ANNA MARIA – More than 100 beachgoers saw an uncommon sight when a nesting loggerhead sea turtle laid her eggs during the day on June 26, the second daytime nesting in a week.
Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring volunteers posted photos and the following on its Facebook page: “What an awesome afternoon in Anna Maria Wednesday! We had a day nester loggerhead! She remained on the beach for approximately one hour. Around 100 people of all ages were very respectful and gave her space. Everyone cheered as she returned to the Gulf!”
“It is not very common to see daytime nesting turtles and we did have two in one week,” Executive Director Kristen Mazzarella wrote in a July 3 email to The Sun. “I do not know what would cause them to nest during the day either. I just know that it is a rare occurrence.”
Mazzarella speculated that with this being a record year for sea turtle nests on the Island, it may just be a matter of numbers or a reaction to disturbances during typical night nesting.
“If you have that many nests, you may see a few daytime nesters,” she wrote. “If a turtle is disturbed and leaves the beach without nesting, she will have to return another time to lay her nest and that might mean nesting at a time that finds her on the beach in the morning or having to come up during the day.”
She reminded visitors to leave the beach to the turtles at night so that people don’t inadvertently disturb a turtle coming ashore or nesting on the beach. Cell phone lights are especially disruptive to sea turtles.
TURTLE TIPS
During sea turtle season, May 1 – Oct. 31, follow these tips to help turtles:
• Turn off lights visible from the beach and close blinds from sundown to sunrise; lights confuse nesting sea turtles and may cause them to go back to sea and drop their eggs in the water, where they won’t hatch. Light can also attract hatchlings away from the water.
• Don’t use flashlights, lanterns or camera flashes on the beach at night.
• Remove all beach chairs and other objects from the sand from sundown to sunrise; they can deter sea turtles from nesting and disorient hatchlings.
• Fill in the holes you dig in the sand before leaving the beach; they can trap nesting and hatching sea turtles, which cannot live long out of the water. You might also accidentally dig into an unmarked nest. To report large holes or other turtle obstacles, call:
• City of Anna Maria code enforcement — 941-708-6130, ext. 111.
• City of Bradenton Beach code enforcement — 941-778-1005, ext. 227.
• City of Holmes Beach code enforcement — 941-778-0331, ext. 260.
• Level sandcastles before leaving the beach; they can block hatchlings from the water.
• Don’t use balloons, wish lanterns or fireworks; they litter the beach and Gulf, and turtles can ingest the debris.
• Do not trim trees and plants that shield the beach from lights.
• Never touch a sea turtle; it’s the law. If you see people disturbing turtles, call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Wildlife Alert hotline at 888-404-FWCC (3922).
