1986 under the direction of Rene Marguez. This is one of two 

 important nesting localities discovered during aerial surveys in 

 1982. The 40 km beach stretches from the eastern mouth of Laguna 

 de Terminos eastward to the town of Sabancuy. In 1985, 306 nests 

 were recorded on the beach; 191 were observed in 1986 (Marguez et 

 al. 1988) . This is currently the largest known nesting 

 population of hawksbills in the entire Wider Caribbean. Assuming 

 an average of 3 nests per female per season, approximately 60 

 females used this beach in the two years. Isla Aguada is an 

 extremely important nesting site and one that could yield 

 critical data about the reproductive biology of the hawksbill. 

 Its continued study and protection are essential. 



A second site of concentrated nesting by hawksbills in 

 Mexico is located between Rio Lagartos and Cuyo, in the state of 

 Yucatan. One hundred- fourteen nests were recorded there in 1985, 

 82 in 1986, and 97 in 1987 (Castaneda 1987; Marguez et al. 1988; 

 P. Castaneda, pers. comm.) This beach also deserves careful 

 monitoring and protection. 



Daily beach surveys were carried out in 1987 on 10 beaches 

 of the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico from the beginning of May 

 through the end of August. During this entire survey period, 

 only one hawksbill nest was recorded (J. Woody, pers. comm.). 

 The primary months of the hawksbill nesting season at both Isla 

 Aguada and Rio Lagartos are June and July, and thus it is likely 

 that monitoring in Quintana Roo spanned the peak of the nesting 

 Eeason. 



Panama . A ground survey of the 29 km Chiriqui Beach in 

 Bocas del Toro Province, Panama, on 15 May 1987 revealed only 2 

 hawksbill tracks. Low density hawksbill nesting has been 

 documented at several other localities in the province since 

 studies began there in 1979 (Meylan 1984a; A. and P. Meylan, 

 unpub. data) . 



Puerto Rico . The nesting population on Mona Island, Puerto 

 Rico, was monitored in 1984 by Olson (1985) and in 1985, 1986 and 



1987 by Kontos (1988) . Numbers of nests per season have 

 fluctuated widely with a high of 151 nests recorded in 1984 (see 

 Table 4) . Although there is a pronounced peak in nesting in late 

 summer, hawksbills have been recorded nesting on Mona from April 

 through January. 



Results of recent nesting censuses on Culebra Island, Puerto 

 Rico, were supplied by Anton Tucker (pers. comm.). Four nests 

 were recorded in 1983, 16 in 1984 and 23 in 1985. The higher 

 number for 1985 is attributed to increased surveillance. There 

 was no coverage in 1986. 



United States . Florida is the only state within the United 

 States in which nesting by hawksbills is regularly observed. A 



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