Tag: Boca Grande Sea Turtle Patrol

Odd year: Review of this season’s sea turtle nesting figures

BY ARLENE HALL, BGSTA SECRETARY Can you believe we are only at the halfway point of this sea turtle nesting season? The word “only” used here is as an option, in case you are not a sea turtle...

Sea Turtles: Disorented hatchlings can be prevented

BY ARLENE HALL, BGSTA SECRETARY Last week, shortly after the start of one of our morning patrols, BGSTA volunteers received an urgent text message stating, “All, Denise has a major...

A young conservationist’s ideas on keeping nests safe

BY ARLENE HALL, BGSTA SECRETARY My grandkids from Kansas were visiting for the past couple weeks, and one of the highlights is having them join me for turtle patrol early in the morning. OK,...

How the island’s Sea Turtle volunteers work with Florida data

BY ARLENE HALL, BGSTA SECRETARY The sea turtle nesting season is now in its 11th week on Gasparilla Island, nearly halfway through the 26-week season, which officially ends Oct. 31. Since May...

First loggerheads, and an update on our nest adoption

BY ARLENE HALL, BGSTA SECRETARY Since my last article, we have started seeing hatches of our first loggerhead nests! Our first nests were documented on May 1, and with an approximate two-month...

Predators increasing their attacks on sea turtle nests

BY ARLENE HALL, BGSTA SECRETARY The good news is we have seen our first hatchlings this past week. The bad news is that they hatched and emerged from their nest, but unfortunately a coyote dug...

Right place at the right time in this turtle nesting game

Volunteers at the toll booth BY ARLENE HALL, BGSTA SECRETARY Don’t you just love it when the timing of something works out perfectly? Being in the right place exactly at the right time gives...

High dunes, nesting loggerheads and a somersault back after hatching

Here and below, ‘cliffs’ of Boca Grande. BGSTA photos BY ARLENE HALL, BGSTA SECRETARY A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the need to keep the beaches flat, filling in holes and...

Behind in nests, ahead in false crawls, first green turtle activity

BY ARLENE HALL,BGSTA SECRETARY Month one of sea turtle nesting season is in the books – and more importantly, on the beaches. The season officially began for BGSTA on May 1 and we documented...

First hatchlings to come; big nesting females still get stuck in holes

BY ARLENE HALL,BGSTA SECRETARY This week, our loggerhead turtle mothers laid their 100th nest of the season. It will be interesting to see how May 2025 compares to May 2024’s activity. Final...