spot to nest on a hiking path near a lake. Keep your eyes open for nesting turtles while you are enjoying the outdoors, and never intentionally disturb a nesting turtle! Turtle nests, like this one, are highly vulnerable to predation from animals like raccoons and invasive species like fire ants. Some turtle species nest many times a year to increase the odds of hatchling success. Find out more about Florida’s turtles by searching “MyFWC turtle” online.
FWC photo by Karen Parker
July 23, 2010 - Gulf Breeze, Florida. Lorna Patrick, Deputy Project Leader of the U.S. Fish and Wildife Service Panama City, Florida, Ecological Services and Fisheries Resources Office, (right) and Monica Hardin, Biological Science Technician, National Park Service Gulf Islands Naional Seashore, dig a Kemp's ridley sea turtle nest. The species is the rarest of the Gulf Coast endangered sea turtles. Credit: Catherine J. Hibbard/USFWS
On May 1, Regional Program Administrator Scott Eastman, GTM Research Reserve Resource Management Coordinator Candace Killian and volunteers relocated a leatherback sea turtle nest that was discovered in the beach renourishment area. Volunteers Joan and Richard Becker, and Michelle Simonds spent over an hour and a half digging before Scott and Candace arrived and dug for another hour and a half before the eggs were found! Photo: Candace Killian.
July 23, 2010 - Gulf Breeze, Florida. Biologists excavate 89 eggs from a Kemp's ridley sea turtle nest at the National Park Service's Gulf Islands Naional Seashore near Fort Pickens. Credit: Catherine J. Hibbard/USFWS
We saw some turtle tracks leading to a nest early one morning while walking on the beach. I love to wake up and see how many have made the crawl the night before. We love these turtles!
Turtle nesting is a serious affair. Lights out are strictly enforced. The baby turtles will head towards the lights instead of the ocean.
Taken on A1A Lake Worth, Florida
...and finding the ratio of hatched, fertile eggs to non-fertile ones.
National Park Service Rangers patrol the 12+ miles long National Seashore beach each day. They set up protected areas for piping plover and sea turtle nests. Here is one of the Rangers, checking the status of a loggerhead turtle nest that had hatched two nights ago. She dug up up the nest and brought out all the egg shells - this nest had a terrific success ratio: 115 hatched shells, 23 infertile eggs and 0 dead hatchlings.