SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) - Sea turtle nesting has continued to increase on Anna Maria Island this week, on pace to possibly set a new record, a volunteer groups says.

“We are only 20 nests short of the count this time last year (2024 was a record year),” Kristen Mazzarella, the executive director of Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch & Shorebird Monitoring, said in a news release.

The first green turtle nest of the season was also observed this week. Green turtles are larger than loggerheads, have parallel flipper marks and create large craters when covering their nests, the news release said.

Green turtles generally nest every other year on Anna Maria; a record 12 green turtle nests were seen in 2023. “We hope to break that record this year,” Mazzarella wrote.

Also of note, several turtles t

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