Turtle Journal

 Fog Enshrouded Pilgrims Monument in Provincetown

Fog rolled in thick enough to ooze puddles along Cape roadways and to shroud Provincetown’s Pilgrim Monument in London-esque mystery.  A perfect day for a detective story, especially one with a surprise happy ending.  Into this dense veil walked an alert couple just after noon.

Couple Discover Tiny Terrapin Hatchling at Crosby Beach

They chose Crosby Beach in Brewster and strolled its rolling sands toward the mouth of Namskaket Creek.   On the beach (at the spot marked with the red turtle), they detected a most unusual sight: an inch-long crawling pebble.

Six Gram Diamondback Terrapin Hatchling

Knowing they found something extraordinary, they called the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary for an identification.  To confirm its ID, the couple was asked to bring the specimen to the Nature Center for an expert examination.  Sure enough, they had discovered a 2.68 centimeter long, 6 gram diamondback terrapin hatchling.

While we suspected from the quality of the marsh and the surrounding uplands that terrapins may be present in Namskaket Creek, we have never been able to confirm that suspicion.  On 30 March 2000, the remains of a 9-year-old female was discovered on nearby Linnell Landing, sparking our interest again in Namskaket.  But it could have washed up from anywhere along the bayside coast in a spring storm.  We needed a live sighting to confirm our surmise.

Today, Hatchling 011-01 provides that evidence.  We’ve alerted the Cape Cod Nature Network of this find and asked folks to be alert to nesting females on surrounding uplands (dunes, wrack lines, dirt roads and driveways), beginning next week and until around 20 July.  We’ll launch a sweep of these same uplands during and after the nesting season in search of terrapin signs.

Namskaket lies midway between the large population in Barnstable Harbor and the northernmost population in Wellfleet Bay.  A new breeding population in Namskaket Creek would be an important discovery for Cape Cod’s diamondback terrapins.

Kayaking in Blackfish Creek at Mid Tide

If anyone asks whether you’d prefer to be good or lucky, pick lucky.  Good only describes process, while luck produces results.  Today proved another case in point.

Midway through a lunar cycle means tides are not workable for locating and netting turtles in Blackfish Creek.  We pulled up stakes for a few days until things improve as the full moon approaches.  A wayward jet stream has blown constant winds and white caps across the bay reducing water visibility to zero.  So, I took the day off from research to introduce a house guest to the joys of kayaking.

As luck would have it, we arrived at the shore a couple of hours before low tide.  I outfitted my companions with life vests, shoehorned them into kayaks, handed them paddles, and shoved them off into Wellfleet Bay — leaving me to my own devices with nothing productive to do.

 Male Terrapin #1081 and Female Terrapin #785

As luck would have it, I had advertently (!) brought along a net — just in case.  I kayaked across to the flooded rip, jumped out, and waded hip deep in water with the boat lashed to my life vest.  For just a few moments, the wind dropped to near calm and the murk parted enough to see shadows as the tide ebbed.

And, as luck would have it, two turtles tried to swim the rapids just in front of me.

Terrapin 785 is a beautiful pre-pubescent female about 8 years old.  I first saw her on 29 July 1999 when she was only 13.3 centimeters long and 408 grams in weight.  Since then she has grown nearly 1.5 centimeters and 150 grams as she nudges the puberty threshold. I suspect next year (2002) will mark her first nesting season.  The second turtle was marked 1081.  He is a 7-year-old, mature male at nearly 11.9 centimeters length and 283 grams.  He showed muddy residue in his frontal cavity and along the rear, while #785 was clean of all vestiges of brumation.  She did, however, have a ring of light green seaweed clinging to her rear marginals.

Don Lewis Examine Male Diamondback Terrapin

One interesting observation:  In July 1999, I had noted a pimple-like growth in Terrapin 785’s mouth.  Today it was clear — as luck would have it.

Terrapin Hatchling “J.P.” Ready for Release 

It’s no life of leisure spending time in the recovery lab.  We expect each hatchling to return to the wild in better condition than when it arrived.  Normally that process involves heat and hydration and ample safe space to exercise its limbs in swimming and crawling.  The baby terrapin discovered in a Lieutenant Island basement yesterday took exercise to the extreme, doing one limb (hand) push-ups, Jack Palance style.  After such a feat of physical prowess, he earned the name “J.P.” and also won his release into the nursery marsh off Turtle Point this morning.

Turtling in Blackfish Creek

Temperatures remained quite cool for the end of May and a stiff northwest wind continued to churn Blackfish Creek into an inky mix.  Few turtles were observed flowing with the noon low and only one was captured when the tide reached full ebb.

Male Terrapin #1076 Heads Back into Blackfish Creek

Terrapin 1076 is a good size, mature male.  He measured 12.6 centimeters carapace length and weighed a hefty 330 grams.  Like many of our recent captures, he had mud caked inside his frontal cavity and along his rear side.  He also had light green algae rimming his rear marginals and under his chin, too.  All indications seem to point to a delayed or stuttered start for the Wellfleet Bay terrapin population in 2001.  We need to wait for the kick-off of nesting as a second benchmark to gauge 2001.

While raising the flag this morning under bright sunshine and a snapping southwest breeze, I was visited by Bill Walker, a summer resident on Lieutenant Island and member in good standing of the Paludal Posse.  Last year, he and his wife Florence found a female nesting in their driveway — a good 1/4 mile uphill trek from the nearest marsh.  That protected nest yielded a dozen perfect hatchlings in the fall.

Terrapin Hatchling Over-Wintered in Bill Walker’s Basement

Today Bill had another story to tell.  Just back for the summer, he was cleaning the basement and swept up a “stone” that decided to start moving when it felt the broom.  He picked up a 2.66-centimeter, 5-gram diamondback terrapin.  Examining the walk-in basement from the outside, I found a small space under its wooden doors through which a baby turtle could wander.

Diamondback Terrapin Hatchling with Beautiful Gray Eyes

This foundling was a long, long way from safety in the marsh.  And thanks to the Walkers, she’ll now have a chance to make it in the wild.  Quite an attractive critter, she had unusually light gray eyes around a dark pupil.

Diamondback Terrapin #1075 with Large Male Tail 

In Blackfish Creek this morning, we found terrible visibility caused by several days of southwest winds and thunderstorms churning up the bottom.  We also found a mature male turtle (#1075) seen for the first time.  He measured a little over 12 centimeters and hit the scales at 282 grams.  Turtle 1075 sported a stylish Poirot-esque mustache, was still heavily caked in mud, showed pocks and minor scarring of his plastron, and a hard sore on the underside of his right rear limb.

Kids Help Release Terrapin #1075 into Blackfish Creek

The highlight of the day, though, was a chance to indoctrinate some new recruits for the Paludal Posse.  Joe, Kira, and James happened to be visiting the island from the mainland with their parents, saw our research activity, and had the good sense to join in the fun.

Thunderstorms Pound Wellfleet’s Blackfish Creek 

Wedged between waves of violent thunderstorms, we managed a few moments of terrapin observation in Blackfish Creek this morning.  As we arrived on Lieutenant Island and gathered gear for over-dune trek to the rip, the field phone rang with an urgent message from Bob Prescott, director of the local Mass Audubon sanctuary.  “I just looked at radar and a band of thunderstorms has taken aim on Wellfleet.  If you’re in the water, get out.  If you’re not, stay put.”  Sound advice, indeed.  The raw beauty of thunderstorms skimming across the bay is a sight to die for, but standing knee deep in water on the tidal flats (and there’s a reason why they’re called “flats”), while holding a dip net with a 10-foot metal rod, tempts the fates to extol the “die for” price of admission.  We hunkered down inside the jeep as lightning ricocheted around us.

Terrapin Gender Dimorphism Models:

Female #697 and Male #823

In a lull between bands, we raced across the channel and took position in the rapids.  The once pristine beach was strewn with slimy algae of all shapes and shades, as the overnight storm churned the bottom.  Water color and visibility matched the blackened sky.  But as luck would have it, and it usually does, Terrapin 697 swam right through my legs and into the net.  She is an old friend with a remarkable story to tell.

First observed in June of 1997, she had crawled out of Blackfish Creek to nest in an upland dirt road on Old Wharf Point.  Around 10 years old, she measured 16.70 centimeters carapace length and weighed 806 grams.  The next time we saw #697 proved traumatic.  On 1 July 1998, she was hit by a car and left at the side of Route 6.  The front of her carapace was broken, as was her plastron, and she was ambulanced to Wildcare for emergency treatment.

Shell plastered, she was released into Blackfish Creek with but faint prayer that she would survive.  Yet, on 13 September 1999, Turtle 697 (on the left) was netted while paired with Male #823 (right).  Her shell, though looking a bit dinged, had healed quite well.  And now the picture of this “adorable couple” serves as our lecture slide for illustrating gender dimorphism in diamondback terrapins, never mind offering a poignant vignette about the dangers of vehicles during nesting season, the importance of quick and positive intervention, and the incredible resilience of turtles — all with a nice happy ending.

Female Terrapin #697 in 1999 (Left) and 2001 (Right) 

Today’s observation merely punctuates to the story.  Number 697, as shown by these carapace photos from 1999 and 2001, has continued to improve.  It is no surprise that she has not grown much during this traumatic healing period.  She measures 16.8 centimeters long and weighs 846 grams.  But, all in all, not a bad outcome for a critter who had been so badly injured.  It was worth dancing between lightning strikes to meet her once more.

The (Most) Northern Diamondback Terrapin

Northernmost Diamondback Terrapin Hatchling Found

We lucky researchers in Wellfleet Bay let the words “the northernmost population of diamondback terrapins” roll glibly off our lips.  But in any “northernmost” habitat, there must be one spot, one location which is north of all the rest.  So it is in Wellfleet Bay, too, as the dike blocking the mouth of the Herring River defines the most northern accessible latitude in the entire harbor.  Today a family, driving Chequesset Neck Road to its northwest dead end at Cape Cod Bay, found a hatchling crossing in front of their car (see red turtle on map below).  They brought it to the Mass Audubon sanctuary to identify its species.  You guessed it: the Northern(most) Diamondback Terrapin.  They simply can’t get any farther north, as her mother had trekked north up a dune and inland to nest on the far (north) side of the asphalt road.

Northernmost Diamondback Terrapin Hatchling

Hatchling 008-01, who pipped in the fall but opted to remain over winter in her underground nest chamber, stretched out to 2.8 centimeters carapace length and weighed 6 grams.  Far from dehydrated, she was bright-eyed and frisky, in a hurry to get a jumpstart on the season ahead.

Northernmost Terrapin Hatchling Released into Herring River Marsh

I released Hatchling 008 at the head of the National Sea Shore trail to Great Island at the Gut — a tombolo which now converts the island into a peninsula.  After enduring waves of weekend walkers who ooh-ed and aah-ed, snapped pictures, and suffered my lecture on conserving terrapins, she ambled eastward into the marsh, crawled under a dense layer of beach grass, and disappeared from sight.