Create Turtle Habitat, by Grace Wiley It wouldn’t take more that taking a nickel out of your pocket or biting into a “Beaver Tail” to remind you of this Canadian icon. Beavers are imbedded into Canadian culture and history. Whether you love them or think of them as a pest; [...]
Radio tracking turtles can be thought of as the most rewarding game of hide-and-go-seek there ever was, mostly because the reward is finding a gorgeous, potentially sassy reptile. Turtles are often portrayed as slow-moving animals but boy oh boy can these little critters move. Not only do our turtles move, but they travel to [...]
While most people take a relaxing trip in the canoe and have fun with their friends and family, when the field team takes out the canoe for turtle research, it becomes a full body workout. We are all familiar with strong winds and some uncomfortable waves that prove difficult for canoeing, but [...]
As humans, we have five senses (sight, touch, smell, taste and hearing). A lot of us tend to rely on sight the most, but this week we are going to explore a day in the field from the perspective of my ears. I awake to the raspy call of an Eastern Phoebe at 6:30 [...]
With the days getting shorter and cool weather settling in, the field season has come to an end! We have been diligently tracking juvenile Blanding’s turtles using radio telemetry equipment in several beautiful bogs, marshes, fens, and vernal pools. Our field team was led by Toby Rowland, and included Kelton Adderley-Heron, Kirstin Pellerin, and [...]
There are many things that can go wrong and tamper with our day, things that can make getting through a day a lot harder than it needs to be. And, sometimes, there are what we like to call “The Little Things”. These are the things that help bring a smile to our face after [...]
I am a small wild Blanding's Turtle, and I’ve lived in a small vernal pool for most of my life. Not too long ago I was captured by some humans who took me on land, measured me, weighed me, and attached something to my shell, I'm not sure what it was. I was let [...]
Sometimes words can't express what our eyes can see and our hearts feel...enjoy these beautiful moments captured at our field site by one of our field crew members, Kelton.
The quaking bog, my favourite type of wetland to work in. It ripples when stepped on as a soft Sphagnum layer starts to sink underfoot. This is a landscape of moss, pitcher plants, shrubs and cotton grass fields; darted with stunted tamaracks. Deep channels have been carved around the edges the bog as it shifts [...]
It’s that time of year again! Turtles all over Ontario are on the move, looking for mates, nesting sites, or maybe just a different habitat. Now is the time for everyone to be more careful and watch the road for anything that could be a turtle (and remember they can look a lot like [...]
Weighing a snapping turtle - summer, 2010 Almost a decade ago, while studying at Fleming College, one of my classmates talked a lot about an organization she volunteered for that focused on the rehabilitation of native turtles. The organization was then called Kawartha Turtle Trauma Centre and had recently moved to a location [...]
Did you know that the OTCC monitors turtles in natural habitats? It’s true! On top of the work we do in turtle rehabilitation and education, for the last several years we’ve been sending a crew of technicians into some of Ontario’s wetlands for the summer. This is part of a study comparing the health [...]
