Turtle Journal

Cape Codder Newspaper, 6 May 2011

Rich Eldred of the Cape Codder newspaper and WickedLocal.com wrote a captivating story on the spring emergence of diamondback terrapins in Wellfleet Bay on Outer Cape Cod that was published on Friday, May 6th.   The story has been captured above.  Click on the image for a larger, more readable version of Rich’s article.

Sue Wieber Nourse and Rufus Retriever Turtling

The on-line version of Rich Eldred’s article with additional photographs from Turtle Journal can be viewed by clicking here.

Cape Codder Front Page, 6 May 2011

Female Spotted Turtle (Clemmys guttata)

Saturday Turtle Journal visited the abandoned Goldwitz cranberry bog in Marion on the SouthCoast of Massachusetts to check on the spotted turtle mating aggregation.  Sue Wieber Nourse found and captured two mature spotted turtles, both more than 12 years old, a female and a small male.  Spotted turtles (Clemmys guttata) are small aquatic turtles found in shallow wetlands.  In this area, spotteds are most often observed in April and May when they migrate to mating aggregations.  Once temperatures rise with the summer, they disappear from sight.

 

Spotted Turtle Pair (Female Left) Carapaces

The male spotted was a very tiny adult as you can detect from these two comparison photographs.  Yet, he was a great deal bolder than the female, which remained for the most part tucked inside her shell.

 

Spotted Turtle Pair (Female Left) Plastrons

Looking at their respective plastrons, you can easily see the gender difference.  The female has a flat pastron on the left, and the male has a concavity behind the bridge.    The male is also showing his thicker and longer tail.

 

Female Spotted Turtle Injured Right Rear Limb

This female spotted had sustained a severe injury to her right rear.  A large chip had broken off her right rear marginal scutes and a significant portion of her right rear limb had been snipped off.  These signs point to an encounter with a vehicle that ran over this section of the shell and pinched her leg off.  It’s fairly amazing because the abandoned Goldwitz bog lies a good distance, a half mile, from the nearest public road.  You would think they would be safe from such accidents.  Unfortunately, these wetland are frequented by speeding ATVs that race along the bog channel service roads.

Spotted Turtle Pair Released Back into Bog

After we had measured, weighed and marked these two individuals, neither of which had been seen during our half decade study of this system, Don Lewis released them back into the bog channel that hosts the spring mating aggregation each May.

Sue Wieber Nourse Examines Spotted Male Turtle #1

Although today was gray and overcast, Sue Wieber Nourse took the Turtle Journal Turtle Dog (Rufus Retriever) to the abandoned Goldwitz cranberry bog for exercise and to check the spotted turtle mating aggregation for action.  At the bottom of one of the bog channels, Sue discovered mature male Spotted Turtle #1.  He was first captured in late April 2006 on our very first expedition to this abandoned bog with students from her Advanced Marine Science class.  Spotted #1 was the first spotted turtle captured for research on the South Coast of Massachusetts.  He was last seen in April 2010 and that story can be read on Turtle Journal’s Marked Male Spotted Turtle Rediscovered Four Years Later in Mating Aggregation.

Male Spotted Turtle (Clemys guttata) Number #1

Spotted #1 lost his right rear limb below the joint between 2006 and 2010.  Yet, today the remaining limb stump looked healthy and healed.  Spotted #1 shows all the key male identifying characteristics of the species.  He has the drably colored chin and neck, the concavity in the center posterior of his plastron, and the thick, long male tail with anal opening far beyond the edge of the carapace. 

Large Leech Attacking Spotted Turtle #1

A little worrisome is that Spotted #1 has lost five grams of weight since April 2010.  Some of that lost mass may have been caused by the large leech that Sue discovered embedded to his neck.  She obviously removed the leech after quickly documenting its presence.  No apologies for interference.  We’re saving the world one turtle at a time.  Leeches will have to find their own champion.

Adorable Terrapin Couple:  Male Smaller

With a slight break in overcast weather, Sue Wieber Nourse of Turtle Journal ventured to Chipman’s Cove in Wellfleet Bay for the mid-day high tide.  Chipman’s Cove serves as the location of the major diamondback terrapin mating aggregation in the Wellfleet Bay system.  Turtles from throughout the various Wellfleet estuaries paddle to the cove to meet and to court and to mate as water temperatures warm each spring.  The peak of the aggregation usually comes in the third and fourth weeks of May.  It begins to build once terrapins have emerged from winter brumation and have gained enough internal body heat to begin foraging and to contemplate social engagements.

Female Diamondback Terrapin #915

Sue spotted a small number of mating pairs in the cove as the high tide flooded in.  She netted nine turtles, including three courting pairs.   Five of the terrapins were adult females and four were males.  Two of nine were recaptures and seven were seen for the first time today.  One of the recaptures, pictured above, was Female Terrapin #915.  She had first been captured by Jim Quigley on a nesting run near the Blasch cottage on Griffin Island in June 2000.  She was next seen in the Chipman’s Cove mating aggregation in 2002, but she had sustained a crack in her plastron’s femoral scute which was healing.  She was observed once more in the 2004 mating aggregation in the cove before today’s capture.

Female Terrapin #90 (August 2002)

Sue’s other recapture was an old, old friend: Female Terrapin #90.  This lady was originally captured in Chipman’s Cove 22 years ago in June 1989 when she was already a large mature turtle.  In 2002, Don Lewis found her back in Chipman’s Cove in late August, and she had sustained a gouge in the left edge of her carapace (see photo).  Don found her nesting on Indian Neck two years later … the last time she was seen before today.

Female Terrapin #90 (May 2011)

With today’s capture in the Chipman’s Cove mating aggregation, #90 shows a second deep gouge on the right side of her carapace.  She also sports two lovely oyster spats on either side of her rear carapace.  One of the joys of our 32 year longitudinal study of terrapins in Wellfleet Bay is that each recapture hints at an epic story of survival about these magnificent creatures.  Many cracks and chips and gouges come from encounters with vehicles as female terrapins proceed upland each June and July to nest.  A smaller portion come from boat strikes.