Turtle Journal

Don Lewis Examines Male Diamondback Terrapin in Blackfish Creek

 A southwest breeze bathed the Land of Ooze with refreshing warmth.  Blue skies and lazy clouds painted Wellfleet Bay in springtime hues.  Still, few turtles have emerged from brumation.  But with a string of 70°F days in the immediate forecast, it’s only a matter of time.  One hazard surprised me as I waded the creek.  So many pairs of mating horseshoe crabs have gathered in the low tide rip that it has converted the rapids into a virtual minefield.

Eight-Year-Old Male Terrapin #1052  Floats through Rip

Two male terrapins floated through the rip this morning.  Number 1052 came first; an 8-year-old with perfectly pristine carapace and plastron, he tipped the scales at 222 grams and stretched to 11 centimeters long.

Male Terrapin #1047 Swims through Blackfish Creek Rip

A few minutes later a repeat customer swam into view.  Terrapin 1047, you may recall, was first observed a week ago on 23 April in the first group of turtles seen active in 2001 (see Firsts — 23 April 2001).  In the last week, he seems to have warmed up a lot and has become quite active and aggressive.

Male Diamondback Terrapin #1047

He lost 4 grams in weight with his shell peeling off its winter covering.

Still blowing from the north, winds subsided to less than 10 knots and air temperature lingered in the mid 40s, but water over the tidal flats had climbed back to 51°F by 9:30 this morning.  In short, conditions moderated just enough to allow a couple of terrapins to re-emerge from frozen slumber with the renewed promise of springtime.  Horseshoe crabs resumed mating in numbers along the edge of low-tide sandbars in the middle of Blackfish Creek.

Blackfish Creek “Rip” at Low Tide — Turtle Sampling Site

And while sometimes I whine a bit about murky conditions in the turbulent rapids over the rip, I must admit that this morning even I couldn’t find much to complain about.  Water visibility was near perfect and you could see anything that moved through and along Blackfish Creek.

Large Male Terrapin #710 Paddling through the Rip

A mature male terrapin, #710, plopped over the rapids and bobbed along the shallows, snorkeling for air as he paddled toward the safety of deeper water.  Last seen on the evening of 3 June 2000 coming through the same rip, this turtle looked like he enjoyed a good 2000 summer season and survived the winter quite well, too.  Already one of the largest males we have observed in Wellfleet Harbor at 13.1 centimeters carapace length, #710 managed to gain another 5% mass to reach 340 grams body weight.

Ten-Year-Old Female Terrapin #1051 Missing “Toes” and Claws

A 10-year-old female (#1051) spun through the rapids at almost the same time.  She was nearly 17 centimeters long and weighed in at 844 grams.  On closer examination, I noticed she had lost all the toes on her right front limb, and several of the toes and claws on her right rear leg were also gone.

Neither injury slowed her down.  She hissed a warning as I snatched her from the rip and on release she sped toward the creek, leaving a peg hole where her right limb touched the sand.

Terrapin #710 Returns to Blackfish Creek; Note Striped Male Tail

Both turtles seemed stone cold to the touch when I first recovered them from the rip.  As I measured, weighed, documented, and marked them, they warmed up considerably.  And by the time they were released, they had become fully alert and active.  They raced from the beach to the water line and paddled off into the creek at full speed.

Frigid Conditions in Blackfish Creek

Winter returned to the Land of Ooze.  No snow nor sleet nor freezing rain — just plain cold.  The thermometer registered 41 degrees as I climbed the barrier dune to reach Blackfish Creek and face a stiff 15-knot wind blowing off the North Atlantic out of the northeast.  I’ll let you do the wind chill calculations.

Not only was the air cold, but two days of blustery conditions plunged creek water temperature back to 48 degrees — well below our terrapins 55°F wake-up call.  So, the sleeping beauties remain sleeping, but the poor critters that have already popped out of brumation are enduring some challenging moments.

Nothing seems to stop the horseshoe crabs, though.  Pairs locked in mating bliss flowed through the channel and cozied up to emerging sandbars to lay eggs.

Female Terrapin #774 Spins Upside Down through the Rip

I didn’t expect and hoped not to find many turtles out and about this morning.  So, I was not surprised that no heads popped up for most of the tidal flow.  But nearing ebb, I saw one female struggling through the rip.  So cold and sluggish was she, that as she tried to propel herself through the rapids, she flipped completely upside down.  Her orange plastron spun like a lighthouse beam to guide me through murk and turbulence to net her.

Terrapin 774 proved a very interesting recapture.  We saw her last on the evening of 4 June 2000, as she negotiated this same channel.  At the time, she was a pre-pubescent turtle of only 14.5 centimeters and 522 grams — both well below the 15.75-cm and 650-gram threshold for a nesting female.  Since then, this 8-year-old terrapin has spurted nearly 10% in linear dimensions and 20% in mass, so that 2001 may mark her first year of maturity.  Similar spurts were noted in three females last year as they, too, straddled the puberty line.

Examining her hind quarters, #774 showed signs of having freshly emerged from brumation with muddy residue apparent along her tail.

Six-Year-Old Male Terrapin Plops over the Rip

Only a moment or two later, a 6-year-old-male plopped over the rip.  His dark carapace matched the color of the day and the water.  The play of reflection and illusion under murky overcast yields a surreal portrait of these animals as they slip through the rippling current.

Two Cold Terrapins Head Back into Blackfish Creek

Both turtles were cold to the touch and seemed sluggishly disoriented.  So, it was with some concern that I released them and watched as they carved their separate paths back to the wild of Blackfish Creek.  With luck we’ll see #774 again this summer as she crawls ashore in June and again in July to deposit her first nests of soon-to-be strapping hatchlings to join our Wellfleet Bay population of diamondback terrapins.

Low Tide Drained Blackfish Creek Looking West

When temperature drops to 45 degrees, winds howl from the north at 20+ knots, wind chills plunge into the mid-20s, and you’re chest deep in frigid bay water wading across Blackfish Creek, you begin to question life’s fundamentals: the importance of research, the value of terrapin conservation, and most urgently, your sanity.  The sky was gray, the water grayer, sandbars gray, and my fingers ashen.

Mating Pair of Horseshoe Crabs (Female in Front)

Very little turtle activity in the creek.  The only critters stirring were horseshoe crabs.  Six pairs were mating in the low tide rip along sandbars and a single pair remained locked in warm embrace at the high tide mark on Lieutenant Island north beach …

Horseshoe Crab Mating Art

. . following a mating dance of some artistic proportion.

Male Diamondback Terrapin #1049 Slips through the Rip

I saw two mature female terrapins snorkeling in the main channel, but visibility proved impossible to locate them underwater.  Near the end of the tide, a lone male paddled by me.

Freezing Don Lewis Processes Male Terrapin #1049

Terrapin 1049 measured 11.7 centimeters carapace length and weighed in at 276 grams.  A passive fellow, he still showed muddy residue on his tail and cowl, indicating a very recent emergence from brumation.

Sea Gull Joins the Turtle Guy in the Rip

Low tide came at sunrise, and a lone sea gull joined me wading on the rip.  He taunted, “I can find terrapins as well as you.”  And I thought I had found an easy mark.  But a southwest breeze had kicked up overnight and churned Blackfish Creek into the consistency of Turkish coffee.  My toes disappeared in inch-deep water. 

Mature Female Terrapin #1048 Flows through Mucky Rip

I watched one large female float toward me, then plunge into the murk along with my disembodied toes somewhere down below.  For nearly an hour I watched and waited, but nothing broke through the haze.  Then, as tide reached maximum ebb, a head snorkeled about fifty feet ahead.  I checked the current and positioned myself within depth-charge splatter of where I thought she might surface.  Seconds passed . . . a minute . . . two minutes.  Had she slipped through the camouflaging muck?

Mud Caked Terrapin #1048 Recently Emerged from Brumation

Nope.  A whisper of a shell tumbled toward me and I netted Terrapin 1048, a 13-year-old female of nearly 18 centimeters carapace length and 1114 grams.  Most terrapins have not yet emerged from brumation, and #1048 showed signs of recently burrowing out of her winter hibernaculum.  Her rear quarters were caked in muddy brown pigment.

Feisty Terrapin #1048

Well, she may have just woken from six months sleep, but she was anything but groggy.  Described as aggressive and feisty, she let me know in unambiguous terms that she did not appreciate having her maiden swim spoiled by a visit with Turtleman.