October 8th is late … very late in the season for diamondback terrapin hatchlings to emerge in the Great White North. Yet, this morning as we walked along a dirt road between salt marsh on the south and rolling dunes to the north, we spotted a fresh set of hatchling tracks slaloming across the white sand. The tracks began atop one dune, slipped down slope and then climbed up the next dune immediately adjacent to the roadway. We began to follow the track with camera in hand.
Following the Tracks of a Diamondback Terrapin Hatchling
The previous video retraces the tracks in 45 seconds but the hatchling would have taken more than 45 minutes to create them. We found this perfect little terrapin resting under a clump of beach grass. It sported an extremely sharp egg tooth and a slight yolk sac remnant.
Last 2008 Hatchling Sports Sharp Egg Tooth
It seemed a bit lethargic in the cool weather, but warmed a bit as it basked on the sun baked sand. Still, after we moved it across the roadway to reduce the chance of an unfortunate accident with vehicular traffic, the terrapin held its position for several minutes before taking a deep breath and venturing into hiding within the nursery marsh.
Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary hosted the 3rd annual meeting of the Northeast Diamondback Terrapin Working Group on September 27th. Bob Prescott, sanctuary director, and Don Lewis, the Turtle Guy, welcomed more than 30 participants from New England and New York. Chuck Landrey coordinated the meeting agenda, and Russ Burke, Hofstra University professor, chaired the meeting.
Particpants Assemble in Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary Auditorium
After registration and coffee, the meeting kicked off at 10:00 am with opening remarks by Chuck Landrey, the northeast regional coordinator, followed by Russ Burke, DTWG chair. Bob Prescott and Don Lewis welcomed participants to the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary and presented a very brief overview of Cape Cod geography and terrapin populations from the SouthCoast to the Outer Cape. Russ topped off the opening session with an update on terrapin research activities within Jamaica Bay and the challenges of wildlife conservation within bounds of the 11th largest city in the world.
Opening Presentations by Chuck Landrey, Russ Burke, Bob Prescott & Don Lewis
As entertaining as these opening presentations were, participants earned a nice break before hearing more research updates by Charlotte Sornborger of Barrington, Rhode Island, and Barbara Brennessel, professor at Wheaton College. Eric Strauss, research associate professor at Boston College, talked about environmental studies and the ecological field station at Sandy Neck in Barnstable where he and Peter Auger have conducted long-term terrapin research.
Second Round of Presentations by Charlotte Sornborger, Eric Strauss and Barbara Brennessel
Lunch break offered an opportunity for Sue Wieber Nourse and I to zip over to Lieutenant Island to check for emergence nests. Three days of pouring rain and the tropical front accompanying Hurricane Kyle presented conditions favorable for late hatching terrapins to emerge through the soften soil. At the intersection of a one lane dirt road and a driveway on Marsh Road, we discovered an emergence hole with a tiny diamondback terrapin hatchling poking its head out. Excavating the egg chamber we rescued four live hatchlings and found two premature hatchlings that had been crushed inside the nest by vehicular traffic.
Saving Turtles for Lunch from a Vulnerable Road Nest
The afternoon session was devoted to an exchange of information and views on a variety of terrapin research issues as enumerated by the following charts. Topics included headstarting, how do hatchlings know home, list of predatory and beneficial plants, hatchling survival rate, relationship between age and salinity tolerance, unpublished data on diet, terrapins in captivity, legacy data sets, where do hatchlings hang out, starting a basic terrapin conservation program, capture-mark-recapture methods, tracking methods, mating aggregations, nest protector design and temperature, terrapin survey methods, and how do you know what terrapins are doing when not nesting.
Terrapin Research Topics of Interest to Participants
After a very long and productive day, during which Hurricane Kyle had deluged the auditorium windows and walls with rain, the time had come for a soagy field trip. Participants assembled in the Nature Center and began the trek along Goose Pond Trail to Cape Cod Bay where we would release the female and male terrapins that Sue and I had captured on Wednesday (see The Last Terrapins). Then, we would walk over to Try Island to check the remaining protected nests and to share an insight into nesting habitat here at the northernmost outpost for diamondback terrapins.
Bob Prescott (with Binoculars) Leads Participants Down Bayside Boardwalk
En route to the bay, we stopped by an exemplar area of salt marsh die-off to talk about this phenomenon on the Outer Cape. I spotted a large male squareback marsh crab, one of the prime suspects in the die-off, guarding its muddy burrow. Bob dove into the ooze and bare-handed the critter; a noble feat since we normally use 3-mil plastic gloves for this work due to the ferocious tenacity of these crabs. Bob showed off his catch to clicks of rain-drenched cameras.
Bob Prescott Shows Large Male Squareback Marsh Crab to Conference Participants
As downpours resumed, we reached a creek leading to the bay and released our turtle guests back into the wild. Afterwards, we examined the nesting habitat on Try Island and elsewhere along the Goose Pond Trail, arriving back at the Nature Center tired, soaked and completely satisfied with a most informative and fun filled day.
Leviathans of the sea and giants of the reptile family, leatherback sea turtles define the term superlative. Ranging in weight up to a ton and the size of a small Volkswagen, no one who has encountered one of these living relics in the wild comes away from the experience unchanged. They are simply magnificent beasts that peacefully ply the world’s oceans in search of slurpy jellyfish. The open mouth of a leatherback sea turtle (see below) is perfectly configured for this quest and is the last thing that a jellyfish senses before the lights go out.
Mouth of 650+ Pound Male Leatherback Sea Turtle
Unfortunately, we humans offer them a complex series of lethal obstacles to avoid during their peaceful voyages. Gill nets drown them, longlines hook them, propellers slice them, weirs trap them and lobster buoys entangle them. Especially during the summer months in Cape Cod and Buzzards Bays as they chase plentiful jellyfish, endangered leatherbacks face a host of potential threats.
Male Leatherback Arrives at Wellfleet Sanctuary for Necropsy
A freshly dead 650+ pound male leatherback beached in Provincetown on Sunday and Mass Audubon’s Bob Prescott, the state sea turtle stranding coordinator, conducted a necropsy at the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary to determine the cause of death and to gather scientific information to help us conserve this endangered species. In addition to his staff, Bob (with large caliper below) was assisted by Kara Dodge, a PhD candidate at UNH and former NOAA sea turtle coordinator, and the Turtle Journal team.
Bob Prescott (Calipers), Don Lewis (Camera) and Kara Dodge (Scalpel)
Too large for normal scales, the mass of leatherbacks is determined by weighing the Mass Audubon pickup truck at the dump with the turtle inside, and then re-weighing the truck without the turtle. The post revealed that this animal had been very healthy. “It had everything going for it,” stated Bob and Kara. Both flippers showed signs of a recent entanglement, but nothing so severe that these wounds would have caused death. Instead, the cause of death was determined to be drowning. The likely scenario for the death of such an inherently healthy animal is that it got entangled in a buoy line with both flippers wrapped in the rope and perhaps its body trunk as well. With the last series of spring tides, the turtle may not have had sufficient line to reach the surface. Like all turtles, leatherbacks are air breathers and will drown if held under water for a sustained period. How this drowned animal had then become disentangled from the lines that had been wrapped tightly around its flippers is merely a matter of conjecture.
This evening we received a call from Bob Prescott that there had been a report of a dead leatherback on a Westport beach near Horseneck. We drove out to the site and after about 30 minutes of searching, we discovered a badly decomposed and deflated leatherback sea turtle. Talking to a local resident, we learned it had been bouncing along the beach for at least the last three days. We estimated the carapace at approximately 161.3 centimeters, but decomposition and deflation may have altered any accurate rendering of its precise size. Bones were exposed throughout from head to back to flippers.
Decomposed Leatherback Sea Turtle in Wesport, MA
Another decomposed, 600 pound leatherback washed ashore at Pico Beach in Mattapoisett Saturday night (http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080909/NEWS/809090352/-1/NEWS). Dealing with one dead leatherback is serious as population numbers of this critically endangered species continue to plummet. Finding two dead leatherback carcasses in a weekend is a tragedy; but three dead leatherbacks fall beyond emotions and words. Yet, a ray of turtle hope winked through the afternoon when a call came into the Hotline. A woman found a small 1/2 dollar size turtle in Plymouth, Massachusetts as kids were placing it in the ocean and the animal was being forced back to the shore by wave action and its own volition. She thought she had discovered a baby sea turtle, or perhaps a diamondback terrapin hatchling. A few questions cleared up the mystery. Color? Dark, almost black. Long tail? Yes, very long. Bump along the tail? Yes, like an ancient dinosaur. Jagged edge along rear of carapace (top shell)? Yep. Does it have a yellow “button” in the middle of its tummy? Yes. Congratulations! You are the proud holder of a snapping turtle hatchling. With just a few more questions we discovered the local fresh water source from whence the hatchling probably came, either through its own design or more likely with the help of local kids.
Snapping Turtle Hatchling
You’re right. Snapping turtles aren’t endangered and they’re not leatherbacks. But that doesn’t diminish the joy in helping a hatchling find hospitable habitat where it might have a fighting chance of survival. Saving one turtle … even a snapper … isn’t a bad way to close the day.
Yes. Hatching, emerging and dashing into hiding is very serious business for diamondback terrapin hatchlings. One mis-step and you become a predator snack. Still, that’s no reason to avoid an opportunity for a little fun en route to the safety of the nursery salt marsh.
