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Special Summer Events at Sea turtle nesting season runs
Rookery Bay from May through October
Summer Art Exhibit: "100 Years in Southwest Florida. Here
of Collier County’s Waterfront by are some important tips to
Paul Arsenault" remember to help protect these
Exhibit Opens May 2 endangered animals:
May 4, 5:30 - 7 p.m. - Free opening •Clean up debris. Remove beach
reception with wine and light bites. chairs, umbrellas, gazebos and trash.
RSVPs required at rookerybay.org/
events. •Keep it dark. Turn off beach
lights and use turtle-friendly
Collier County Centennial flashlights at night.
Celebration
May 5, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. •Keep it flat. Fill holes, flatten
Free admission for Collier County sandcastles and eliminate any
residents. obstacles for crawling hatchlings.

Mother's Day Concert
May 13, 2-3 p.m.
Students and teachers from Arts
Planet will perform on piano, guitar,
violin and harp and as vocalists.

Visit RookeryBay.org
to learn more about upcoming
events and programs at the
Rookery Bay Environmental
Learning Center. Also,
Naturalist-led boat and
kayak eco-tours are available
all summer long!
Rookery Bay Protects
Sea Turtle Nests and Hatchlings

All Summer Long

ummertime may be the hottest time of In approximately 60 days, the nests will begin to hatch and
the year in Southwest Florida, but it’s the team waits and watches for baby sea turtles. Once the eggs
Salso the most exciting at Rookery Bay hatch, the team returns to remove the cages, excavate the nests
National Estuarine Research Reserve. That’s and count the empty shells to determine hatchling numbers.
because it’s sea turtle nesting season! This Sometimes a few straggler baby turtles are still in the nest. Staff
is the time of year when giant Loggerhead will release those little ones onto the beach to make their final
sea turtle mothers leave the Gulf of Mexico crawl into the water. All the nesting and hatchling data is shared
to nest on white sandy beaches along the with county and state-wide partners to monitor and conserve sea
coast. Rookery Bay biologists then watch and wait for the arrival turtle populations in Florida for generations to come.
of thousands of baby sea turtle hatchlings! Despite the extensive impacts of Hurricane Ian in 2022,
The Rookery Bay Sea Turtle Team monitors nests along Collier County documented an increase in sea turtle nests likely
beaches in the southern end of the reserve in Cape Romano because the storm struck at the end of September and the tail-
and Sea Oat Island (just south of Marco Island) as well as in end of nesting season. Researchers patrolling beaches from all
the Ten Thousand Islands even farther south. Rookery Bay staff, over Collier County (including Rookery Bay Research Reserve)
interns and volunteers patrol the beaches every morning from counted 1,990 sea turtle nests, a 13% increase over 2021. Most of
May 1 through the end of August looking for signs of sea turtle the nests were Loggerhead sea turtles, while the count included
nesting. When turtles (predominantly Loggerheads, occasionally a small number of Green turtles. Marco Island documented its
Green) come up on the sand to lay their eggs, they leave marks in first-ever Green turtle nest! Of the 1,990 total nests counted in
the sand much like tire tracks. There’s an indent where the nest the region, 626 nests (31%) were documented on Keewaydin
is buried. The sea turtle team places a cage around the nest to Island — a popular spot within Rookery Bay for boaters,
protect it from predators such as racoons and note the location of beachgoers and shellers.
the nest with GPS.
Rookery Bay Environmental Learning Center
300 Tower Road, Naples, Florida Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. 239-530-5972 www.rookerybay.org

78 Life in Naples | May/June/July 2023