Turtle Journal

Female Terrapin #9018 Killed on Lieutenant Island

Shortly after finding the first fatality of the 2011 nesting season, Turtle Journal’s Sue Wieber Nourse discovered a second smashed terrapin about a quarter mile down the road.  While all unnecessary turtle deaths are unfortunate, it seems a tragedy to find an old friend killed so carelessly and so cruelly.  This female terrapin, #9018, has been tracked by Turtle Journal since Don Lewis first found her nesting on Lieutenant Island on June 27th, 2004.  She has been almost a member of the family, a reliable friend whom we see each summer as she struggles upland to lay her nest.

Terrapin #9018 Nesting in June 2004

In fact, the photograph above records our first encounter with Terrapin #9018, just after she finished laying her nest and camouflaging its presence … immediately behind her tail in the image above. 

Protecting Terrapin #9018’s Last Eggs

Today Sue was able to recover several undamaged eggs from her crushed body.  Sue carefully transported them to a very safe location where she dug a nest and covered it with a wire-cage predator excluder.  Under our watchful eyes, these eggs will incubate in the summer heat until they hatch sometime in mid to late August.  Hopefully, Turtle Journal will have a happier story to tell then, as the offspring of our friend Terrapin #9018 emerge from the sands of Lieutenant Island to take her place in the Wellfleet Bay population.

Female Terrapin Crushed by Truck on Lieutenant Island

The first fatality of the diamonback terrapin nesting season occurred this morning on Lieutenant Island in South Wellfleet.  A gorgeous ten-year-old female, heavy with eggs and making a nesting run, was run over by a truck at the intersection of the island’s main asphalt road and Marsh Road (Way #100). 

Sue Wieber Nourse found this young lady about an hour before flood tide.  A vacationer reported that she had witnessed the event.  A large commercial truck ran over the turtle in the dirt shoulder as the vehicle rushed to get off the island before the causeway disappeared under the full moon tide, which would have inconvenienced the driver.

One-Year-Old Female Spotted Turtle (Clemmys guttata)

Turtle Journal visited the abandoned Goldwitz cranberry bog in Marion yesterday morning to check for signs of turtle nesting.  As Don Lewis patrolled a shallow channel, which had been largely drained by operations in an adjacent active bog, he spotted a tiny spotted turtle trying to soak in the last puddle of ooze.  So little moisture remained in the channel that the turtle was unable to disappear into the bottom before Don was able to scoop her up with a hand capture.  Normally, she would have disappeared under murky water and into the soft bottom before we got within eyeshot of her.

Spotted Turtle Carapace: Single Growth Line

Examining this beautiful little turtle, we find only a single growth line in each scute, indicating that she is entering her second year  of life.

Sexual Dichromatism: Female Spotted Turtle

It took a while before this shy juvenile dared to show her head.  Once she did, it was easy to identify her gender as female with her brightly colored neck.  Males have drably hued throats.

One-Year-Old Female Spotted Turtle

So few spotted turtles remain in Goldwitz bog that we rarely see more than a couple of adults during the entire mating season.  When we began observing this bog channel seven years ago, nearly a dozen adults would be seen in the spring mating aggregation.  So, it’s a real pleasure with such reduced numbers to find a new recruit in this distressed population.

Sultry Snapper “Going My Way, Big Boy?”

It was a warm and humid day at Turtle Journal headquarters as my partner and I worked the nesting squad.  The call came in from the Wellfleet beat.  “Is this the Turtle Guy?” croaked the husky voice at the other end of the universe.  I acknowledged the caller had the right number.  “Well, we have a sticky situation here and we need your help.”

Do You Call This a Turtle Garden?

A dark and sultry stranger had slipped into Paul Pilcher’s garden off Chequessett Neck.  “She’s 14 inches long and 8 inches wide,” claimed Lisa Benson who had been shown the glamorous invader that had taken possession of a corner of Paul’s garden and hadn’t budged in more than 24 hours.  “We called the local authorities to find out what to do, yet once they found out it wasn’t a terrapin, they lost interest.  She’s in trouble, Don.  What can we do?”

Case of the Snapping Gardener

The Turtle Journal sleuths interrogated witnesses, analyzed clues and solved the case.  “Give the lady a drink!  Hydrate that gorgeous female snapper who’s been trapped in your garden, and move her tomorrow back to the nearest wetlands.  Gently coax the gray lady into a large bucket with a shovel, but stay clear of her business end.  She may appear lethargic, but she’ll still snap your fingers off.”  Paul Pilcher and Dan Lawson under Lisa Benson’s guidance moved the turtle to the back of a pickup for the short ride home.

Happy Endings!

Without so much as a by-your-leave or thank-you, the sultry lady slipped through the grass and returned safe and sound to her wetlands home.

Take a Bow Paul Pilcher for

Saving the World, One Turtle at a Time

(All photos courtesy of Lisa Benson.)

Diamondback Terrapin Nesting Tracks @ Aucoot Cove

Fresh from his graduation yesterday from Williams College (see below), Turtle Journal’s Jared Nourse patrolled the barrier beach at Aucoot Cove in Marion this morning.  He discovered diamondback terrapin nesting tracks, the first of the 2011 season, in the soft sand about 30 minutes before high tide in Buzzards Bay.  He and Sue Wieber Nourse found three sets of tracks on the beach, which may have come from a single terrapin female in multiple runs to find her perfect nesting spot.  Today’s find by Jared and Sue confirm observations in Wellfleet on the Outer Cape that female terrapins had begun to disperse from mating aggregations, presumably migrating to the vicinity of their nesting sites.  All principal investigators have been alerted from Mount Hope Bay to the tip of Cape Cod that nesting season for diamondback terrapins in the Great White North has begun.