{"id":621,"date":"2008-09-25T18:13:19","date_gmt":"2008-09-25T22:13:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=621"},"modified":"2008-10-31T18:23:00","modified_gmt":"2008-10-31T22:23:00","slug":"the-last-terrapins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=621","title":{"rendered":"The Last Terrapins"},"content":{"rendered":"

As September chill grips Cape Cod, terrapins head for winter slumber (brumation).\u00c2\u00a0 Only a few remain active late into the month and they become extremely difficult to find, less active and spending more of their time underwater, surfacing less frequently for air.<\/p>\n

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The Run in South Wellfleet<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

If you’re looking for turtles to sample this late in the month, one of the best places to try is the Run, a wide, shallow inlet south of Lieutenant Island linking many of the\u00c2\u00a0salt marsh\u00c2\u00a0channels where terrapins are known to brumate.\u00c2\u00a0 Wednesday’s weather was clear with a brisk northeast wind off the Atlantic Ocean.\u00c2\u00a0 The air temperature\u00c2\u00a0hovered around 60\u00c2\u00a0and the water held in the mid to upper 50s.\u00c2\u00a0 My legs froze while Sue more intelligently chose waders over bathing attire.<\/p>\n

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Sue Wieber Nourse\u00c2\u00a0Captures Female Terrapin 2149<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Low tide came a 2:30 pm.\u00c2\u00a0 In the Run, low tide marks the best chance to capture terrapins in the shallow, clearer water.\u00c2\u00a0 Our first capture was an 11-year-old female that Sue spotted as\u00c2\u00a0the turtle\u00c2\u00a0raced up channel toward the marsh creeks.\u00c2\u00a0 We had last observed this\u00c2\u00a0terrapin during field school on July 10th as she nested on a sandy bank just off Lieutenant Island.\u00c2\u00a0 Since then she had gained nearly 200 grams for the long winter ahead.<\/p>\n

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Click Here to Watch Video in High Quality<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Sue Wieber Nourse Hand-Netting Terrapins in the Run<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sue found the male terrapin, lazing motionless on the bottom.\u00c2\u00a0 it was the first time we had captured this male that measured 12 centimeters long and weighed a little under 300 grams; that is, about 3\/4 the linear length and 1\/3 the mass of the female.<\/p>\n

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Foul Weather Approaches the Outer Cape<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

With a meteorological depression heading for the\u00c2\u00a0Great White North\u00c2\u00a0tomorrow and Saturday forecast to pound the Outer Cape with rain and wind and cold, chances are that this adorable couple will be the last adult terrapins we will capture until field season returns in late April.\u00c2\u00a0 If history repeats, we will see a few more nests emerge until mid-October, and occasionally we will be confronted in the fall or in very early spring with a cold-stunned adult that didn’t find a particularly safe brumation site.\u00c2\u00a0 For our active collection program, though, the gavel has sounded for the 2008 field season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As September chill grips Cape Cod, terrapins head for winter slumber (brumation).\u00c2\u00a0 Only a few remain active late into the month and they become extremely difficult to find, less active and spending more of their time underwater, surfacing less frequently for air. The Run in South Wellfleet If you’re looking for turtles to sample this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23],"tags":[301,292,290,294,163,300,298,299,296,295,297,71,291,289,288,293,110,454],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621"}],"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=621"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":633,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621\/revisions\/633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}