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Merti Rittgers (above from left) of Delray Beach, Derik Bowen of Coconut Creek and Kari Longshore of Montana came to Boca Raton on Nov. 12 to catch a glimpse of a rare and beautiful bananaquit (Coereba flaveola), which was feasting on firespike necta

Crows check out a nest on the beach in Ocean Ridge, while another (below, right) flies overhead. Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

The crows know.

Along our beaches, the loud and large black birds show off their smarts by trackin

Amelia Pollitt, 5, watches Morgan, a green sea turtle who was returned last month to Gumbo Limbo Nature Center after a stay at a Juno Beach facility. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Mary Hladky and Steve Plunkett

Four-year-old Jack Gray of Boca Raton

As the former marine conservationist for the city of Boca Raton from 1995 to 2021, I have watched the developments at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center and the actions of the nonprofit Gumbo Limbo Coastal Stewards.

The Coastal Stewards have been in existence

The parking lot in front of the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center is closed until the spring while three ADA-compliant parking spaces are created and a ramp between them and the center is built. ‘This is a big construction project with many moving parts,’ N

Morgan, a resident sea turtle at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center from 2014 until being ordered removed last year, has returned and is now in the center's shipwreck aquarium, Boca Raton city officials announced on Jan. 10. Photo provided

VIDEO: Morgan bac

By Steve Plunkett                                                                                                

The year 2023 was not a good one for the nonprofit group originally founded to support the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton.

Th

Related: Boca Raton: Former Gumbo Limbo employees start new sea turtle care nonprofit

By Steve Plunkett

The city of Boca Raton has a new strategy to regain permission to house sea turtles at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, but there still is no firm d

Related: Boca Raton: City changes tack on who should hold permit to house turtles

By Steve Plunkett

People who want to help endangered and threatened sea turtles survive have a new nonprofit they can support.

Two former Gumbo Limbo Nature Center empl

Two of the participants in the beach cleanup in Boca Raton show a piece of their collection. The day was organized by the B’nai Torah Congregation and Gumbo Limbo Nature Center ahead of Rosh Hashanah. Photo provided

Each year, some faithful Jewish vo

ABOVE: Rebecca Germany, sea turtle conservation assistant at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, excavates a loggerhead nest in Boca Raton three days after the eggs had hatched.
BELOW LEFT: A baby loggerhead makes its way to the ocean after being rescued by

Related: Along the Coast: ‘It’s like crazy’: Turtle season smashes records

By Steve Plunkett

The nonprofit trying to restart Gumbo Limbo Nature Center’s sea turtle rehabilitation ward is expanding its focus to include human help for manatees, whales,

By Steve Plunkett

Gumbo Limbo Nature Center’s observation tower, missing in action since 2015, is now scheduled to be rebuilt and open in nine months.

Briann Harms, executive director of the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District, announced the t

By Steve Plunkett

Six weeks after taking over responsibility for the city’s sea turtle rehabilitation efforts, the nonprofit group formerly known as the Friends of Gumbo Limbo has not applied for a permit to run the program.

“No, Gumbo Limbo Coastal

It could take months before turtles are back at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center. File photo

Letters to the Editor: Nonprofit chair hails ‘exciting times’ ahead for Gumbo Limbo|Retired leader of turtle facility laments ‘black eye’ for city|Former voluntee

On April 25, the Gumbo Limbo Coastal Stewards and the city of Boca Raton entered into an agreement affirming that our nonprofit would have complete financial and operational responsibilities of the sea turtle rehab at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center.

The events happening at Gumbo Limbo are disturbing for true conservationists. As the longtime marine conservationist for the city of Boca Raton and co-founder of the sea turtle rehabilitation facility at Gumbo Limbo, I am very distressed at the lacka

With a heavy heart I read your front-page article on the turmoil at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center. Memories of such happy times there flashed through my mind. 

My granddaughters racing around the shipwreck tank looking for all their favorite inhabitants

Staff and volunteers at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center had to move nine sea turtles to other facilities because Gumbo Limbo no longer had a license to treat them. Photo provided

By Steve Plunkett

Gumbo Limbo Nature Center’s injured and recuperating sea