The sea-turtle nesting season has only just begun for Anna Maria Island, but already it is a record-setting season.
Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch walker Jimmy Kosco found the first nest of the season — just south of 25th Street in Bradenton Beach — on April 27. That’s the earliest recorded nest in three decades of data collection for the Island. The prior record was set in 1997, with the first nest found on April 29.
When AMITW volunteers gathered in mid-April for an orientation session, they buzzed about a warm Gulf of Mexico and the possibility of an early start to the nesting season.
The water temperature then was fluctuating in the high-70s, and loggerheads begin to nest when the water temperature reaches 80 degree.
Additionally, turtles began nesting on the Atlantic Coast in early April.
By April 24, with word of nests in Englewood Beach and Fort Myers, AMITW executive director Suzi Fox announced that the Island walkers would begin their regular dawn patrols.
Still, when Kosco took his first walk of the season April 27 in section 7, he didn’t expect to come across the unmistakable tractor-like tracks left by a nesting loggerhead.
“I thought, it’s too early,” Kosco said. “This was just a test walk — the first walk of the year.”
He studied the turtle’s tracks, which showed a laborious night of nesting. The turtle emerged from the Gulf of Mexico, crawled in a straight path toward the dunes and dug a nest to deposit eggs. A female can deposit 100 eggs in a single nest, and likely will nest multiple times during the summer.
After creating the nest, the loggerhead turned to return to the Gulf. The tracks showed the turtle traveled back toward the water, until it bumped into a plastic stool left on the sand. From there, the turtle crawled north on the shore, bumping into a couple of plastic chairs before finding the water.
The Island cities have regulations requiring the removal of beach furniture and other items that might disrupt nesting, as well as turning out waterfront lights. However, the regulations run May 1 through Oct. 31 — the first nester arrived early.
AMITW coordinators Glenn and Claudia Wiseman verified the nest shortly after dawn April 27, digging into the sand near the dunes until they found an egg — about the size and color of an aged Ping-Pong ball.
With Fox looking on, the Wisemans staked the nest. The coded script on one of the stakes included the date and location of the nest, the estimated hatch date of June 22 and credited Kosco with the find.
It was not the first nest for the volunteer, who has been walking for AMITW in section 7 for about eight years.
“I think last year I had about 11 nests,” he said, adding, “My best was three nests in one day.”
Fox guessed, “I bet he’s found 100 nests over the years. I believe he’s found more than anybody.”
Nesting by the numbers
As of April 29, Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring was reporting:
Number of turtle nests: 1
Number of hatched turtle nests: 0
Number of turtle hatchlings: 0
Read The Islander each week to follow developments during turtle-nesting season.