{"id":11025,"date":"2012-05-30T16:46:11","date_gmt":"2012-05-30T21:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=11025"},"modified":"2012-05-30T16:46:11","modified_gmt":"2012-05-30T21:46:11","slug":"unexpected-arrival-terrapin-316-nests-ten-days-early","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=11025","title":{"rendered":"Unexpected Arrival: Terrapin #316 Nests Ten Days Early"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Every Turtle Has a Tale:\u00c2\u00a0 Diamondback Terrapin #321<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The morning dawned overcast, muggy and wet with intermittent showers.\u00c2\u00a0 But with a pre-dawn high tide, terrapins could be expected.\u00c2\u00a0 So, a little after 5 am,\u00c2\u00a0Turtle Journal’s Sue Wieber Nourse and Rufus the Turtle Dog headed into the darkness in search of nesting turtles.<\/p>\n

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Female Diamondback Terrapin #321 @ Aucoot Cove<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

As the clock ticked toward 6, Sue discovered this beautiful large female on an unsuccessful nesting run at Aucoot Cove.\u00c2\u00a0 Nearly 20 centimters long and weighing 1343 grams, this terrapin (now #321) had not been previously seen.\u00c2\u00a0 She still had eggs inside her, but they were fairly high in the oviducts.\u00c2\u00a0 So, she will have several more opportunities to make a successful nesting run.<\/p>\n

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Terrapin #316 Nesting @ Hammett’s Cove<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

At Hammett’s Cove on the other side of the town, Sue and Terrapin #316 surprised each other.\u00c2\u00a0 This less than optimal nesting site has been dramatically disturbed by human development.\u00c2\u00a0 Once a dense terrapin nesting site, it offers little hope any more for a viable nest.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Terrapin #316 had crossed the now compacted and gravel pathway, which had previously served as a perfect nesting location, and found a tiny spot of root-filled soil near a pile of rocks protecting\u00c2\u00a0the private dock.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Terrapin #316 and Her 12 Perfect Eggs<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

With little hope that these eggs would survive predators or avoid root invasion, Sue excavated twelve perfect terrapin eggs, weighing a total of 91 grams.\u00c2\u00a0 Each egg averaged between 3.2 and 3.3 centimeters long and weighed about 7.8 grams.\u00c2\u00a0 We had seen Terrapin #316 nesting at Hammett’s Cove in 2010.\u00c2\u00a0 Back then, she had laid her first nest on June 9th.\u00c2\u00a0 Today’s nest is a full ten days early.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Helping Hand — Twelve Perfect Diamondback Terrapin Eggs<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

We gave her eggs a “helping hand.”\u00c2\u00a0 Her nest has been relocated to a safe “turtle garden” where\u00c2\u00a0Terrapin #316’s\u00c2\u00a0babies can incubate in safety until they hatch … perhaps as early as the end of July.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every Turtle Has a Tale:\u00c2\u00a0 Diamondback Terrapin #321 The morning dawned overcast, muggy and wet with intermittent showers.\u00c2\u00a0 But with a pre-dawn high tide, terrapins could be expected.\u00c2\u00a0 So, a little after 5 am,\u00c2\u00a0Turtle Journal’s Sue Wieber Nourse and Rufus the Turtle Dog headed into the darkness in search of nesting turtles. Female Diamondback Terrapin […]<\/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\/11025"}],"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=11025"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11025\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11062,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11025\/revisions\/11062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}