ANNA MARIA ISLAND – Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring reported sea turtle nesting was a little slower this week than last week, and while it’s unclear whether any records will be broken, they are expecting a good year.
Turtle Watch volunteers report seeing a lot of false crawls this season. There have been 357 so far with the season officially beginning on May 1. The record was 831 in 2010.
“False crawls are what we call it when a turtle comes up on the beach but turns around without nesting. There’s no way to truly identify why a turtle false crawled, but sometimes they are spooked by people walking on the beach at night,” Turtle Watch Executive Director Kristen Mazzarella wrote in a June 18 email update.
Turtle Watch conducts their patrols in the morning so as not to disturb nesting turtles and recommends that people stay off the beach at night during nesting season.
“Even the most conscientious person can inadvertently spook a turtle that is coming onto the beach to nest,” Mazzarella wrote. “If you are on the beach at night, please remember not to use white lights on the beach (this includes cell phones and flash photography) and if you use a red light, point it directly at the ground. If you come across a sea turtle, stay at least 20 feet away from the turtle, out of her line of sight.”
NESTING NEWS:
Turtle nests laid: 209 (Record: 543 in 2019)
False crawls: 357 (Record: 831 in 2010)
Nests hatched: 0 (Record: 453 in 2022)
Hatchlings produced: 0 (Record: 35,850 in 2022)
Hatchling disorientations: 0
Adult disorientations: 17
Nests remaining on beach: 209
Source: Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring
