Western Pond Turtles

Emerging Baby Turtles!

Last week, my lab partner and I went out to our field site to see if last year’s hatchlings had emerged yet from their nests. The female pond turtles lay their eggs in the early summer (June is the most active month at our site), and the eggs hatch approximately three months later. There is evidence that young don’t leave the nest, though, until after the winter, something we were able to confirm on our excursion today!

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By Wendy St. John, ago
Me and my poster

The Wildlife Society Western Section

A small group of students from my research lab made the short trek to Sacramento to attend the annual meeting of The Western Section of The Wildlife Society, in Sacramento, California, February 1 – 3, 2012. This was my first conference after beginning the master’s program, and I worked with an undergraduate to create this poster, which we presented during the poster session:

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By Wendy St. John, ago

Western Pond Turtle Hatchling

This is one of our new hatchlings; the yellow “blob” on its belly is the external yolk. This is the baby’s nutrition source and will continue to be absorbed over the next several days. Sometimes they are MUCH bigger than this, and some hatchlings hardly have any.

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By Wendy St. John, ago

End of Field Season

Writing this from Kevin’s house; we came straight here from Cobb, after breaking down our camp this morning. Yes, the 2011 field season has officially ended. We had a good night last night. Our first turtle of the year returned last night and laid a second nest – the first time we’ve witness a double-clutch.
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By Wendy St. John, ago

Turtle Release

Released the turtles from the San Francisco Zoo today, and it was a lot of fun. I kind of love wading out into the middle of the lake. Not sure why it doesn’t scare me like a regular lake would, maybe because it’s not open water. Today we got a later start than last week, and also had to get final weights and measurements on the babies, plus renotching a few of them, so we didn’t get to the site until about 1:30. Still was fun, though. Hoping that tonight will be an active night out at the lake, and we get some new nests. It’s been a bit boring with how slow it got up here because of the rain. Although last night we did make one super cool discovery. Our first turtle this year, #240, was recaptured yesterday, gravid. This is the first time we’ve seen proof of a double clutch in one season, which I thought was pretty neat.
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By Wendy St. John, ago

June 29th

Another cold day up on Cobb Mountain. Only rained a little bit last night, and we were cozy and warm and dry in our tent. Today, it’s too cold to really do much field work, so I’ve spent most of the day in the Rec room, reading fanfic and doodling around on my iPad. We will go out for a four o’clock walkthrough, and maybe a couple of later ones as well, but I doubt there will be much turtle activity. So, another sort of long and boring day. I guess this is the dark side of field work, mwahahahahahaa! This might be the way the season ends – with a whimper, rather than a bang. Then again, if it warms up in the next day or two, we might get one more wave of turtles before we pack up our field camp on July 3rd. So, we’ll see. It’s been a successful season already, one way or another.
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By Wendy St. John, ago

June 28th

Rainy day at the field site. Boring and cold. Had a good conversation with Nicole, but the day was kinda long without spending a chunk of it chasing turtles. We did go out for an afternoon walkthrough, though, and found a couple of awesome king snakes (see below). Hopefully it will clear up – and warm up – by tomorrow. I’m cold, and I don’t really like it. Might even sleep here in the rec room tonight, since it will be warmer. Not sure how comfy it would be on the floor, though, even with my thermarest.
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By Wendy St. John, ago

June 23

Yesterday was a good day at the field site. I conquered my fear of the tree blind – I sat in it for about an hour and a half, watching turtles. I can now get in and out without any hesitation, and being up in the tree doesn’t make me feel sick to my stomach. I actually really like it now. Working on my fear of heights, one tree at a time. 😀
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By Wendy St. John, ago