Sea Turtle Nesting Season
Canaveral National Seashore
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2024 Sea Turtle Nesting Summary
By Jimi Sadle, Biologist, Canaveral National Seashore
Coming off a record year can be tough! This year, 7,401 sea turtle nests have been recorded within the park boundary, which is less than half of the nearly 17,000 recorded in 2023. Nest numbers for loggerheads, leatherback, and Kemp’s Ridley were all about the same as the previous year, while 2024 saw far fewer greens. The good news is that it is typical for this species to produce large numbers of nests every other year and we expected numbers to be much lower than last year’s record. The great news is that 2024 was still a top-10 nest year in the 40 years with annual nest data for the Park. We expect the long-term annual increasing trend in nest numbers in the park to continue, so stay tuned for 2025!
Hurricane Milton and subsequent wind and moon-driven high tides led to substantial dune erosion in both districts of the Canaveral National Seashore. The passing of this storm essentially marked the end of the 2024 season, with very little nesting activity recorded afterward. We estimated that about 800 nests that had not yet hatched were impacted by this storm. Hurricanes are one of the most significant natural risks on a barrier island and are, perhaps, part of the reason why nesting turtles produce several clutches of eggs over the course of the nesting season. These storms also build dunes and maintain landscape conditions that plants and animals living and reproducing here have come to rely on. Overall, we think 2024 was a delightfully average year for sea turtles in the National Seashore.
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| 2024 TOTAL SEA TURTLE NESTS: | 7401 | | |
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SAVE THE DATE:
Our Annual Holiday Open House will take place on Sunday, December 15, 2024 from 1-4pm. Join us for an afternoon of holiday festivities, music, crafts, refreshments, games, and prizes at the beautifully decorated Eldora House.
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Greetings,
Everyone knows about the amazing natural beaches and dune systems in Canaveral National Seashore, but have you ever explored areas of the park that were home to Indigenous Americans?
Archaeologists tell us these Native people occupied places now in the park’s Apollo Beach and Playalinda Beach districts as long as 14,000 years ago. They came for the abundant fishing and hunting grounds around the estuary and visitors today can see remnants of their nourishment by the discarded shells of clams, oysters and other mollusks.
These shell heaps are known as middens or mounds and tell the story of the Native people centuries later in such current park sites as Seminole Rest, Turtle Mound and Castle Windy.
The earliest Indigenous Americans in this part of coastal central Florida were the Ais, whose geographic range spanned south to modern-day Vero Beach. The Timucuan range stretched from today’s Jacksonville to Brevard County, and they were followed by the Seminoles, found throughout the Florida peninsula.
Seminole Rest in Oak Hill offers an easy walk and free access to the public. The native mounds there are thought to have been home to Indigenous Americans from 4,000 to 500 years ago.
The shoreline area at Seminole Rest was purchased in the early 1900s by a settler family, who built a large home on the site and lived there for many years. And while it might feel a bit blasphemous for a home site to straddle such precious historic land, the residence at Seminole Rest prevented the harvesting of shells from the mound, which were widely used at that time for road construction.
Take a walk with your friends and family at any of these historic sites in Canaveral National Seashore and try to imagine the lives of the Indigenous people living in a beautiful, natural area brimming with native flora and fauna.
President, Lisa D. Mickey
Florida Master Naturalist
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Seminole Rest walking path | |
Front porch at Seminole Rest | | |
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Inside Seminole Rest looking out | |
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By Jimi Sadle
Biologist, Canaveral National Seashore
Canaveral National Seashore resource management staff are wrapping up the first season-long, park-wide survey for Eastern Beach Tiger Beetle (Habroscelimorpha dorsalis ssp. media).
This charismatic beetle occurs on beaches of the eastern United States from New Jersey to Florida, where it can be seen during the hottest months of the year. The entire life cycle of this beetle is completed on the beach.
Adults are voracious predators, hunting down smaller insects or scavenging at, or just above, the intertidal zone. Larvae construct narrow, vertical burrows in the open sand above the high-tide line. Then, they wait at the burrow opening for unsuspecting prey and snatch them with their powerful jaws. If threatened, they can plug the opening of their burrow with their head or retreat below the sandy surface.
Coastal development and beach use patterns (pedestrian and vehicle use) are believed to have resulted in a decline of this species throughout its range. The closely related Northeast Beach Tiger Beetle, found on beaches in the northeastern U.S., is listed as threatened by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The range-wide status of the Eastern Beach Tiger Beetle is not well documented. The purpose of Canaveral’s survey effort is to collect basic information on this native species within the boundary of the park and to contribute to the broader understanding of the status throughout its range.
Prior to these surveys, Eastern Beach Tiger Beetle was known to occur in the park, but the distribution and abundance were not well understood. Beginning in May, resource management staff conducted monthly visual surveys at each of the 94¼ mile grids along the Atlantic shoreline, recording the number of individuals observed.
The greatest abundance was recorded around hurricane-impacted areas in the backcountry, but individuals were also present in visitor-use areas of both the Playalinda and Apollo Districts of the park. Armed with a basic understanding of where they occur and how abundant these beetles are will help park staff understand if there are important areas that may be affected by human activities and natural events. In addition, the information will be useful for improving the understanding the overall status of this species.
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Randy talking with a visitor about turtle nests while waiting for a rocket launch. | |
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It started 23 years ago when my daughter-in-law, Erin, asked me if I would like to volunteer with her at Canaveral National Seashore in Apollo Beach. On our first night that we went out on turtle patrol, we located a nest and verified the egg chamber. We then turned around to see a nest bursting with new baby turtles crawling out of the sand. I was hooked!
My daughter-in-law became pregnant with my grandson and could no longer continue patrolling the beach on an ATV, so I volunteered with Mike Daley from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. during that first season. On my way home, I would call Erin and give her the turtle count from that evening.
My grandson is now a junior at UCF and that is how I know I have completed 23 years of volunteering with Canaveral National Seashore. I have enjoyed many opportunities to volunteer with the park, including, helping with guests during turtle season on Playalinda Beach, assisting with beach cleanups, offering kayaking lessons in Eddy Creek and helping with Dark Sky activities in the park with telescopes.
My favorite and most unique experience has been setting up pylons at Playalinda Beach near the cross-over when we have daytime rocket launches and engaging with visitors from all over the world. We talk about the thrill of being so close to the launch and I explain to guests what will soon be happening.
When the rocket launches, I get to see the sheer joy on their faces as they watch a rocket launch for the first time – an experience they will remember for the rest of their lives! Canaveral volunteers have even been included in a few of their selfie photos with our bright orange shirts.
This experience has also led me to volunteer at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge within the boundaries of Canaveral National Seashore. I sit at the Visitors’ Center Desk and give guests a brief tour on their maps so they can make the most of their visit. I now am enjoying my seventh year as a volunteer at the Wildlife Refuge.
I suppose all of this really started when my father, in the mid-1950s, would ask for six weeks off so he and Mom and us four kids could take off and visit as many of our National Parks as time would allow. That experience of attending nightly fireside programs with park rangers made my desire to give a reality for me decades later. I think Mom and Dad would be proud of my volunteer experience.
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APOLLO BEACH VISITOR CENTER HOURS
9AM - 5PM - Open Every Day
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MONDAY, November 11th “FEE-FREE DAY" in honor of Veterans Day all entrance fees to Canaveral National Seashore will be waived.
Take a look at the November activities. They include plant walks, an introduction to fishing, clamming, beach clean-ups, and more.
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NOVEMBER IS NATIONAL NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH
Canaveral National Seashore - Timucuans
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The earliest evidence of man at Canaveral National Seashore is found in the numerous mounds within its boundaries. More than 14,000 years ago, small nomadic bands of First Natives entered Florida. As time passed, regional cultures evolved in response to local environmental conditions. By the time the Europeans came, various First Native groups were distributed throughout Florida. Living in the vicinity of Turtle Mound were the Timucuan people.
In their 2,000 years of occupation along the coast, the Timucuans did little to alter the natural landscape. Their few remaining burial mounds and shell mounds are like an unwritten book about the people who lived here. By protecting it, we are assuring that future generations will learn of the Timucuan people.
READ MORE
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MEMBERSHIP | Friends Of Canaveral | |
If you would like to become a member, renew your membership, or purchase a gift membership for a friend or family member, simply select a membership type from the pull-down menu, add them to your cart, and follow the steps listed on the PayPal page that opens up. | | | |
REPORT VIOLATIONS
If you suspect a fish, wildlife, boating, or environmental law violation, report it to the FWC's Wildlife Alert Reward Program: 888-404-FWCC (3922).
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