So, this is my favorite turtle! He doesn’t even have a name – he’s just #201. (Well, now he’s actually #801, because of the way we number the babies, but he’ll always be 201 in my heart). He was the tiniest turtle incubated and hatched in our lab for the 2011 season: only 3.32 grams at hatching. So tiny and precious.
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Southern Alligator Lizard (Elgaria multicarinata). Found at the field site during the morning, after we’d returned some turtles to the lake.
(more…)Female western pond turtles (Emys marmorata): their nesting season has begun at my field site in Lake County, Calfornia. The turtle in the first photo (#222, a recapture we first encountered in 2010) nested on June 6th – and yes, that photo was taken while she was in the process of laying her eggs. And the gorgeous girl in the other photos (#225, also first captured in 2010) nested on June 7th. The turtles seem to be coming out in greater numbers about a week earlier than they did last year.
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I was in the City today to weigh and measure our head-start western pond turtles. So, have a couple of pictures of baby turtles! The one in the first photo is my favorite – #201, who was the tiniest baby hatched last year in the lab. (Only 3.32 grams when s/he hatched). S/he’s more than ten times that weight now. *loves* Also, a goofy picture of me. 😛
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Went on a field trip today with the local native grasslands society (California Native Plant Society), although the site we visited was already very familiar to me – it’s our Western Pond Turtle field site in Lake County, California. It was different being up there and *not* looking for turtles. I learned some things about plants (which is good; I’m ridiculously ignorant about plants), saw and heard a bunch of great birds (including pileated woodpeckers and MOUNTAIN QUAIL! Only the second time in my whole life I’ve ever seen mountain quail).
(more…)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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Presented my poster again today, as part of SSU’s Graduate Showcase:
(more…)This week, I took my students on a field trip to one of my university’s nature preserves. Our primary goal was to survey some trees for Sudden Oak Death, but I never go to the preserve without the supplemental goal of making wildlife observations, especially since there are always at least a few students who tell me that this trip is the first time they’ve ever gone hiking in some sort of “natural” or wilderness area. I’ll combine photos from both days (I have multiple classes, so came out on two days).
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