Nesting Area Closed for Summer

Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR), in cooperation with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), is closing a small portion of the beach on the south end of Keewaydin Island during the nesting season for least terns, a migratory bird species. For the seventh consecutive season, roughly 3.5 acres of the island is scheduled to be closed between May 1 and mid-August.

Signs will clearly mark the closed portion of the island that has served as a beach nesting habitat for the birds in the past. In addition to posting the nesting area, Reserve staff will also relocate several existing educational signs on the island and establish a new crossover trail to lead boaters across the south tip of the island to the Gulf beach. Designated camp sites and campfire sites will also be established on the island in the near future.