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It was a lot of fun to see the turtles borrow into the underbrush to remain out of site.

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It was very evident that both Mike and Nancy have great concern for these beautiful turtles and really enjoy their work. I was glad they let me accompany them for the day.

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During the day over a dozen wood turtles were located, measured, aged, weighed and released back onto the well drained sand piles to continue nesting.

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I was surprised at the age of some of these turtles. We caught both a male and a female that were over 40 years old. The rest were in their twenties and thirties.

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The adult male wood turtle can be distinguished from the female by the concave shape of their lower shell.

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This study has been ongoing for a few years and each turtle is numbered. All of the turtles that were caught had been caught between ten and fifteen years earlier. Their undersides are very colorful and have interesting markings. The age of the turtle can be estimated by counting the concentric grooves that resemble growth-rings on a tree.

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Last week I got to accompany Mike Schrage, wildlife biologist for Fond du Lac Reservation and Nancy Gellerman with the MNDNR while they conducted a survey of wood turtles. Previously I had never seen a wood turtle. The wood turtle is considered a threatened species in Minnesota due to its low population. One of the many factors that have contributed to their decline is that they are fairly tame and are collected for pets so this “photo of the week’ I won’t disclose the location of the wood turtles nesting area.

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