Greetings,
I just returned from Snapper and Painted Turtle nesting season research at the Wildlife Research Station in Algonquin Park. I have some great shots so I thought I would share.
First off, a beautiful sunrise last Tuesday morning... there were lots of Snappers nesting this day:
Here is a Snapper digging the flask (her nest):
This is her laying her eggs (notice the ectoparasite):
Here is a very exhausted girl, she is just finishing up burying her eggs (they use their head to dig a little sometimes, hence the sand):
Here is what we look for when there is no turtle, the classic telltale sign of a Snapper nest below:
After we bring the turtle to the lab for measurements we then remove the eggs from the nest (eggs are weighed and measured and returned to the nest the next day with no ill-effects):
This is me putting some processed eggs back into their nest:
And this is me about to release a processed turtle back into her stream:
The same process is performed for Painted Turtles:
Here are some Painted eggs:
This is a first-time capture, she hasn't been tagged yet but you can see where I notched her marginal carapace scutes for identification (look around the edge of the shell):
Here's a closeup:
Finally, a photo of the mayhem that is our van, complete with a loose snapper, snappers in buckets, and eggs in containers - always fun times when you have snappers loose in the vehicle:
I hope you enjoyed the photos!
Cheers,
Ryan
P.S. By the way, this is part of ongoing research (more than a
few decades worth) being done on Snappers and Painteds in the park.
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