Sanibel Sea turtles nesting season is in full swing and 2017 is still ahead of last year’s record-setting pace and this summer the nesting total is getting some extra help from green sea turtles.
The Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation’s weekly sea turtle nesting report includes 20 green sea turtle nests. The green sea turtle is far less common on local beaches that the loggerhead turtle.
The islands were populated by 625 nests as of Sunday, SCCF said, compared to 562 a year ago.
SCCF also reported that nests are beginning to hatch with more than 2,100 hatchlings already emerged from the beaches. Sanibel East Zone volunteers saw their first two hatchlings last week and an additional two nests hatched Saturday.
Nesting activity has slowed but SCCF said that is not unusual and may pick up again.
SCCF divides the two islands into three nesting zones. Volunteers patrol the beaches each morning to record overnight activity of new nests and false crawls, where a turtle comes ashore but doesn’t nest.
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