Gopher Tortoise - Fort Myers Beach, Florida, USA
Posted by: 
BoomersOTR
N 26° 27.802 W 081° 57.996
17R E 403644 N 2927362
A Gopher Tortoise crossing in a Fort Myers Beach parking lot.
Waymark Code: WM13590
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 09/19/2020
Views: 5
Located on the north end of Fort Myers Beach is Bowditch Point Park. This park is one of the Lee County Parks and Recreation parks. This park has an extensive Gopher Tortoise population. This particular turtle crossing incident involved an adult Gopher Tortoise attempting to cross a parking lot to get to a grassy feeding area. Normally this waymarker would not interfere with the tortoise due to it being a threatened/protected species and it is against the law to harass or interfere with their livelihood. However this waymarker decided to assist the tortoise crossing the parking lot due to the drivers of cars seeking out parking spaces and not looking down to see where they were driving. After assisting the tortoise to the grassy area it promptly started grazing.
This tortoise was approximately 12"-14" long and 9" wide, weighing approximately 8-10 pounds. Obviously a mature adult. Light discoloration in the photos on the shell is sand from the burrow.
Species Link: [Web Link]
How often turtles cross: 
Months most seen crossing: year round
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Visit Instructions:
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"Mother Blanding had made her nest between the goldenrod and bluestem outside my window late last June.
By chance we were sitting on the porch when we noticed little blandings in the same location we had seen the mother take 2 months earlier."
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