Sea Turtles are nesting on Florida beaches this month.

A Sea Turtle nest on Daytona Beach                Photo Fiona Sunquist ©

Walk along any of Florida’s Atlantic beaches this month, and you will see patches of sand marked with blue or orange flagging. Some areas have a thin wooden stake with a yellow notice attached. What do the markers signify?

The flagging marks the spot where a sea turtle has laid her eggs. At dawn every day during the May to October turtle nesting season, volunteers and park staff scour the beach for the huge telltale tracks made by female sea turtles as they come ashore to nest. About the size of the tracks of an ATV, the turtle tracks emerge from the ocean and travel up towards the dune line. Volunteers mark and list each crawl, and note if and where the turtle nested.

Three species of sea turtles – the loggerhead, green and leatherback - nest regularly on Florida’s beaches, mostly on beaches in Brevard, Palm Beach, Martin, Indian River and St Lucie counties. However, you will see posted and marked turtle nests on almost any beach along Florida’s Atlantic coast.

 

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