December Sea Turtle Patrol in Truro, Cape Cod

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Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle Rescued from Truro Beach

Weather and winds have been crazy and fickle this fall.  Earlier this week temperatures soared into the 60°s and winds have blown around the compass, scattering wrack, flotsam, jetsam and sea turtles from Provincetown to Yarmouthport.  Last night weather struck again with a northerly gale and sporatic snow showers, pushing flood tides over seaside roadways.  Turtle Journal received a wake-up call at our 24/7 hotline (508-274-5108) from a beachwalker in Dennis to report two Kemp’s ridley sea turtles at Howes Beach.

December Sea Turtle Patrol on Bayside Truro Beaches

If you have a few minutes, join the Turtle Journal team on a virtual daylight patrol from Ryder Beach to Fisher Beach on the bayside of Truro on the Outer Cape.  Why Truro?  Because southwest and west-southwest breezes blow turtles trapped in Cape Cod onto the shores of Truro and Provincetown.

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Cold-Stunned Toad at Bound Brook in North Wellfleet

The fickle fall weather of Cape Cod tricks not only sea turtles, but many other northern critters … including the two legged variety.  As the Turtle Journal team crossed the dunes at Bound Brook in North Wellfleet, we discovered a cold-stunned toad that had been seduced out of its hibernaculum by too warm conditions on Thursday and had succumbed to plunging temperatures Thursday night.  Regular readers may recall a similar incident at the EXACT SAME SPOT that occurred in mid-November 2008 (see Leapfrogging Sea Turtle Patrol Yields Surprise).  As noted in earlier postings, this year’s season has been delayed several weeks by bizarre weather conditions.  We provided the specimen to the National Park Service at the Cape Cod National Seashore for more detailed study.  We’ll let Turtle Journal readers know what scientists at the NPS discover.

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Taylor the Turtle Dog Samples First Seasonal Snowfall

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