Loggerheads have always fancied Sanibel and Captiva islands.
They have no choice.
Female sea turtles always return to the beach of their birth, which means their mommas favored the two islands, as did their mommas’ mommas, and so on to a time long before it was written down anywhere.
But 11 years after the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation’s record-keeping began in 1992, the island set a record with a combined 1,177 loggerhead nests.
This year’s loggerhead nesting season continues in full swing. With several more weeks left, if another hundred or so nests are dug, the record from three years ago will fall.
Meanwhile, there is more good news on the loggerhead front: by mid-July the earliest-laid nests have already hatched, sending thousands of hatchlings racing down the beach and into the Gulf.
That’s 4,640 hatchlings to be exact.
Environmental reporting for WGCU is funded in part by VoLo Foundation, a non-profit with a mission to accelerate change and global impact by supporting science-based climate solutions, enhancing education, and improving health.
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