{"id":4993,"date":"2010-03-08T16:54:54","date_gmt":"2010-03-08T21:54:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=4993"},"modified":"2010-03-08T16:54:54","modified_gmt":"2010-03-08T21:54:54","slug":"spring-erupts-in-the-great-white-north","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=4993","title":{"rendered":"Spring Erupts in the Great White North!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Painted Turtles Basking in Marion’s Goldwitz Bog<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Three\u00c2\u00a0solid\u00c2\u00a0days of open sunshine and 50\u00c2\u00ba F midday temperatures\u00c2\u00a0enticed South Coast painted turtles to\u00c2\u00a0haul out of their winter hibernacula and to bask\u00c2\u00a0on warm rocks\u00c2\u00a0in Marion’s Goldwitz Bog.\u00c2\u00a0 While there are many potential signs of spring, nothing says springtime more powerfully than a basking painted turtle in early March.<\/p>\n

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

Spring Colors Blurred in Rising Water Vapor Transforms Nature to Monet<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

More than a dozen painted turtles clung to the radiating warmth of these rocks.<\/p>\n

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

Snow Cover Lingered through Sunday at the Bog<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Just yesterday, the pathway to the Goldwitz Bog remained buried in a couple of inches of crunchy snow.\u00c2\u00a0 By this afternoon, snow had disappeared and turtles had re-appeared!<\/p>\n

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

Fiddler Crab in South Wellfleet Marsh<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

A sure sign of spring in the salt marsh systems of Outer Cape Cod is the resumption of activity by fiddler crabs.\u00c2\u00a0 As we patrolled the Fox Island Wildlife Management Area off Indian Neck, we found fiddler crabs scurrying beneath the winter Spartina patens<\/em> and alternaflora<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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

Fiddler Crabs Resume Activity in Early March<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The final precursor to spring is one that the Turtle Journal team detests.\u00c2\u00a0 Also resuming\u00c2\u00a0activity in the oozy marsh channel of the Fox Island Wildlife Management Area were congregations of mud snails.\u00c2\u00a0 While we have no objection to mud snails per se, they carry a parasite that transfers to human (READ: “our”) legs causing what is often described as “fisherman’s itch,” also know as schistosomiasis.\u00c2\u00a0 Unfortunately, mud snails and diamondback terrapins share the same oozy habitat.<\/p>\n

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

Mud Snails Congregate in Oozy Marsh Creeks<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Welcome to Spring 2010!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Painted Turtles Basking in Marion’s Goldwitz Bog Three\u00c2\u00a0solid\u00c2\u00a0days of open sunshine and 50\u00c2\u00ba F midday temperatures\u00c2\u00a0enticed South Coast painted turtles to\u00c2\u00a0haul out of their winter hibernacula and to bask\u00c2\u00a0on warm rocks\u00c2\u00a0in Marion’s Goldwitz Bog.\u00c2\u00a0 While there are many potential signs of spring, nothing says springtime more powerfully than a basking painted turtle in early March. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[402,824,23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4993"}],"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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4993"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4993\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5020,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4993\/revisions\/5020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}