Where Do Loggerhead Turtles Nest? Florida, Oman and Greece

The world’s main loggerhead nesting areas

The loggerhead sea turtle nests across a wider range of latitudes than any other sea turtle. According to NOAA Fisheries, only two nesting aggregations have more than 10,000 females nesting each year: peninsular Florida and Oman.

Florida: one of the largest loggerhead rookeries

Florida is the heart of loggerhead nesting in the Atlantic. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reported about 110,000 loggerhead nests statewide in 2024, after a record of roughly 134,000 in 2023 and about 116,500 in 2022. Most nests are on the Atlantic coast from about Brevard County south to Palm Beach County, with many more along the Gulf coast between roughly Sarasota and Collier counties.

The Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge, along about 32 km (20 mi) of beach in Brevard and Indian River counties, hosts the largest concentration of nesting loggerheads in the Western Hemisphere. It is named after Archie Carr, the University of Florida biologist who pioneered sea turtle research and conservation. Smaller numbers of loggerheads nest north to Georgia, the Carolinas and occasionally Virginia, and turtles nesting from North Carolina to northeast Florida form a genetically distinct northern group.

Oman and the Arabian Sea

Masirah Island, off the east coast of Oman, hosts the second-largest loggerhead nesting population in the world. Females nest there in large numbers during the northern summer and spread out to feed in the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden. NOAA notes that recent trend analyses suggest this important population is declining, with fishing bycatch and coastal development among the concerns.

The Mediterranean: Greece, Turkey and Cyprus

The Mediterranean has its own loggerhead population, with more than 8,000 nests a year. Greece has the largest share: Laganas Bay on Zakynthos and Kyparissia Bay in the Peloponnese each average around 1,000 nests a year, and Crete is also important. Turkey has nesting beaches at places such as Dalyan, Patara and Belek, and Cyprus and Libya host further nests. For details, see are there sea turtles in the Mediterranean?

Pacific and Indian Ocean nesting

In the North Pacific, loggerheads nest only in southern Japan, with Yakushima Island among the most important sites. Remarkably, many young loggerheads from Japan cross the Pacific to feed off Baja California, Mexico, before returning to breed.

In the South Pacific, the main nesting area is eastern Australia, especially around Mon Repos near Bundaberg in Queensland, with smaller numbers in New Caledonia. NOAA reports that South Pacific nesting fell from about 3,500 females a year in 1977 to around 500 today. Western Australia hosts a separate population, with roughly 1,000–2,000 nests a year at sites such as Dirk Hartog Island. Further loggerheads nest in South Africa’s iSimangaliso Wetland Park and in southern Mozambique.

When is loggerhead nesting season?

Loggerheads nest in summer. In the Northern Hemisphere, mating takes place from late March to early June, and females nest from about late April to early September, with a peak in June and July. In the Southern Hemisphere, the season is reversed, running from about October or November to March. Hatchlings emerge about two months after the eggs are laid, so in Florida and the Mediterranean the hatching season lasts into October.

How many nests does a female lay?

A female loggerhead usually lays three to five nests in a season, sometimes more, at intervals of about 12–17 days. Each nest holds about 100–120 eggs, so a female may lay several hundred eggs in one season. She then rests for two to three years before nesting again, while she rebuilds her energy reserves on distant feeding grounds.

Nesting happens at night. The female crawls above the high-tide line, digs a body pit, uses her back flippers to scoop out a flask-shaped egg chamber, lays her eggs, covers the nest and returns to the sea, all in about one to two hours. Loggerheads often prefer fairly narrow, steep beaches with coarse sand. If a female is disturbed or finds the sand unsuitable, she may return to the water without laying, which leaves a “false crawl” track.

Females nest in the general region where they hatched, guided at least partly by Earth’s magnetic field; see how do sea turtles navigate? Only a tiny share of their eggs will produce adult turtles, as explained in how many baby sea turtles survive?

Watching nesting loggerheads responsibly

In the US, sea turtles are protected under the Endangered Species Act and state laws, so it is illegal to disturb nesting turtles, nests or hatchlings. The best way to see nesting is to join a permitted public turtle watch, which many Florida parks and nature centers run in June and July. On any nesting beach, keep lights off at night, give turtles plenty of space, leave nest markers alone, fill in holes and take beach furniture home at the end of the day.