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Turtle Watch commemorates Suzi Fox Day

Written by Leslie Lake on . Posted in Outdoors, Sea turtles.

ANNA MARIA ISLAND – As turtle nesting season begins, Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring (AMITW) declared May 1 as Suzi Fox Day to honor the legacy of its former executive director.

May 1 is the official start of sea turtle nesting season on Anna Maria Island, although the first turtle nest was laid in April this year. The season ends on Oct. 31.

“Suzi’s passion for protecting sea turtles enriched the community conservation efforts of AMITW for over 30 years and we dedicate this sea turtle nesting season to her,” Turtle Watch Director Kristen Mazzarella said.

“As part of our efforts to honor Suzi, we are renaming our Adopt-a-Nest Program in her memory,” Mazzarella said.

The “Suzi L. Fox Adopt-a-Nest” program allows donors to symbolically adopt a sea turtle nest laid on Island beaches. Proceeds from the program help Turtle Watch protect sea turtles and provide education and outreach.

Turtle Watch commemorates Suzi Fox Day
Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring dedicated this plaque in memory of late executive director Suzi Fox. – Submitted | Turtle Watch

A plaque intended to be placed on a nest laid on May 1 says in part, “In Loving Memory of Suzi L. Fox. Her legacy continues as the Sea Turtles and Shorebirds return to AMI.”

“Only the turtles know which nest it will be,” Mazzarella said.

For the safety of the nest and hatchlings, AMITW does not disclose the nesting dates or locations of nests, Mazzarella said.

May 1 was also proclaimed “Suzi Fox Day” in the city of Bradenton Beach.

The Bradenton Beach City Commission issued the proclamation in January to honor Fox, who served as Turtle Watch director until her death on Sept. 30, 2022.

Under Fox’s directorship, the organization grew.

“In three decades, we monitored 7,339 turtle activities, protected 4,454 nests, 301,694 turtle eggs, and watched 271,680 hatchlings depart to become a future generation of loggerheads that will return to the region as they reach maturity,” according to the Turtle Watch website.

Sea turtles on the Island broke both nesting and hatchling records in 2022.

First turtle nest of season found early on AMI

First turtle nest of season found early on AMI

Written by Leslie Lake on . Posted in Featured, Outdoors, Sea turtles.

ANNA MARIA ISLAND – Island sea turtles are getting off to an early start as the first nest of the season on the Gulf Coast of Florida has appeared on Anna Maria Island.

“AMITW got a big surprise early this morning, finding the first loggerhead nest of the season,” Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring Executive Director Kristen Mazzarella wrote in an April 18 statement.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) told Mazzarella that the AMI nest was the first found on the state’s west coast. She said it is likely the earliest nest in the history of Turtle Watch.

Turtle season officially begins on May 1 and runs through Oct. 31. Turtle Watch volunteers started to patrol on April 15 at the directive of the FWC. Days later, volunteers found the crawl.

“We are excited to start the nesting season on Anna Maria Island and look forward to a productive season protecting nests and educating the public,” said Mazzarella, who began her new job at Turtle Watch this month.

In 2022, two records were broken by local loggerhead sea turtles. The number of hatched nests in September reached 453, edging out the 2018 record of 447, and a record 35,850 hatchlings exceeded the prior record of 35,788 set in 2018.

Sea turtles rescued on Bridge Street

Sea turtles rescued on Bridge Street

Written by Jason Schaffer on . Posted in Outdoors, Sea turtles.

BRADENTON BEACH – Sea turtle nesting season is in full swing on the Island, and while some locals and visitors have been lucky enough to get a glimpse of newly-hatched babies heading from their nest to the Gulf of Mexico, it doesn’t always go as planned.

That was the case on Aug. 24 when someone reported they saw turtle hatchlings in the storm drain on Bridge Street.

Bradenton Beach Police Officer John Tsakiri arrived on the scene and knew they needed to act quickly to rescue the turtles.

Sea turtles rescued on Bridge Street
West Manatee Fire Rescue opens the storm drain on Bridge Street to rescue seven newly-hatched sea turtles that had become disoriented. – Submitted

“They probably hatched the night before, got disoriented and came across Gulf Drive where they fell in the storm grate,” Tsakiri said. “Somebody saw them and told the manager of Island Time, who was looking for me, so I called the fire department and asked if they could come and open up these big metal grates. They came down, we got a big box, and lifted the two grates up where we got three (turtles) out of one drain and four out of the other one.”

The drains the turtles fell into were located in front of the Daiquiri Deck on one side of Bridge Street and in front of the Bridge Walk Hotel on the other side. Tsakiri says this isn’t the first time the turtles have lost their way and ended up on Bridge Street.

“We’ve already seen a bunch of them in the Circle K parking lot and on Bridge Street,” Tsakiri said. “None of those pipes lead out to the ocean, so they’re not crawling through the pipes, they have to be crossing the streets.”

While at least 30 people gathered to watch the rescue effort and take pictures, Tsakiri said that he and the fire department were the ones who picked up the turtles and placed them in the box. Both departments have dealt with lost turtles on many occasions, and have considerable experience in doing everything possible to get them to safety. The hatchling sea turtles were released into the Gulf of Mexico.

Sea turtles rescued on Bridge Street
Newly-hatched sea turtles were rescued from a storm drain on Bridge Street in Bradenton Beach. – Submitted

Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring says there are many things people can do to minimize the chances of newly-hatched turtles being disoriented, but the three most important things are to keep the beach clean, dark and flat:

  • CLEAN: Keep the beach clean by picking up litter and removing tents, chairs and belongings at the end of the day. Sea turtles can get entangled in junk left on the beach.
  • DARK: Sea turtles nest in the dark. Lights disorient nesting sea turtles and distract hatchlings on their way to the ocean. Turn off flashlights, cell phone lights and porch lights. Hatchlings follow the natural light from the moon.
  • FLAT: A flat beach is a safe beach for nesting sea turtles, hatchlings and visitors as well. Fill in holes and knock down sandcastles before leaving the beach.

It’s not just turtles that find themselves needing rescue. Tsakiri said just a couple of days before the turtles became trapped, he found a seagull he thought had been killed.

“I picked it up on the street and it wasn’t moving, so I brought it to my patrol car and as I was walking it just came back to life,” Tsakiri said. “I took it up to Ed Straight’s place, Wildlife Inc., and he said it was doing really well. I think they’re going to let it go today.”

Tsakiri has also rescued a raccoon stuck in a car engine bay, a large lizard that somebody had as a pet and let go, and while admittedly not a fan of snakes, he recalled a time recently when he had to wrangle a pet boa constrictor someone released. It wound up in a woman’s laundry room on Bay Drive.

On Anna Maria Island, police officers’ jobs entail much more than just helping the public and fighting crime, they are often the first ones, and sometimes the only ones, available to save the wildlife that is part of what makes the Island such a unique place.

Anyone that comes across an animal in distress or observes a non-native species such as a constrictor snake should contact the local police department or wildlife experts such as Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Inc. at 941-778-6324. Do not attempt to assist wild animals without consulting a professional. Even animals that may appear docile or look like they are dead, may not be, and bites from many animals can carry diseases such as rabies, or even be venomous.

Elsa impacts sea turtle, shorebird nests

Elsa impacts sea turtle, shorebird nests

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Birds, Outdoors, Sea turtles.

ANNA MARIA ISLAND – Tropical Storm Elsa washed over the Island on July 6 and 7, taking some shorebird eggs and chicks with it, and soaking some sea turtle nests in the sand, perhaps for too long.

But Suzi Fox, director of Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring, remains optimistic.

The first sea turtle nest of the season hatched last week, producing 77 hatchlings.

“Water came up over many nests,” she said. “Are we upset about it? No, it’s nature. Many of those nests will still hatch. Turtles and birds have been at this a lot longer than we have.”

Each June or July, a storm hits the Island, but nesting always resumes and sometimes picks up speed, she said.

With the recent beach renourishment, “Manatee County has done everything they could to have the best nesting beach in Florida,” Fox said. “We’re still going to get washovers. That’s why sea turtles nest up to three times a season.”

While about 25% of sea turtle nests on the Island were lost last week, “The girls are continuing to nest,” she said, including a rare green turtle that nested July 9, only the third green turtle so far this nesting season, which began on May 1. The rest of the turtle nests on the Island are loggerhead sea turtles.

Elsa impacts sea turtle, shorebird nests
This sea turtle egg washed up in a canal in Bimini Bay after Tropical Storm Elsa passed over Anna Maria Island. – Cindy Lane | Sun

Among the shorebirds, only least terns are nesting this year – no black skimmers, Fox said.

The storm surge on the Gulf of Mexico beaches inundated the least tern colony, she said. While all 120 bird parents survived, only two of 15 chicks survived.

“Now that the water has receded, the adults are back on new eggs,” she said, adding that five newly-hatched chicks have been documented since the storm.

Volunteers do the counting and nest identification, but numbers of volunteers are down from more than 100 to about 20 due to COVID-19, which caused Fox to decide last year to have a few volunteers use ATVs to monitor nests rather than have dozens walk sections of the beach, risking contact with curious beachgoers.

On an ATV, “They can find 20 nests in one day,” she said. “On a day of walking, they can find maybe one.”

Turtle nesting season ends Oct. 31. Bird nesting season is active through the end of August.

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Turtle rainbow

Nesting News

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Outdoors, Sea turtles.

Turtle nests laid: 349 (Record: 544 in 2019)

False crawls: 450

Nests hatched: 289

Hatchlings hatched: 20,237 (Record: 35,788 in 2018)

Nest disorientations: 1

Source: Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring

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Turtle nesting down on AMI

Another turtle generation paddles into the sunset

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Outdoors, Sea turtles.

ANNA MARIA ISLAND – At least 27,298 sea turtle hatchlings scurried safely to the Gulf of Mexico this year from Anna Maria, Holmes Beach and Bradenton Beach, Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring Director Suzi Fox told volunteers today.

While the babies didn’t break the record of 35,788 hatchlings set in 2018, the mamas broke the 2018 nesting record of 534 by 10 nests. Another 568 nesting attempts were abandoned, known as “false crawls.” Slightly lower egg counts in this season’s nests are a mystery, Fox said, with nests averaging 66 eggs apiece.

As Turtle Watch held its annual end-of-season luncheon, two of three remaining nests were still on the beach waiting to hatch. Tropical Storm Nestor destroyed the third nest on Oct. 19 when it pushed higher-than-normal tides onto the beach. The season ends on Oct. 31.

Erosion from recent storms affecting Holmes Beach south to Longboat Pass will be corrected by a beach renourishment project in 2020 during part of sea turtle nesting season. The project will put heavy equipment on the beach, necessitating that some of next year’s surveys will be done by ATV instead of by beach walkers, and that some of the eggs will have to be relocated, Fox said. Turtle Watch will not be accepting new volunteers in 2020 because of the renourishment.

This year’s shorebird program was virtually non-existent, with two snowy plover nests that fledged three chicks each, she said, adding that one potential reason is people intentionally chasing off the birds from their nesting areas.

Fox recognized new volunteers Carla Boehme and Linda ONeal cq, who began volunteering this year.

She also remembered volunteers Ron Edmonds and Vicki Staley, who both passed away during this year’s nesting season, and noted that volunteers Debbie and Henry Stachura walked with Staley on the beach as her health failed.

Fox honored section coordinators for their service: Joe and Cindy Richmond, Debbie and Bob Haynes, Debbie Basilius, Fran Kramer, Pete Gross, Birgit Kremer, Hans Derr, Kathy Doddridge, Lee and Marvin Zerkel and Kathy Noonan.

She thanked sisters Monica and Barbara Riskay for overseeing Turtle Watch merchandise, which brings in donations, and Turtle Watch staff photographer Amy Waterbury, a frequent Sun contributor.

Fox also thanked “Friends of Turtle Watch,” including Allen Morrison and his grandson, Ryder “Buddy” Odem, who walk the beach daily to pick up trash, Gracie Alfieri, who brought her visiting family members on survey walks and Bradenton Beach Mayor John Chappie, who is working with Florida Power and Light to retrofit street lights with sea turtle-friendly bulbs.

She also thanked former Turtle Watch volunteer John DeFazio, who taught Fox how to excavate turtle nests, making her count the eggshells, throwing them back in the nest and making her recount again until she got the same number, and his friend and Turtle Watch supporter Margaret Finley.

Turtle rainbow

Nesting News

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Outdoors, Sea turtles.

Turtle Watch logoTurtle nests laid: 544 (beating the 2018 record of 534!)
False crawls: 568
Nests hatched: 413
Hatchlings hatched: 27,298 (2018 record: 35,788)
Nest disorientations: 55

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Good, bad records mark turtle season

Good, bad records mark turtle season

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Outdoors, Sea turtles.

ANNA MARIA ISLAND – With three weeks left in turtle nesting and hatching season, sea turtles have set a nesting record, with 544 nests so far, beating the previous record set in 2018 of 534.

But another record is nothing to celebrate.

More disorientations – 59 – have happened this year than ever before, Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch Director Suzi Fox said.

The reason? In most cases, it’s lighting that does not comply with federal, state or local laws.

Turtles, both adults and hatchlings, can lose their way back to the Gulf of Mexico when distracted by outdoor – and indoor – lights from beachfront buildings, parking lot lights, car headlights, street lights, cell phone lights, flashlights and other light sources, including “sky glow,” a general lightening of the sky from a combination of lights.

This year, the sky glow from the Anna Maria Island Centre shopping plaza on East Bay Drive in Holmes Beach is brighter than ever, said Fox, adding that the light is visible from the nesting beaches, which is a violation of turtle laws.

The laws were written to protect imperiled species, including the loggerhead and green sea turtles that nest on the Island. Both are on the federal list of threatened species.

From June 10 through Sept. 23, eight nesting adult females were disoriented after nesting, and one nesting adult female was disoriented while attempting to nest, resulting in the termination of the nesting attempt, known as a “false crawl,” according to Turtle Watch records, based on turtle track observations.

Hatchling statistics are even more grim. One nest with between two and 10 hatchlings was disoriented; 15 nests with between 11 and 50 hatchlings were disoriented and 34 nests with more than 50 hatchlings were disoriented.

The disorientations were worst in Holmes Beach, with Anna Maria having 10, Bradenton Beach having 21 and Holmes Beach having 28.

Most disoriented hatchlings from just north of 80th Street in Holmes Beach crawled south as far as 10 blocks due to lights, Fox said, with some turning onto streets with lights at the end of the streets. Some lights are on beachfront properties, she said.

Fox has purchased a meter to measure sky glow for next season, which she hopes will break another record – no disorientations.

Turtle Watch, resort working to improve lighting

Turtle Watch, resort working to improve lighting

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Outdoors, Sea turtles.

HOLMES BEACH – Outdoor lighting at the Anna Maria Beach Resort is expected to become more turtle-friendly and safer for people after discussions following a code compliance hearing last week.

Lights from the former Blue Water Beach Resort, 6306 Gulf Drive, were among those that disoriented a loggerhead sea turtle nest during Fourth of July festivities, with some hatchlings dying and Holmes Beach police rescuing about 40, said Suzi Fox, director of Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring.

Holmes Beach code officers brought the resort to task before a special magistrate on July 31.

The city’s turtle lighting ordinance is designed to keep nesting and hatching turtles from seeing any lights from the beach to prevent them from being temporarily blinded as they seek the Gulf of Mexico.

City Code Compliance Supervisor James Thomas reported that the resort had been notified that its lighting was out of compliance with the city code on May 31. The resort changed to turtle-friendly bulbs just two days before the hearing, bringing the property into compliance with city law, he said.

But Fox remained concerned about the resort’s stairwell lighting, which she said could disorient hatchlings in another 16 nests on the beach – containing up to 100 turtle hatchlings each – including a nest laid by Bortie Too, satellite-tagged in June by the Sea Turtle Conservancy.

Resort attorney Aaron Thomas said that resort owners are concerned with “significant life safety issues” such as accidents or crime if all lighting on the beach-facing side of the property is dimmed.

After discussions following the hearing with resort representatives, the resort “is willing to go the extra mile” to keep turtles and people safe, even though it is officially in compliance with city code, Fox said. “We are going to work with them to get better lighting in the stairways to keep people safe and keep turtles happy.”

Turtle Watch will contact the Sea Turtle Conservancy for help to obtain more turtle-friendly light bulbs that also provide adequate lighting for people, Fox said. Turtle Watch already has donated 18 turtle-friendly bulbs to the city for free distribution, one to a customer, with additional bulbs available at cost for $22 each from Turtle Watch. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission-approved bulbs also are available at retailers.

Amber bulbs made for turtle beach applications are preferable to red bulbs, she said, because they give out more light while remaining turtle friendly; however, “bug” bulbs painted amber do not work. Downward-facing fixtures are preferred to keep light from being visible on the beach.

Beachfront property owners anywhere on the Island with questions about getting turtle-friendly bulbs may call Fox at 941-778-5638.

Youngster raises money for turtles and shorebirds

Youngster raises money for turtles and shorebirds

Written by Tom Vaught on . Posted in Outdoors, Sea turtles.

Spencer Quinlivan is a 9 1/2-year-old animal lover from Pinellas County with a soft spot for sea turtles and shorebirds. He visits the Island regularly, staying in a house owned by his grandparents, and quickly became aware of Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring.

A few weeks ago, he decided to raise money as a school project by selling lemonade, bananas and cookies on Pinellas Trail. According to his father, Patrick Quinlivan, it was cool and windy, and not too many people needed to cool down.

“Luckily, there was a busy police station with a lot of foot traffic,” Patrick Quinlivan said. “They all came by and if they weren’t thirsty, they just donated money. He ended up with $215.22.”

The family visited the Island a couple of weeks ago and found Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring Director Suzi Fox, who was impressed with Spencer. She arranged a visit to the Manatee County Marine Rescue headquarters, on Sunday, April 28, thanks to rescue chief Joe Westerman, and Spencer got a Turtle Watch ATV ride down the beach in addition to the Marine Rescue ride personnel Morgan Bakulski and A.J. Nelson gave him.

Fox took the money and applied it to AMITW’s education fund, and Spencer went home with a box of promotional and educational items.

“This is what is so right about our Manatee County,” Fox said.

Spencer said he learned a lot about sea turtles.

“I found out that the wrong lights at night are dangerous,” he said. “We have to use the right lights so the turtles don’t come to the shore instead of out to sea.”

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Turtle season is here

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Environment, Outdoors, Sea turtles.

BRADENTON BEACH – It’s the first week of sea turtle nesting season, and while turtles jumped the gun on Longboat Key, none have nested so far on Anna Maria Island, according to Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring Director Suzi Fox.

Turtle Watch volunteers have reported three false crawls, turtles that crawl onto the beach to nest but return to the Gulf without doing so, sometimes due to obstructions on the beach or lights.

Fox is relieved that a snowy plover finally laid a nest this spring on the Island; it contains a sole egg, she said, and is roped off to protect the threatened bird species.

Anna Maria Island cities are enforcing local ordinances protecting the two threatened turtle species that nest locally, loggerheads and green turtles.

From May 1 to Oct. 31, residents and visitors to the Island must be careful that light is not visible from their windows and doors facing the Gulf of Mexico to the west or the Intracoastal Waterway to the east.

That’s because light can make both nesting and hatching turtles lose their way to the water, leading, in some cases, to their deaths from dehydration or predators. Turtles most often nest on Gulf beaches, but occasionally nest on the bayside, according to Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring statistics.

Code officials are conducting lighting inspections beginning this week, and Bradenton Beach Code Enforcement Officer Gail Garneau advises property owners and rental agents to be proactive in monitoring their properties for compliance during nesting season.

Visit the beach at night to see whether your lighting is visible, she suggests. Turn off or shield all lights that are visible from the beach from sunset to sunrise, or change to turtle-friendly bulbs to avoid leaving people in the dark.

Also remember to remove beach furniture and other items from the beach, or pull them back behind the front dune line, from sunset to sunrise to keep nesting sea turtles from becoming entangled, and fill in any holes dug in the sand before sunset to avoid entrapping turtles and injuring people.

Island cities must enforce turtle ordinances to continue to qualify to have the beaches renourished, according to Garneau. Turtles also are protected by state and federal laws.

A record 534 turtle nests were laid on the Island in 2018.

Literature on being turtle friendly is available online and at City Hall.

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Egmont Key ruins in water

Egmont renourishment halted by turtle deaths

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Beach, Featured, Outdoors, Sea turtles.

EGMONT KEY – The renourishment of Egmont Key’s critically-eroded beaches is at a standstill because the project resulted in the deaths of six sea turtles, the maximum allowed.

The $10 million project, which began last month and was suspended on Dec. 2, is expected to resume in late spring or early summer, before hurricane season, said Susan Jackson, with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Jacksonville corporate communications office.

Egmont Key, home of historic Fort Dade, lies north of Anna Maria Island in Tampa Bay. Its western shore was set to get sand dredged from 17 miles of the Tampa Harbor Egmont and Mullet Key channel cuts.

Egmont renourishment
Egmont Key beach renourishment is halted due to turtle deaths. – Katie Field | Sun

The dredge removed about 100,000 cubic yards of material from the channel, completing about 25 percent of the dredging project. About 40,000 cubic yards of sand was placed on the beach at Egmont Key from Nov. 26 to Dec. 2, she said, adding that the channel is not yet in critical need of dredging, so the delay is not expected to cause problems with shipping.

Six turtles were “taken,” or killed, including three loggerheads and three Kemp’s ridleys, between Nov. 25-30 during the Tampa Harbor project, and were identified by two endangered species observers on board the dredge around the clock, she said.

The word “take,” defined by the federal Endangered Species Act, means to “harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct.”

Egmont renourishment
Egmont Key beach renourishment is stalled until spring or summer. – Katie Field | Sun

The Corps is permitted to take four loggerheads and three Kemp’s ridleys in all its Gulf of Mexico dredging projects from Oct. 1, 2018 through Sept. 30, 2019 under NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service regulations, Jackson said. Most takes are caused by dredge suction.

Egmont Key is a nesting ground for sea turtles, gopher tortoises and shorebirds, and is protected by state and federal law as Egmont Key State Park and Egmont Key National Wildlife Refuge.

Sea turtles broke nesting records on Egmont the past two years, with the 2018 season that ended on Oct. 31 producing 150 nests, according to the Egmont Key Alliance.

The project was timed for winter in part to avoid sea turtles and allow wave action to naturally sort the sand and silt to make it suitable for the 2019 turtle nesting season, which begins May 1.

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Turtle season soars into record books

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Outdoors, Sea turtles.

ANNA MARIA ISLAND – The 2018 sea turtle season on Anna Maria Island is a record-breaking success, due to the turtles and the volunteers of Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring, director Suzi Fox said at the annual banquet on Saturday.

Out of a record 534 turtle nests laid, 447 nests hatched, producing a record 35,788 hatchlings, about 10,000 more than in 2017, she said. About half the turtles that climbed up on the beach this season nested.

Not all news was good, however.

Fifty nests were disoriented by lights, which confuse both nesting and hatching turtles, keeping mothers from laying nests and attracting hatchlings away from the water.

Four nests were washed into the Gulf of Mexico by Hurricane Michael.

And for the first time in the organization’s 36-year history, a dog dug into a nest and pulled out the hatchlings, a week before they were due to hatch.

Dogs are not allowed on Anna Maria Island beaches.

Coyotes also have been spotted on the beach for the first time, she said, adding that there is no evidence of them digging into nests.

With 20 new volunteers this year, Turtle Watch will not be accepting any new people in 2019, Fox said.

She cited volunteers for their special contributions: Kathy Noonan, for the Adopt-a-Nest program and office work; Scott Riggs, Linda and Pat Caldwell for nest stakes and office work; Maggie Carter, Barbara Riskey, Denise Gardner, Cindy Richmond, Bob Haynes and Lynn Brennen for giving Turtle Talks; Dave Ault “for just about everything;” Karen Norton for bird surveys and Amy Waterbury for photos.

Suzi Fox
Although all recorded nests have hatched, it’s still lights out until Oct. 31 for those that may have been overlooked.

Fox recognized coordinators with free car washes and said thanks and farewell to Mary Lechleidner and Marilyn George, who are retiring from Turtle Watch.

Turtle season officially ends on Oct. 31, but while all marked nests have been accounted for on the Island, some nests may have been laid that were not discovered and marked. Please continue to comply with turtle lighting ordinances and keep beach-facing windows dark.

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Where’s Bortie?

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Outdoors, Sea turtles.

Picking up the pace and moving ahead to 11th place from 12th in a field of 13, loggerhead sea turtle Bortie continues to swim off Everglades National Park in the Sea Turtle Conservancy’s 11th Annual Tour de Turtles.

Bortie has traveled 128 miles since the race began on Aug. 1. The event is part of the organization’s research project tracking satellite-tagged turtles to determine where and how far they migrate.

Bortie was satellite tagged and released on Coquina Beach on June 19, and is sponsored by the Conservancy, Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring, Waterline Marina Resort in Holmes Beach and Bortell’s Lounge in Anna Maria, for which she is named.

Bortie’s nest hatched successfully in August.

Where's Bortie
Bortie is still hanging around the Florida Keys in the Tour de Turtles race.

Help hatchlings; leave lights home

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Featured, Outdoors, Sea turtles.

It’s a trend that’s concerning state and local turtle officials – vacationers are increasingly taking the whole family out to the beach at night to check all the sea turtle nests with cell phone flashlights.

A recent viral video by the Anna Maria Island Chamber of Commerce depicting turtle hatchlings scurrying to the Gulf of Mexico has sparked a rash of souvenir-seekers illuminating nests with cell phone flashlights, which can be deadly for turtles, Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring Director Suzi Fox said.

Lights from cell phones and other sources temporarily blind hatchlings trying to find the water, as well as mother turtles, which are still nesting for the next couple of weeks, and beachgoers, she said, adding that no one knows whether turtle vision is permanently impaired by artificial lights.

No one would intentionally shine an LED flashlight in a newborn infant’s eyes, the equivalent of a turtle hatchling, Fox said.

“Those few minutes going to the sea are precious to them,” Fox said, explaining that if they are disoriented by lights, they could crawl away from the water, where they can become dehydrated, be hit by cars or attacked by predators.

At a nest that hatched one night last week, a large family surrounded it, shining cell phone lights at the hatchlings. While the hatchlings made it to the Gulf, their temporary blindness could have caused them to lose their bearings and come back ashore later, she said.

“Did that nest get disoriented? We don’t know, it could have,” she said, adding that recent rains have obliterated hatchling tracks by the time Turtle Watch volunteers arrive at dawn to track them.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission paid a visit to the Island last week to check nests; sea turtles are protected by state and local laws. Loggerheads are threatened species, one step away from the endangered category.

A turtle-friendly flashlight is available, but it cannot be used continuously, Fox emphasized.

“You have to click it on and click it off quickly,” she said. “It can’t be a constant light because hatchlings will follow it and it will disorient mothers.”

Eight nests have disoriented so far this season on the Island. Nests are expected to continue hatching through Oct. 31, the end of the turtle season, and possibly beyond.

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