PHOTO BY TOM NEWTON
Turtle species include the Florida softshell
turtle, the largest of its kind in North
America. With a dark brown to olive green
body, and a long neck and head, it never
strays further from the water than maybe to
a nearby rock to catch some sun. The Florida
chicken turtle doesn’t get bigger than 6” and
has a long neck and can be found on water or
on land.
However, the turtle our area is most
known for is the loggerhead sea turtle. This
species lays 90% of its U.S. nests in Florida
and the Englewood area is a particularly
popular nesting spot. Sea turtle nesting
season runs from May 1 to October 31
when female loggerheads lumber up on
shore and lay about 100 eggs in the sand
before returning to the water, almost always
at night. Sea Turtle Patrol volunteers mark
and track the nests with those wooden stakes
and neon tape you see on the sand. When
the nest hatches, the hatchlings crawl to
the water, also almost always at night. The
Coastal Wildlife Club coastalwildlifeclub.org
is a terrific source of information on these
amazing creatures.
The loggerhead is classified as a threatened
species and the green turtle (which also nests
on our beaches, but is much more rare) is
endangered. No surprise as just 1 in 1,000
loggerheads survive to maturity.
Sea turtles are protected by the U.S.
Endangered Species Act and the Florida
Marine Turtle Protection Act. Sea Turtle
Ordinances in Charlotte, Lee, and Sarasota
counties are available from the Florida Fish
and Wildlife Commission at www.myfwc.
com.
NATIVE PLANTS
You will often hear someone refer to native
plants and trees. According to the state of
Florida, a native plant is a plant species that is
presumed to have been present in Florida before
European contact. Exotic or invasive are terms
most often applied to major nonnative plant
pest species. An interesting fact: Florida has
more native trees than any other state except
2018 9
/coastalwildlifeclub.org
/www.myfwc.com