130-plus sea turtle nests found and night tagging underway
The Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation reported that it is clear sea turtles have arrived on the islands. As of May 18, its sea turtle team had documented 136 nests between Sanibel and Captiva.
“From lots of requests for pink flags for volunteers to mark off nests, to making sure the UTVs are stocked with nest screens, to our morning surveys encroaching upon the early afternoon, it’s clear that more turtles have arrived,” sea turtle biologist Jack Brzoza said. “Each beach has had a substantial increase in activity, and our current nest count has tripled over the last week.”
Most of the nests have been laid by loggerheads — the most common nesting sea turtle on Sanibel-Captiva — while three were laid by green sea turtles. Coastal Wildlife Director and Sea Turtle Program Coordinator Kelly Sloan reported that green sea turtles typically start nesting later than loggerheads, but they have started nesting a bit earlier in recent years. The first one this year was found on May 12.
Last year, 17 nests of a total 786 were laid by green sea turtles. They are more commonly found nesting along the south-central east coast of Florida.
“It won’t be too long before we begin to see hatchlings emerge,” Sloan said.
NIGHTTIME TAGGING BEGINS
In addition to morning nest monitoring, the SCCF’s sea turtle team also conducts an annual nighttime tagging project, which includes nightly, sunset-to-sunrise beach patrols in search of nesting females.
During nighttime patrols, sea turtles are checked for tags. If none are present, staff apply a flipper tag — placed on a scale located on the turtle’s front flippers — and a Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tag on the turtle. The tags allow biologists to see an individual sea turtle’s nesting and movement patterns, which can help inform research and conservation.
Many encountered turtles are repeat visitors to Sanibel and already have tags, but most have not been to the island in a couple of years since loggerheads typically only nest every two to three years.
“On our very first night, we encountered five turtles who already had tags — two of them twice,” Sloan said. “Ligonberry had previously only been seen once in 2019, and we observed her during a false crawl and then a nest. Coconut has been seen in 2017 and 2019, and Banded Tulip is a frequent nester, observed in 2016, 2018, 2020 and now 2023.”
Since the SCCF’s tagging project began in 2016, staff have encountered nearly 930 unique individual sea turtles.
For more ways to protect and care for sea turtles, visit https://sancaplifesavers.org/sea-turtles/.
To report a nest or false crawl, or for concerns about nesting or injured sea turtles, contact the SCCF Sea Turtle Hotline at 978-728-3663 (978-SAVE-ONE).