Turtle Nest Counts at Archie Carr NWR

Turtle nest totals for Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge (Includes south Brevard County, north Indian River County, and Sebastian Inlet State Park)
	2008 September	2007		2006		2005		2004		2003		2002		2001
Loggerhead	11,399	7,902		10,828		11,085		9,138		12,598		14,209		15,645
Green	2,923	4,490 (New high record)		1,609		3,638 (high record)		982		670		2,970		198
Leatherback	29 (final)	74 (New high record)		19		68 (high record)		19		53		19		47

Nest numbers for the 2008 nesting season are updated weekly by section of beach.

 

 

2008 Archie Carr N.W.R. Sea Turtle Nest Distribution Figures in red are false crawls.
		Loggerhead		Green		Leatherback
South Brevard County as of Oct 18		9502 7734		2772 3564		20 2
Sebastian Inlet State Park as of Sept 18		654 445		137 111		5 3
North Indian River County as of Sept 11		1252 986		214 202		4 0
Total		11,408		3,123		29

 

 

Daytime Nesting of a Leatherback Sea Turtle Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge April 15, 2003

2007 Archie Carr N.W.R. Sea Turtle Nest Distribution Figures in red are false crawls.
FINAL		Loggerhead		Green		Leatherback
South Brevard County		6,405 6,268		3,963 5,876		52 2
Sebastian Inlet State Park		538 414		214 180		9 2
North Indian River County		959 826		313 382		13 2
Total		7,902 7,508		4,490 6,438		74 6

Leatherbacks:
New high record for leatherback sea turtles this year at 74 nests! Leatherbacks nested into July this year. Leatherbacks former high year was in 2005 with 68 nests in the Refuge.
Greens:
New high record for Greens this year at 4,490 nests. Previous high record in 2005 yeilded 3,638 nests in the Refuge.
Loggerheads:
Loggerhead sea turtle nesting is down this year.

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2006 Archie Carr N.W.R. Sea Turtle Nest Distribution Figures in red are false crawls.
Final 11/30/06		Loggerhead		Green		Leatherback
South Brevard County		9,018 8,890		1,383 1,860		12 0
Sebastian Inlet State Park		619 551		74 58		1 0
North Indian River County		1,191 1,067		152 241		6 0
Total		10,828 10,508		1,609 2,159		19 0

Noteworthy:
There was a green turtle nest laid north of the Refuge in the CBSA study site on 11 Nov. This may be the latest green turtle nest on record in Florida.

In South Brevard County:
Last leatherback nest on 19 June
Last Loggerhead nest on 16 September; last false crawl on 17 September
Last Green nest on 21 October; last false crawl on 9 November

 

 

2005 Archie Carr N.W.R. Sea Turtle Nest Distribution Figures in red are false crawls.
Final	Loggerhead	Green	Leatherback
South Brevard County	8,854 12,935	3,117 6,093	43 6
Sebastian Inlet State Park	867 668	238 216	8 0
North Indian River County	1647 1,645	223 444	17 0
Total	11,085	3,638	68

• Loggerhead nesting - first nest April 24, last nest Sept 11, peak nesting, last week June
• Green nesting - first nest June 4, last nest Oct 5, peak nesting last week July
• Leatherback nesting - first nest March 21, last nest June 25, peak nesting 3rd week June

 

 

2004 Archie Carr NWR Sea Turtle Nest Distribution
Final	Loggerhead	Green	Leatherback
South Brevard County	7557	791	12
Sebastian Inlet State Park	492	66	2
North Indian River County	1089	125	5
Total	9138	982	19

 

 

Some 2005 Photos
At the beginning of the summer, we had lots of rainfall and cloudy conditions on the beach, which seems tohave affected hatching because some nests were taking over 65 days to emerge. The average time for loggerhead turtles to emerge is 53-55 days. What's really interesting about these reptiles, is that once the weather cleared up and we experienced the usual hot "dog days" of Summer, we were able to see incubation and emerging time speed up to around 45 days.
Photos by: Jennifer Lorenzo, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Click picture for an enlargement. Use the BACK button of your Browser to return.