Sea turtle nests on both Little St. George Island (LSGI) and Carrabelle Beach were affected by storm surge from Tropical Storm Bertha. On Little St. George Island, 149 nests were present when impacts from TS Bertha occurred. Of these, 88 were washed over, one was partially washed out, and 51 were completely washed out.
The Marathon building in the Keys, which houses the staff offices for the Florida Keys Aquatic Preserves and Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary programs, experienced a notable rooftop nesting season this year. The South Florida seabird nesting season runs from April 1 to August 31, and these rooftops have hosted nesting seabirds for several years.
For the first time in ten years, Least terns have nested on Morgan Beach and for the first time in three years, Black skimmers have returned to Sand Dollar Island. These rare encounters are a promising sign that Rookery Bay’s avian monitoring is making a positive impact on these imperiled species.
Oklawaha River Aquatic Preserve staff had a very busy week of invasive fish removal and river maintenance. The team removed 75 invasive tilapia and 2 plecos over two days from the Silver River with the help of Silver Springs State Park kayak volunteers on safety patrol. In total this month, 50 plecos and 189 tilapia have been removed.
Staff from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's Wekiva River Aquatic Preserve (WRAP) recently assisted the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's (FWC) Manatee Research and Rescue Team in the successful rescue of an injured manatee from the St. Johns River.
The tiniest of tiny baby gecko recently made an unexpected appearance inside the Rookery Bay Administrative Building. The little hatchling was so young it still had a little piece of eggshell attached to its foot when staff found it roaming around inside.
Wekiva River Aquatic Preserve staff recently joined Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission staff for the first documented release of the water hyacinth leafhopper (Megamelus scutellaris), a federally approved biological control agent used to help manage invasive water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) populations on the Wekiva River.
The training and engagement team at the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve have finished distributing educational items ahead of sea turtle nesting season, which began earlier this month. Staff member Svetlana Vikhlyantseva visited several vacation rental companies with properties on St. George Island to provide items that help visitors and rental occupants understand more about the local coastal ecosystem.
Charlotte Harbor Aquatic Preserves staff were busy in the field conducting monthly rookery surveys. Wading and diving bird rookeries were monitored for active nesting across all five aquatic preserves managed through the CHAP office.
Rainbow Springs Aquatic Preserve assisted Eckerd College’s Herpetology Club with their 26th year of turtle population and health assessment research on the Rainbow River. Within two hours, students collected 103 turtles including 43 loggerhead musk, 4 common musk, 39 Suwannee cooters, 8 Florida cooters, 6 Florida redbellies, and 3 Florida softshell turtles.