Canaveral’s Coastal Guardians: A Season of New Beginnings with Sea Turtles
Did you know that the Sea Turtle nesting season is March through October?
The nesting season is a crucial time when female turtles return to sandy beaches on which they were born, to lay their eggs, ensuring the survival of future generations.
Sea Turtle nesting season happens annually, and monitoring of the nest begins in February. The Canaveral National Seashore has been recording sea turtle activity since 1985! These giant creatures nest all up and down our beaches. Generally, sea turtles come ashore at night during high tide to scout out their nesting spot. Once they find their spot, the turtle uses her hind flippers to dig a vase-shaped hole about two feet deep and then lays their eggs. A nesting female will lay multiple nests per nesting season!
Sea Turtles on average lay over 100 eggs. These little baby sea turtles take about 60 days to incubate in the sand and then emerge and run straight for the ocean! If the nest is warm the eggs will be female and if they’re cold they will be male.
Let’s talk about Species! The main 4 sea turtle species that are nesting here are Loggerhead (Caretta caretta), Green (Chelonia mydas), Leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea), and Kemps Ridley (Lepidochelys kempii).
The loggerhead and Green Sea Turtles are the most commonly found along our seashore. Leatherbacks are also fairly common just in lower numbers. Kemp’s Ridley and Hawksbill Turtles are rare on Canaveral National Seashore’s beaches, but they do pop up every once and a while!
The Canaveral National Seashore shares its nesting count every couple of weeks on their Facebook page and their website!
2024 Sea Turtle Nest Counts as of September 28th, 2024.
- Loggerhead (Caretta caretta): Apollo ( 2412) Playalinda ( 3158 )
- Green (Chelonia mydas): Apollo (775 ) Playalinda (1015)
- Leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea): Apollo ( 11 ) Playalinda ( 19 )
- Kemps Ridley (Lepidochelys kempii): Apollo ( 0 ) Playalinda ( 2 )
Total Sea Turtle Nest Count: 7392
We have to make sure to protect these native creatures! Here’s some advice on things you can do to protect Sea Turtles:
- Give nesting adults and their hatchlings space and take care not to disturb them.
- Turn off artificial lighting near beaches at night during nesting season.
- Properly dispose of food items to decrease predation from wildlife.
- Properly dispose of debris like fishing lines, netting and plastics.
- Keep obstacles such as beach furniture off the beach during the nesting season.
- Participate in beach cleanup events.
- Avoid buying items derived from sea turtles.
- Learn more about sea turtles and share what you learn with others!
If you find a stranded or injured sea turtle, whale, dolphin, or manatee in the State of Florida call 888-404-3922.