Intern Blog

TURTLE NESTING SEASON 2019 KICKS OFF WITH DOUBLE THE EXCITEMENT

Turtle Nesting Season 2019 in Naples | Rookery Bay Research Reserve

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and it’s finally here! Sea turtle nesting season has begun!

In the early morning hours of May 8, the turtle team headed out to Cape Romano to do our daily sea turtle nest survey. While walking along Morgan Beach, we discovered our first false crawl. Full of excitement, we headed to New Beach where we saw another crawl. This time, however, it was a nest! Woohoooo! That meant it was time to get to work.

After analyzing the crawl and carefully digging, we located the eggs. We caged the nest and recorded our data – all with the help of our volunteers, Brian McLaren and Sally Ganem. Everyone was so excited we finally had our first nest!

But wait … there’s more! Shortly after our find on New Beach, we traveled to Blind Pass and found another nest! We repeated the process of locating the eggs, caging the nest and collecting the data. What an awesome day!

Now, two weeks later, we officially have 16 nests and seven false crawls! Each of the six islands that we survey has at least one nest.

We are so excited to have such an awesome season ahead of us!

– Turtle Intern Laura Blessing

Please remember, maintaining a safe distance is imperative for a successful nesting season for all of Florida’s wild life.

Sea Turtle Nest and Sign in Naples | Rookery Bay Research Reserve

Rookery Bay Research Reserve

Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve stretches across 110,000 acres of pristine mangrove forest, uplands and protected waters. We are committed to preservation through research, education, and land protection.

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