At least 40 turtles wandered out of Jamaica Bay and onto the tarmac around 4:45 p.m., briefly delaying flights.
It turns out this is a common problem at JFK. During mating seasons, these turtles like to lay their eggs in the sand near the airport runway. The airport has specialists on staff who help to prevent these kinds of inconveniences.
“There were planes briefly stuck in queue,” a Port Authority spokeswoman Cheryl Albiez said about the turtles. “It is turtle season here, but it was a little unusual to get the turtles at this time.”