Sanibel has broken its all-time loggerhead nesting record with 902 nests — with nearly 700 of those nests on the island’s west end. However, the coyote’s have their eyes on them.
As nest counts surpass the 2023 record high, SCCF also reports that coyote depredation is increasing, especially on the island’s far west end and on Captiva.
As of July 28, Sanibel’s loggerhead count is 902 nests — surpassing the island’s previous single-season record of 878, set in 2023. The west end of Sanibel has also broken its own record, with 698 loggerhead nests compared to 631 previously.
Adding Sanibel’s 10 green sea turtle nests and Captiva’s 238 loggerhead and 2 green sea turtle nests, the two islands now have 1,152 total nests for the season. The total count for both islands is only 37 nests away from the loggerhead record of 1,177 set in 2023.
The Sanibel City Council voted 5-0 on July 21 to fundi a comprehensive coyote population study. At the February meeting, SCCF biologists who track the coyote depredation rate on sea turtle nests on Sanibel reported that it has been increasing since 2021 and has exceeded 10 percent for the last four years, exceeding 40 percent the last two years.