I was taking a late afternoon walk to the beach when I noticed that all of the wire protecting the terrapins along the salt marsh was removed. Hmmm… The females must have already laid their eggs and were back at the salt marsh. (Click on blog link to see more photos.)
I looked out over the bridge and was I in for a big treat! There were Diamondback Terrapins everywhere. They were floating and swimming and diving. It was spectacular to watch.
The first 2 photographs are of them swimming about. The 3rd photograph is of 2 of them diving down under water. In the last photograph, I could only fit 4 terrapins in one frame, although there were 7 in the water at that time.
Just beautiful, don’t you think? I love that first guy looking up at me!
The baby Terrapin turtles are hatching along the beaches and trails at the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. You can see the nests which have been marked in the photograph below with a cage to keep predators out. The blue tape lets the staff know that the incubation period is right around that time.
Staff at the sanctuary make 2 trips a day out to all of the nests to see if there are any hatchlings. The baby Terrapins cannot survive by themselves in the first hours of their life due to many factors which include ants, maggots and dehydration from the sun.
After they have absorbed their yolk and regained their energy back at the sanctuary, they are then set free out by their nest. They do not need to eat for quite a while. They never seen their mothers again and will spend most of their life in the water.
The story of the Terrapin turtle is quite fascinating and so interesting to learn about!
As you walk the trails at the Mass Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary in Wellfleet on Cape Cod, you will come across many of these little cages.
“Members of the Day Habilitation program make cages to protect the endangered Diamondback Terrapin Turtle population. This spring they made 25 cages.
These protective cages are delivered to the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary when finished. The staff there knows just where to put the protective cages, since the turtles nest in the same areas every year.
At the end of the summer, the cages are removed after the turtles have hatched. The terrapins, about the size of a quarter, make their way back to the marshes.”
Very interesting…
Cape Cod daily articles on the wonderful Cape Cod places to hike, experience and photograph. A Cape Cod Outdoor Adventure Series.
