Female alligators usually begin building nests in mid-June. The nest mounds are usually built on slightly higher banks, or on the edge of small tree islands called bayheads. If a lot of water is released into the park in late June, many of the nests flood and the developing eggs drown. The best time to see alligators in the park is during the winter dry season. At that time, they get together near the deeper water holes.
Alligators are critical to the survival of Everglades National Park.
Turtles Of the turtles found in the Park, most live in the fresh water marshes and ponds. The ones you are most likely to see include the striped mud turtle, common along the Anhinga Trail, the peninsula cooter, which is often seen at Shark Valley, and the Florida red-belly, found in fresh water marshes, ponds and solution holes. If you are walking on a trail through the pinelands or a hammock, and you see a turtle crawling along, it is probably a Florida box turtle. You may even come across one that has been fire-scarred or lost one of its legs. The only other land turtle found in the park is the gopher tortoise, and you are likely to see it only if you visit the most southwestern section of the park called Cape Sable.