Wildlife Through the Year: June

• Black skimmers hatch young on beaches.
• It is the height of the gopher tortoise nesting season.
• Laughing gulls hatch young on beaches and mangrove islands in Florida Bay.
• It's nesting season for least terns, oystercatchers, and black skimmers. They nest on islands, undisturbed beaches, and rooftops.
• Most animals -- including alligators, southern flying squirrels, black-necked stilts, and red-cockaded woodpeckers -- are nesting.
• Peak month for wildfires, which rejuvenate many Florida plant communities.
• Red and Seminole bats give birth.
• Blooming tarflowers in flatwoods signal the beginning of summer.
• Cicadas emerge and begin the song of summer.
• Leatherback, loggerhead and green sea turtles continue to crawl ashore to lay eggs.
• Lights Out! Sea turtles emerge from their nests and head for the ocean. Females may become confused by lights on the beach.
• Juvenile green sea turtles forage on hard bottom close to the southeast coast.
• Female alligators are building nests.
• Eighteen-month old black bears separate from their mothers.
• Whelks spawn, laying long necklaces of eggs.
• Black sea urchins spawn throughout the summer at each full moon along the Keys.
• Sea squirts spawn on the grass flats.
• Migrating tarpon can be found almost anywhere in the Keys.
• Snook begin moving out to inlets and passes.
• Indigo snakes lay their eggs, sometimes in gopher tortoise burrows.