{"id":5607,"date":"2001-06-09T09:35:28","date_gmt":"2001-06-09T14:35:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=5607"},"modified":"2010-03-27T09:57:01","modified_gmt":"2010-03-27T14:57:01","slug":"on-the-move-%e2%80%94-9-june-2001","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=5607","title":{"rendered":"On the Move \u00e2\u20ac\u201d 9 June 2001"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"06-09-1<\/a><\/p>\n

Diamondback Terrapins in Wellfleet’s Blackfish Creek<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Some days swirl while others laze.\u00c2\u00a0 Today fell on the swirl size of the continuum.\u00c2\u00a0 Morning began with turtles shooting the rapids of Blackfish Creek as a 2-knot current drained their marsh habitat.\u00c2\u00a0 Two old friends passed through the rip.\u00c2\u00a0 Terrapin 33 was first observed as 7-year-old pre-pubescent female in 1989, measuring a mere 15.1 centimeters and weighing only 371 grams.\u00c2\u00a0 Today she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a mature turtle and one of the larger females in Wellfleet at 20.4 centimeters and 1500 grams.\u00c2\u00a0 Turtle #283 was first marked as a mature 12-year-old nesting female in 1992.\u00c2\u00a0 Since then she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s added another centimeter of growth and 100 grams of weight.\u00c2\u00a0 Neither exhibited palpable signs of gravidity.\u00c2\u00a0 They were joined this morning by 1103, a mature male of undetermined age, and 1104, a 6-year-old immature female.\u00c2\u00a0 Coincidentally, these last two measured precisely the same length 11.66 centimeters.\u00c2\u00a0 The male weighed 260 grams and the female 300.<\/p>\n

\"06-09-2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Young Female Terrapin #1104 Hides Under Kayak<\/em><\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Not everyone seemed in a hurry to get moving.\u00c2\u00a0 The young female (1104) decided to hide under the kayak when released, rather than scrambling to the water with her comrades.\u00c2\u00a0 This behavior, hiding under the boat or some nearby object, seems more prevalent in juvenile terrapins.<\/p>\n

\"06-09-3<\/a><\/p>\n

Diamondback Terrapin #223 in Lieutenant Island Marsh<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

With this evening\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s high tide, we began nesting checks to look for that first nester of the season.\u00c2\u00a0 As we rounded Turtle Point on south Lieutenant Island, I spotted a female head in a flooded tidal pool and creek channel about 500 feet into the marsh.\u00c2\u00a0 I circled around to approach the area from bayside to get between her and open water.\u00c2\u00a0 As I approached the channel, a previously unobserved male surfaced, took one look at me (and my trusty net), and decided the better part of valor called for flight rather than fight.\u00c2\u00a0 He gulped air, kicked, and scooted for the bay, leaving his sweetheart to fend for herself.<\/p>\n

Terrapin 223 was deeper into the creek and decided to evade capture by hiding in its murky marsh thickets.\u00c2\u00a0 It nearly worked since the creek was bracketed by oozy mud banks and its bottom consisted of quick mud.\u00c2\u00a0 But hey \u00e2\u20ac\u201d if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not getting dirty, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not having fun.\u00c2\u00a0 I did and I did.\u00c2\u00a0 Number 223 is an old friend of the research program, first captured as a juvenile in the summer of 1990.\u00c2\u00a0 She was last seen on a nesting run in this same creek channel on 18 June last year.<\/p>\n

\"06-09-4\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Terrapin Volunteer Liz Moon Processing Turtles<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re still waiting for the season\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s first nester.\u00c2\u00a0 A volunteer called this evening to report what may have been scratchings of a false nest on Indian Neck.\u00c2\u00a0 With high tides on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday coinciding with dawn, it would be a sound bet that the nesting season is about to kick off \u00e2\u20ac\u201d with gusto.\u00c2\u00a0 Volunteer extraordinaire Liz Moon arrived from the mainland in time to join this morning\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s roundup.\u00c2\u00a0 Working on her second decade of terrapin research with Mass Audubon.\u00c2\u00a0 Liz returns each spring to document nesting turtles in Wellfleet Bay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Diamondback Terrapins in Wellfleet’s Blackfish Creek Some days swirl while others laze.\u00c2\u00a0 Today fell on the swirl size of the continuum.\u00c2\u00a0 Morning began with turtles shooting the rapids of Blackfish Creek as a 2-knot current drained their marsh habitat.\u00c2\u00a0 Two old friends passed through the rip.\u00c2\u00a0 Terrapin 33 was first observed as 7-year-old pre-pubescent female […]<\/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\/5607"}],"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=5607"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5619,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5607\/revisions\/5619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}