November 21, 2013

2013 Nesting Season Wrap Up

We said the same about last season, but…what a season! This summer was the third highest nesting year on record for Sanibel and Captiva. Sanibel finished the 2013 nesting season with 328 loggerhead nests, 21 green turtle nests, and 511 false crawls (509 loggerhead and 2 green). Captiva had 132 loggerhead nests, 2 green turtle nests, and 80 false crawls (78 loggerhead and 2 green).

Loggerhead turtle nest on Sanibel. Photo by: A. Bryant

 Unlike last year, which suffered from the impacts of two tropical storms, hatch success this year was great! Sanibel and Captiva had 258 and 119 hatches respectively. This summer our beaches produced 26,641 live hatchlings!

Loggerhead turtle hatchlings crawling to the Gulf at dawn. Photo by: A. Bryant

Overall, green turtle nesting was up statewide this year. While the final numbers are not in, yet, the 2013 nesting season appears to be the best on record for this species. Sanibel and Captiva were no exception. Our previous record for green turtle nesting was eight nests (7 on Sanibel and 1 on Captiva). During the 2013 nesting season we documented 23 nests (21 on Sanibel and 2 on Captiva) on the Islands!
Female green turtle crawling to the Gulf at dawn after nesting. Photo by: L. Linsmayer