She's Out!
Turtle 4 is on the move after a fairly long stint in the reservoir. This morning I found her in a shallow duff burrow between the two pump houses. She is amongst rocks and is oriented sideways to the burrow entrance. As you can see in the photo below, she is positioned below a dead branch. There is little soil in the immediate area and bedrock is close to or at the surface.
Turtle 4 in burrow:
This may be significant as the last time she was palpated (13 May) she was with eggs, and has been in the reservoir ever since. We have assumed that the reason that she had not left the reservoir was that the eggs were developing and she was feeding to facilitate the development. If our assumptions are correct, there is a good chance that laying time is here.
Burrow location 1 meter to the left of the flag:
The other turtles are in the same locations determined during the last survey.
Other wildlife: The female Wood Duck was on the reservoir sharing the basking site with a little turtle cookie. A dead Northern Flicker was found in the middle of the entrance road, apparently hit by a car. If you are reading this and frequent the Range- please watch your speed on the entrance road.
posted by R Olsen @ 11:52 AM
2 Comments
2 Comments:
How was it ascertained the bird died from car strike?
It was dead in the middle of the road with a limp neck and damaged wing. I do not know for sure if it was a car strike, but in all likelyhood it was. Regardless, there are a few individuals that use that road that need to slow down- especially with our documented turtle road crossings. In the 10 years that I have been comming to the Range, I have seen a lot of death on and along the entrance road.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home