As a boom of thunder rolled across the lake, the first day of the work week had come to an end. I had never yearned for a heavy rain so intensely before in my life as I had when I saw the first signs of the coming storm. For weeks previous to the deluge, the [...]
Blanding’s turtles travel quite a bit and love every type of wetland. Some wetlands are a bit easier to traverse than others. When I am out tracking, every moment brings out a new adventure, and that’s what I love about tracking so much. There is nothing like spending your days in such circumstances as these: [...]
Turtle season is in full swing and May is slipping away. The primary goal for this spring season was to find juvenile Blanding’s turtles. It has been a successful season so far, with the findings of two new Blanding’s Juveniles. This is no easy task, as juveniles are very good at hiding under logs, sticks, [...]
Spring has begun and we are back 'turtling'. It’s good to be back!! Springtime is busy…checking on overwintering turtles, looking for new wild juveniles and doing population surveys. My first weekend, I typically feel like I’m floating on a cloud… My excitement is boundless and my senses are honed in on all the springtime happenings. [...]
It has been a while since our last post about the little Blanding's turtles that we search through the wetlands to find each week. We had an incredible season last year- every turtle that was raised at KTTC and released into the wild made it in to hibernation. Our staff and volunteers will be posting [...]
The art of tracking turtles…let me set the mood. I have just canoed to a sweet gale swamp thicket wetland, which was where I last saw the turtle. I am standing in my canoe, antennae in hand. I begin to point and hammer down the antennae from left to right. Listening to the sounds of [...]
Field season has been in full swing for over a month now. I have been tracking Blanding’s turtles from sunrise until sunset, driving from northwest to northeast, canoeing through lakes, marshes, swamps and fens and catching Snapping turtles, Painted turtles, Blanding’s turtles and fish. I just can’t get enough. The field season completely consumes my [...]
2013 promises to be a very exciting year for field work at Kawartha Turtle Trauma Centre. With huge gratitude to the TD Friends of the Environment Fund (TD FEF), our field work has been expanded this year. The work under the Species At Risk Stewardship Fund (SARSF) will be continued at our main field site [...]
This year has been an exciting time for the staff and volunteers at KTTC having had the opportunity get into the field and track some of our very own turtles. Though this year’s sample size of 10 turtles was small, they were able to provide us with critical information regarding their habitat preferences, behaviours and [...]
New this year, we have started a field study to track and monitor the movement, growth, and survival of a group of young Blanding’s turtles (a Threatened species) that were successfully hatched at KTTC. This headstart program involves keeping newly hatched Blanding’s turtles for close to two years until they reach a size where they [...]
Turtle Crossing Sign Locations in Southern Ontario To counteract road-kill, a direct consequence of road-wildlife interactions, transportation planners and wildlife biologists are working together to find solutions. Historically, transportation planners have often placed wildlife crossing signs for deer and moose along roads where these animals may pose a traffic safety hazard. More recently, [...]
Snapping Turtle on a Road Shoulder (photo: Christine Jennings) Ontario has eight native turtle species, seven of which have been listed by both the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) and by the Committee on the Status of Species at Risk in Ontario (COSSARO) as species at risk. Turtles [...]
