Turtle Journal

Diamondback Terrapin Hatchling Emerges

The full Turtle Journal team hit the field this Saturday morning to check for hatching diamondback terrapins and stumbled across a most awe-inspiring moment:  the miracle of birth.

Sue Wieber Nourse & Rufus on Patrol

Sue Wieber Nourse, the one with the clip board, and Rufus Wieber Lewis, the four legged researcher with red hair and pink tongue, patrolled Lieutenant Island’s Marsh Road and Turtle Point for signs of emerging nests.  At the high dune of Turtle Point, the team discovered several nests on the cusp of “pipping.”  In one nest, three of the babies were advanced enough to be born in front of our video cameras.

Witness the Awe-Inspiring Miracle of Birth

First Diamondback Terrapin Hatchling of 2011

We didn’t have to wait 48 hours; we didn’t have to wait 24 hours for the first 2011 terrapin hatchling to emerge.  This afternoon, shortly after we discovered a pipped egg in Nest 368 (see posting immediately below), we found a hatchling near the bottom of the nest that was scratching its way to freedom.

Terrapin Hatchling Emerges to Freedom

Hatchlings use their temporary egg tooth to pierce the hard shell.  Once a hole has been cut through the egg, the hatchling widens the opening with its sharp and strong claws.  About four to five days after the egg is “pipped,” the hatchling has absorbed its large yolk sac sufficiently to emerge from the egg, tunnel to the surface and scramble to the safety of vegetation.

The 2011 Terrapin Hatchling Season Begins

This hatchling has ripped its shell apart and has managed to squiggle free.  It will shortly be released into its native salt marsh nursery habitat south of Lieutenant Island in Wellfleet on Outer Cape Cod.  In the next few days, hatchlings will begin emerging from nests throughout Southeastern Massachusetts.  Keep a sharp eye to the ground and let Turtle Journal know if you discover hatchlings emerging at our 508-274-5108 hotline.

Diamondback Terrapin Egg Initial “Pip”

A diamondback terrapin hatchling pecked a tiny hole in its egg about 1 pm this afternoon, August 19th, after 63 days of incubation.  This egg came from a nest deposited on June 17th inside a slate stone walkway off Lieutenant Island’s Marsh Road and relocated to Turtle Point for safety.  Turtle hatchlings are equipped with a tiny sharp egg tooth that they use to “pip” through the egg shell.  Once the shell is pierced, they use their sharp and powerful claws to rip open the egg.  The process from initial “pipping” until emergence can take from four to five days, during which time hatchlings are extremely vulnerable to predators from insects to raccoons.

Turtle Journal expects to see our first emerged hatchling of the season within the next 24 to 48 hours.

Terrapin 9898 Completing Nest

Yes, Fifth Avenue.  But no Macy’s, no Saks, no New York, New York.  Instead, beautiful diamondback terrapin #9898  is nesting on the one-lane dirt road Fifth Avenue on Lieutenant Island in South Wellfleet.  This Fifth Avenue is renowned as the epicenter of terrapin nesting in the Northeast, not high scale shopping for which the other Fifth Avenue is noted.

In the midst of a torrential downpour and dramatic thunderstorm, Terrapin 9898 dug her second and final nest of the season in the west tire track of Fifth Avenue.  Turtle Journal came across her as lightning danced in the tree tops overhead and thunder claps shook the island.  We parked the car to block road traffic to protect her vulnerability from disturbance and potential injury.

After she completed the nest, we excavated her eggs and moved them to a safer location on Turtle Point.  Because she had nested in the midst of the storm, her eggs were floating in several inches of water inside the egg chamber.  Terrapin 9898 scrambled down the bank and slipped into the salt marsh.  With her responsibilities to the next generation done for 2011, her key task between now and 1 October is to forage in order to restore the 20% body mass she has invested in her two clutches, so she can survive the cold hard winter ahead.

Eastern Box Turtle in Paradise

Humans may not appreciate sustained summer rains, but Eastern box turtles consider these conditions paradise.  Lots of moisture to keep hydrated while pursuing their most favored delicacy:  slugs!  Picture if you will that epic battle of speed and cunning … NOT between the tortoise and the hare, but between a lumbering box turtle and a slithering slug.  No, it’s not a sleek cheetah chasing down a graceful gazelle in a breathless sprint.  Yet it’s just as dramatic, and just as lethal.  And the outcome painted on the turtle’s lips is just as satisfying … for the predator, that is.

Hans on the Hunt

With the rains emerged Eastern box turtles from under leaves and protective scrapes & burrows where they’ve hidden waiting for the perfect moment to move out of the woodlands and into the fields for foraging and mating and nesting.

Abbe Advances

Field school participants gained practice and experience by tracking down a radio-tagged 10-year-old box turtle.  As the signal vectored the team toward the general area of the tagged turtle, eager eyes scanned the woodlands and discovered the gentle critter hiding under some dropped branches.

Pat on Point

With the confidence gained by this tracking exercise, the team cut loose to find untagged turtles scattered around more than a 1000 acres of Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

 

Eureka! Bruce, Peter & Hans Examine Box Turtle

As each Eastern box turtle was discovered, the team examined it to identify its gender and to assess its health.  They weighed and recorded its mass, an indicator of how well hydrated these animals had become in these perfect turtle conditions.  The team measured length and width of carapace (top shell) and plastron (bottom shell).  They documented all these data and GPS’d the turtle’s location to add to more than three decades of Eastern box turtle studies on the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

MORE TURTLE FIELD SCHOOL STORIES TO FOLLOW