It's turtle season -- I've seen four turtles in the last three days.
I've been informally tracking box turtles on our property for a number of years now. I document them by photographing them -- each carapace has unique markings, so it's possible to tell if you are seeing a new turtle or an old one.
Turtle #15 first showed up in 2011:
This morning I came across Turtle #15 on my way down the road. He (it's definitely a "he") is a bit worse for wear, and a good distance (maybe 100 m) from where I first encountered him. But this time it was obvious that Mr. Turtle had had some sort of encounter that took off one of the carapace plates near his head.
But when I looked at the old photo, it appears this is an old injury. If you look carefully, you can see that this piece was already missing in 2011.
For those who are wondering, I've documented 25 distinct turtles going back to 1999. But I only started systematically documenting them in 2009.
I've been informally tracking box turtles on our property for a number of years now. I document them by photographing them -- each carapace has unique markings, so it's possible to tell if you are seeing a new turtle or an old one.
Turtle #15 first showed up in 2011:
This morning I came across Turtle #15 on my way down the road. He (it's definitely a "he") is a bit worse for wear, and a good distance (maybe 100 m) from where I first encountered him. But this time it was obvious that Mr. Turtle had had some sort of encounter that took off one of the carapace plates near his head.
But when I looked at the old photo, it appears this is an old injury. If you look carefully, you can see that this piece was already missing in 2011.
For those who are wondering, I've documented 25 distinct turtles going back to 1999. But I only started systematically documenting them in 2009.
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