{"id":11103,"date":"2012-06-06T17:21:26","date_gmt":"2012-06-06T22:21:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=11103"},"modified":"2012-06-06T17:21:26","modified_gmt":"2012-06-06T22:21:26","slug":"terrapin-285-nests-on-barrier-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=11103","title":{"rendered":"Terrapin #285 Nests on Barrier Beach"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Terrapin #285 Nests on SouthCoast Barrier Beach<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Three days of cold rain and heavy clouds broke for a few minutes this morning; just long enough for Terrapin #285 to crawl ashore from Buzzards Bay onto her SouthCoast nesting beach.\u00c2\u00a0 Turtle Journal has followed Terrapin #285 since July 1st, 2005 when we first saw her nesting on\u00c2\u00a0this barrier strip.\u00c2\u00a0 She’s a very large female with an 8.5 inch long carapace and\u00c2\u00a0she weighs nearly 3.5 pounds.<\/p>\n

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Diamondback Terrapin #285 Completes Nest<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Sue Wieber Nourse first spotted Terrapin #285 sprawled flat against the sandy beach, immediately\u00c2\u00a0over her still open nest.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0#285 had already carved out the egg chamber and had gently deposited her eggs.\u00c2\u00a0 Now, just as carefully as she had constructed the nest, Terrapin #285 deconstructed it,\u00c2\u00a0hiding the eggs and camouflaging the site.\u00c2\u00a0 As you watch the video clip, note how\u00c2\u00a0#285 uses her large back limbs like a “second pair of eyes” as she completes the nest while protecting the fragile eggs inside.<\/p>\n

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Covered Diamondback Terrapin Nest<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

After Terrapin #285 moved off\u00c2\u00a0her nest, the Turtle Journal team moved in.\u00c2\u00a0 You can\u00c2\u00a0detect the nest because of the darker coloration of moist sand that has been mixed from underneath.\u00c2\u00a0 If we had waited a few minutes, the nest would have blended into the background.<\/p>\n

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Top of Terrapin Egg Chamber<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Don Lewis began to excavate.\u00c2\u00a0 He gently brushed off the top layer of sand with the side of his hand.\u00c2\u00a0 He probed with his fingertips until he felt the “sweet spot,” the small circular hole that reaches down about two inches\u00c2\u00a0to the top of the broad egg chamber.\u00c2\u00a0 The pink\u00c2\u00a0top of the highest eggs confirmed that Don had found a viable nest.<\/p>\n

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Top Layer of Eggs in Terrapin Nest<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Once into the broad egg chamber, Don began to remove, examine and count the eggs, using the tip of his thumb and index finger to extract the fragile turtles-in-waiting.<\/p>\n

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Terrapin #285’s Eleven Freshly Laid, Pink Eggs<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Terrapin #285 had deposited 11 very large, moist, pinkish eggs.\u00c2\u00a0 However, because the nest\u00c2\u00a0had been\u00c2\u00a0placed in a highly vulnerable spot, Don\u00c2\u00a0harvested the eggs to relocate them\u00c2\u00a0in a safe turtle garden.<\/p>\n

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Don Lewis Relocates Terrapin Nest to Safe Turtle Garden<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The harvested eggs, along with\u00c2\u00a0sand collected from the natal nest, were brought to the turtle garden to incubate.\u00c2\u00a0 After Don placed them into\u00c2\u00a0a nest he had constructed, he covered them snugly with natal sand, and then installed a predator excluder over the\u00c2\u00a0eggs to ensure they incubate in safety.\u00c2\u00a0 Once hatchlings emerge they will be released at their natal site\u00c2\u00a0on the barrier beach.<\/p>\n

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Diamondback Terrapin #285 Returns to Buzzards Bay<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

After Don and Sue took measurements to compare with our previous records,\u00c2\u00a0Terrapin #285\u00c2\u00a0was released back into Buzzards Bay to prepare for her second nest of the season.\u00c2\u00a0 For local terrapins, the second clutch comes about 17 days after the first. We’ll be looking for Terrapin #285 again during the last week of June.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Terrapin #285 Nests on SouthCoast Barrier Beach Three days of cold rain and heavy clouds broke for a few minutes this morning; just long enough for Terrapin #285 to crawl ashore from Buzzards Bay onto her SouthCoast nesting beach.\u00c2\u00a0 Turtle Journal has followed Terrapin #285 since July 1st, 2005 when we first saw her nesting […]<\/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\/11103"}],"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=11103"}],"version-history":[{"count":32,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11147,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11103\/revisions\/11147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}