Loggerhead Sea Turtles

Timmy, a 270-pound female loggerhead sea turtle estimated to be 70 to 80 years old, touches her nose in the Atlantic Ocean Friday, Aug. 14, 2026, at Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park in Key West, Fla. Recreational boaters found Timmy swimming abnormally July 19 about seven miles south of Sugarloaf Key. After weeks of treatment and rehabilitation at the Turtle Hospital, the actively nesting turtle was cleared to return to the wild.

After winning hearts, Timmy the larger-than-life loggerhead returns to sea in Key West

It was the goodbye everyone had hoped for. Timmy, the larger-than-life loggerhead sea turtle...who won the hearts of her caregivers during weeks of rehabilitation, returned to her ocean home Friday in Key West.

Sea turtle nests on Sanibel Island. One could be a decoy in hopes of getting the key's population of coyotes to tucker out digging through the sand for no reward instead of always finding a clutch of energy-packed sea turtle eggs

Environment

Coyotes thwarting sea turtle nest decoy effort on Sanibel and Captiva islands

Tom Bayles

SCCF is trying to keep coyotes from eating sea turtle hatchlings while the marine reptiles are still developing in their shells.

Loggerhead sea turtles in mid-July are within about 100 clutches of breaking their singe-season record for nests on Sanibel and captiva islands

Environment

Loggerheads set to break single-season record for sea turtle nests on Sanibel and Captiva islands

Tom Bayles

This year’s loggerhead nesting season on Sanibel and Captiva islands 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.

Environment

Sargassum disrupting sea turtle nesting season; hatchlings could get blocked

Tom Bayles

Nesting season began a little over six weeks ago, and this week marks NOAA’s official Sea Turtle Week. The most recent Southwest Florida numbers available are from, roughly, the end of the first week of June, and they are about the same as this time last year.

A loggerhead sea turtle dug the first nest of the season this year and it was on Keeywaydin Island in Collier County.

Environment

Collier County’s first 2026 sea turtle nest(s) — a loggerhead — on Keewaydin Island and Barefoot Beach

Michael Braun

Two different first nests were reported Wednesday in Collier County — one by The Collier County Sea Turtle Protection Team on Barefoot Beach and another by Conservancy of Southwest Florida scientists on Keewaydin Island.

Brian Mathae helped Winnie into the water. Research biologist with the Sea Turtle Conservancy, FWC and volunteers with Turtle Watch, worked to prepare and tag a Loggerhead sea turtle with a satellite transmitter. The Conservancy will then track its migration patterns after it nests and the transmitter aims to determine the turtle's post-nesting destinations. Turtles nest every 2-3 years, laying 80-120 eggs per nest, and the transmitter typically lasts 1-1.5 years. The Conservancy is also conducting an educational program, Tour de Turtles, involving 11 tagged turtles in a three-month competition. Over 200 people came out to view the moment the turtle was returned to the water.

Environment

Wherever Winnie goes, transmitter will keep track of the loggerhead's travels for the Tour de Turtles

Andrea Melendez

The summer’s Tour De Turtles, a race hosted by The Sea Turtle Conservancy, made a stop at Coquina Beach South in Bradenton. Organizers will tag 11 nesting turtles on various Florida beaches and track which turtle travels the farthest distance in three months.

A sea turtle hatchling made it into Gulf waters last year, which is the first hurdle to clear in a long journey filled with danger as the sand-dollar-sized hatchling grows to weigh 200 pounds or more over the next several decades; baby sea turtles often head to huge piles of sargassum seaweed in the southern Atlantic Ocean where there is plenty for them to eat and a lot of nooks and crannies to hide from predators

Environment

Sea turtles set to crawl onto Florida's shores to nest again this summer; conservationists hope hurricanes, predators stay away

Tom Bayles

It's sea turtle nesting season. Dont forget to turn out your lights at night on the beach and stay away from momma sea turtles when they are nesting

Environment

Sea turtle nest counts for 2024: lower numbers for some species, solid, record numbers for others

WGCU Staff

The Florida Fish and Wildlife's Research Bulletin for February reports that 2024 nesting numbers for sea turtles were no surprise, recording lower numbers for some species but also posting solid and record-breaking counts for other species.The counts are the result of the Florida Index Nesting Beach Survey which records sea turtle nest counts on a standardized set of index beaches. Researchers use the annual survey to determine nesting trends.

Baby turtle on Keewaydin Island during 2024 nesting season.

Hurricane Recovery

Conservancy of Southwest Florida wraps sea turtle nesting season; storms had big effect on outcome

WGCU Staff

Turtle nest numbers were steady on Collier County's Keewaydin Island, but several storms disrupted hatchling success by almost half.

Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation staff locate and document a loggerhead sea turtle journey on Sanibel Island beach during a nesting survey in May 2023.

Environment

Sea turtles, a Florida conservation success story, face a new threat

Luena Rodriguez-Feo Vileira

Florida’s sea turtle nests survived an intense hurricane season. But climate change poses an uncertain future for the beloved beach icons.