Rookery Bay’s Sea Turtle Interns Showcase a Successful Season

More than 12,000 baby sea turtles emerged from Rookery Bay beaches this year thanks to the dedicated  work of Rookery Bay’s sea turtle team and support from the Friends of Rookery Bay’s Adopt a Sea Turtle Nest program. The proceeds from 96 adopted nests were able to fund three sea turtle interns to monitor Cape Romano, Sea Oat Island, Cannon Island and the Ten Thousand Islands for sea turtle activity.  

The interns recently presented the season’s findings at an evening reception. After some introductions, mingling and appetizers, the sea turtle interns showcased their successful work in at the Reserve this summer. They discussed what it means to be an intern, how they monitored Rookery Bay’s 110,000 acres and the species of sea turtle nests they came across (Loggerheads and Green sea turtles).  

At the end of the presentation, they shared a fun video of all the wildlife they encountered along the way, including dolphins, birds, and even sawfish. The evening concluded with a Q&A session and warm goodbyes. Rookery Bay is incredibly grateful to the Adopt a Sea Turtle donors who supported the monitoring, Friends of Rookery Bay who funded sea turtle resources and the staff and interns who worked tirelessly this summer to protect wildlife.   

Sea turtle nesting season isn’t over quite yet. To keep up to date with Rookery Bay’s total nests and emerged hatchlings or to adopt a nest.