{"id":13454,"date":"2013-06-04T10:00:37","date_gmt":"2013-06-04T15:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=13454"},"modified":"2013-09-25T12:57:00","modified_gmt":"2013-09-25T17:57:00","slug":"turtles-on-the-move-massachusetts-southcoast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=13454","title":{"rendered":"Turtles on the Move @ Massachusetts SouthCoast"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Eastern Box Turtle and Diamondback Terrapin<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

By\u00c2\u00a0Tuesday morning, June 4th, all Massachusetts SouthCoast turtles were on the move in nesting sites.\u00c2\u00a0 At dawn, we encountered snappers and painted turtles digging near wetlands.\u00c2\u00a0 As the sun rose, we found diamondback terrapins at Buzzards Bay nesting sites and Eastern box turtles nesting in the same general location.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

This lovely lady crawled just upland of the Aucoot Cove barrier beach as she scratched the ground for a suitable nest.\u00c2\u00a0 She sported the most dazzlingly bright yellow carapace.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Female Diamondback Terrapin on Nesting Run @ Cove<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

We spotted female Terrapin #70 scratching the compacted, graveled\u00c2\u00a0path\u00c2\u00a0at\u00c2\u00a0 The (Hammetts) Cove private dock.\u00c2\u00a0 The\u00c2\u00a0marginals along her entire front quadrant\u00c2\u00a0had been\u00c2\u00a0broken in an earlier encounter with a vehicle.\u00c2\u00a0 During our longitudinal study of terrapins on the SouthCoast, we learned that this pathway had once been a dense nesting area for threatened diamondback terrapins before it was compacted and graveled by The Cove.\u00c2\u00a0 Since then, terrapins have largely been unsuccessful in penetrating this\u00c2\u00a0hardened surface.\u00c2\u00a0 Each year the number of viable nests at the Cove decreases.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Nesting Diamondback Terrapin @ Aucoot Cove<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Back at the Aucoot Cove barrier beach for a second morning patrol, the Turtle Journal team discovered a 13-year-old female nesting a few feet upland of the nursery salt marsh.\u00c2\u00a0 Terrapin #68 had not been observed previously and was unmarked.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Female Diamondback Terrapin on Nesting Run @ Aucoot<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

As Terrapin #68 headed back into Buzzards Bay, she paused to survey her barrier beach, hoping that the sign hovering over head truly does mean that this fragile spit will be preserved as a wildlife refuge for this threatened species.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/object><\/p>\n

IF YOU HAVE AN iPad & CAN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T SEE VIDEO: CLICK HERE<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Rufus Shows How to Herd Terrapins<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

An integral member of the Turtle Journal team, Rufus ensures that turtles are protected while on land and they make it back safely into the bay.\u00c2\u00a0 She notes that almost any dog can herd sheep or cattle, but it takes a special canine to herd turtles.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eastern Box Turtle and Diamondback Terrapin By\u00c2\u00a0Tuesday morning, June 4th, all Massachusetts SouthCoast turtles were on the move in nesting sites.\u00c2\u00a0 At dawn, we encountered snappers and painted turtles digging near wetlands.\u00c2\u00a0 As the sun rose, we found diamondback terrapins at Buzzards Bay nesting sites and Eastern box turtles nesting in the same general location. […]<\/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\/13454"}],"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=13454"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13793,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13454\/revisions\/13793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}