Friday: 19 October 2012
Yesterday I found, after a week without any hits, what may be the last box turtle of the season. I had found him for the first time in June, and this was my first rediscovery. That calls for a name! Suggestions welcome!
He’s nestled in a “form,” a term coined, according to C. Kenneth Dodd, by the late Lucille Stickel. Lucille Stickel was the Grand Dame of box turtle research. She studied turtle populations for decades as an employee, and then Director at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Maryland. A form is a depression that a turtle digs for itself. It may partially or completely cover the turtle. I’m actually surprised I spotted this guy - he was pretty well nestled in, and I was not close by.
During the warm season, box turtles may drop for days into a drowsy state in a form during times of great heat or drought, waiting it out until some rain or cooler weather. Although we have been dry here, the temperatures have been pleasant and warm, with little nighttime cold. Yet I have seen only this box turtle over the past week. So I suspect that this finding is an indication that turtles are beginning their brumation for the winter, informed more by photoperiod than by temperatures. I presume they’ll gradually dig their way deeper, in place, much as Anne Rice’s vampires did (but without the significantly objectionable personality issues). Oddly, I’ve never seen a box turtle during warm winter days, when supposedly they rouse themselves.
Last year, my last box turtle was seen on Oct 13, and this one was seen yesterday, on Oct 18. Last year’s daytime temperatures were warmer than this year’s, by this time, but also had cooler nights.
I’ll have more to say on this, but here are some overall statistics for what I did this year, starting March 1 and ending October 18:
I made 95 trips over a study area of 20-25 acres, averaging a little over a mile per trip. I covered a total of 113 miles, over 204 hours. I had 66 box turtle encounters, most of whom were rediscoveries of old friends. Of the others, I found 23 new box turtles (10 of whom were on a newly opened study area on the east side of the property).
It was a thoroughly satisfactory year.
He’s nestled in a “form,” a term coined, according to C. Kenneth Dodd, by the late Lucille Stickel. Lucille Stickel was the Grand Dame of box turtle research. She studied turtle populations for decades as an employee, and then Director at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Maryland. A form is a depression that a turtle digs for itself. It may partially or completely cover the turtle. I’m actually surprised I spotted this guy - he was pretty well nestled in, and I was not close by.
During the warm season, box turtles may drop for days into a drowsy state in a form during times of great heat or drought, waiting it out until some rain or cooler weather. Although we have been dry here, the temperatures have been pleasant and warm, with little nighttime cold. Yet I have seen only this box turtle over the past week. So I suspect that this finding is an indication that turtles are beginning their brumation for the winter, informed more by photoperiod than by temperatures. I presume they’ll gradually dig their way deeper, in place, much as Anne Rice’s vampires did (but without the significantly objectionable personality issues). Oddly, I’ve never seen a box turtle during warm winter days, when supposedly they rouse themselves.
Last year, my last box turtle was seen on Oct 13, and this one was seen yesterday, on Oct 18. Last year’s daytime temperatures were warmer than this year’s, by this time, but also had cooler nights.
I’ll have more to say on this, but here are some overall statistics for what I did this year, starting March 1 and ending October 18:
I made 95 trips over a study area of 20-25 acres, averaging a little over a mile per trip. I covered a total of 113 miles, over 204 hours. I had 66 box turtle encounters, most of whom were rediscoveries of old friends. Of the others, I found 23 new box turtles (10 of whom were on a newly opened study area on the east side of the property).
It was a thoroughly satisfactory year.
