{"id":10978,"date":"2012-05-28T20:52:48","date_gmt":"2012-05-29T01:52:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=10978"},"modified":"2012-05-28T20:52:48","modified_gmt":"2012-05-29T01:52:48","slug":"2012-diamondback-terrapin-nesting-begins-southcoast-turtle-nesting-season-in-full-swing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=10978","title":{"rendered":"2012 Diamondback Terrapin Nesting Begins; SouthCoast Turtle Nesting Season in Full Swing"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Terrapin Nesting Tracks @ Aucoot Cove, Buzzards Bay<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Diamondback terrapins began nesting on the SouthCoast of Massachusetts today on the afternoon high tide.\u00c2\u00a0 The Turtle Journal team scoured the Aucoot Cove barrier beach this morning for signs of terrapin nesting, such as tracks.\u00c2\u00a0 Nothing was found.\u00c2\u00a0 Yet, shortly after the PM high tide, we searched again and discovered tracks from two separate nesting runs … including several false nests.\u00c2\u00a0 We also received a report from Broadmoor Marsh in Wareham that a female terrapin had been\u00c2\u00a0observed returning to the bay after a nesting run.\u00c2\u00a0 Today’s start\u00c2\u00a0date is a full week earlier than last year’s start of the terrapin nesting season<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Twenty-One Snapper Eggs<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Within the last 24 hours, Turtle Journal found three freshly laid snapper nests.\u00c2\u00a0 On Sunday, we followed snapper tracks to a large disturbed sandy area, roughly smoothed over.\u00c2\u00a0 Careful excavation revealed 49 ping-pong shaped eggs.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 This morning, we discovered two additional snapping turtle nests.\u00c2\u00a0 One held 21 intact eggs (see above) that averaged 11.8 grams weight a piece.\u00c2\u00a0 Four additonal eggs had been broken by the mother as she tried to tuck them tightly into\u00c2\u00a0this steeply inclined nest.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Snapping Turtle Eggs<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The other nest held 29 perfectly shaped snapper eggs for a total of 99 snappers-in-waiting.<\/p>\n

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Rufus Discovers Nesting Painted Turtle<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Painted turtles have been nesting on the SouthCoast for almost two weeks and they continue to do so.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0And Rufus the Turtle Dog continues to find\u00c2\u00a0female\u00c2\u00a0painteds\u00c2\u00a0as they secretly and quietly tuck eggs into the ground.\u00c2\u00a0 Over the weekend, Rufus\u00c2\u00a0alerted us to three more nesting painted turtles.<\/p>\n

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Female Eastern Box Turtle on Nesting Run<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

On Saturday, during our local patrols, Turtle Journal found a female Eastern box turtle on a nesting run off Converse Road in Marion.\u00c2\u00a0 This beauty hit the scales at a whopping 649 grams.<\/p>\n

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Female Eastern Box Turtle Play Peek-A-Boo<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

After her release she played peek-a-boo with the camera\u00c2\u00a0before disappearing into the underbrush.<\/p>\n

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Spotted Turtle Aggregation — How Many Can You Spot?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Later than we usually observe, spotted turtles remain active in aggregation sites on the SouthCoast.\u00c2\u00a0 Turtle Journal discovered a new spotted turtle\u00c2\u00a0location this spring and has been following its activity for several weeks.\u00c2\u00a0 We have counted at least 20 spotted turtles ranging from tiny yearlings to mating adults basking\u00c2\u00a0 in this dense swampland.\u00c2\u00a0 How many basking spotted turtles can you find in the picture above.\u00c2\u00a0 Click on the image for an enlargement.\u00c2\u00a0 Hint:\u00c2\u00a0 Two is too few and three is never crowded enough.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Terrapin Nesting Tracks @ Aucoot Cove, Buzzards Bay Diamondback terrapins began nesting on the SouthCoast of Massachusetts today on the afternoon high tide.\u00c2\u00a0 The Turtle Journal team scoured the Aucoot Cove barrier beach this morning for signs of terrapin nesting, such as tracks.\u00c2\u00a0 Nothing was found.\u00c2\u00a0 Yet, shortly after the PM high tide, we searched […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10978"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10978"}],"version-history":[{"count":32,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11023,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10978\/revisions\/11023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}