{"id":5316,"date":"2001-05-26T16:06:25","date_gmt":"2001-05-26T21:06:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=5316"},"modified":"2010-03-12T16:27:58","modified_gmt":"2010-03-12T21:27:58","slug":"the-paludal-posse-rides-again-%e2%80%94-26-may-2001","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=5316","title":{"rendered":"The Paludal Posse Rides Again \u00e2\u20ac\u201d 26 May 2001"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"05-26-1<\/a><\/p>\n

Blackfish Creek Rip at Low Tide<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

A break in the weather graced the morning with warming sunshine and a refreshing southeasterly breeze.\u00c2\u00a0 Water temperatures reached 60 degrees \u00e2\u20ac\u201d again.\u00c2\u00a0 And terrapins, which had already awoken once from brumation, have dug out of a second time following a mid-May sleep-in.\u00c2\u00a0 While still not moving in large numbers, turtles have resumed their semi-diurnal tidal parade through Blackfish Creek.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"05-26-2<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0Female Terrapin Caked in Brumation Ooze<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Four terrapins were netted coming through the rip, two males and two females, all of whose cavities were caked in mud indicating recent emergence.\u00c2\u00a0 Passing through the rapids twice daily cleanses our turtles quicker than a front-loading, tumbler washing machine.\u00c2\u00a0 Two of today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s terrapins, the males, had been seen earlier this year, one on May 1st and the other on May 3rd.\u00c2\u00a0 The two females were first-time captures.<\/p>\n

\"05-26-3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Female Terrapin $1074 Shows Blood Beneath Plastron<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

A disturbing observation was made on the plastron of female #1074, and to a lesser degree of male #1056, too.\u00c2\u00a0 There was a bright redness visible beneath the plastron scutes, which looked like bleeding.\u00c2\u00a0 [Editor’s note from March 2010:\u00c2\u00a0 After more than a decade of observations, this sub-plastron bleeding is noted in mature female diamondback terrapins in mating aggregations before nesting.]<\/p>\n

\"05-26-4-5<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0Male Terrapin #1056 Algae Gain Since May 3rd<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Terrapin 1056 also showed how quickly these turtles can build up algae growth.\u00c2\u00a0 You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d hardly believe it was the same critter when you compare the 3 May photo on the left with today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s view.\u00c2\u00a0 On the other hand, chilly temperatures have probably kept him fairly inert the last couple of weeks.<\/p>\n

\"05-26-6<\/a><\/p>\n

Albany Visitors Release Terrapin Hatchling in Nursery Marsh<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Finally, Memorial Weekend signals the return of summer volunteers to our Paludal Posse.\u00c2\u00a0 One couple stopped me on the causeway as they arrived from the mainland.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153How did our turtles do?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 These folks had found a terrapin laying a too shallow nest in their driveway last 29 June.\u00c2\u00a0 The eggs were relocated to a protected site.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I guess no one will ever know?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d they shrugged in disappointment.\u00c2\u00a0 Not so \u00e2\u20ac\u201d I gave them baby pictures of their hatchlings as they emerged in late September.<\/p>\n

Another refugee family from urban Albany called this morning with a surprise.\u00c2\u00a0 Two teenage guests found a hatchling in the wrack just outside their cottage \u00e2\u20ac\u201d a prime nesting area on Lieutenant Island.\u00c2\u00a0 This baby was just 2.65 centimeters long and tipped the scales at 5 grams.\u00c2\u00a0 She had fully absorbed her yolk sac, and unlike the hatchlings found last week, she was not dehydrated.\u00c2\u00a0 Perhaps this long string of rainy days did some good after all.\u00c2\u00a0 Following a quick assessment of her health, this tiny dynamo was released back into the marsh by her finders \u00e2\u20ac\u201d the newest volunteers in Wellfleet Bay\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Paludal Posse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Blackfish Creek Rip at Low Tide A break in the weather graced the morning with warming sunshine and a refreshing southeasterly breeze.\u00c2\u00a0 Water temperatures reached 60 degrees \u00e2\u20ac\u201d again.\u00c2\u00a0 And terrapins, which had already awoken once from brumation, have dug out of a second time following a mid-May sleep-in.\u00c2\u00a0 While still not moving in large […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","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\/5316"}],"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=5316"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5316\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5327,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5316\/revisions\/5327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}