northeast-flora-and-fauna

Here's another  Eastern Musk Turtle , and another turtle I believe was looking for a place to lay eggs last May. I was looking down from a bridge and saw a turtle decisively climb out of the water. I scurried down to where the turtle was, and instead of jumping back in the water (which I would suspect if the purpose was to bask in the sun) the turtle seemed to be immersing itself in the vegetation. This turtle lays eggs in a shallow burrow or "shoreline debris". I'm thinking this one was in the process of finding suitable debris. The Eastern Musk Turtle is a relatively small turtle that lays 2-9 eggs. These eggs hatch after 100-150 days, so (assuming eggs were laid) hatching should occur between September 5 and October 25. (October doesn't give them much time to forage before  winter brumation , so maybe the earlier hatching is more likely in New Jersey.) May 28, 2021 at Duke Farms Photo 133213809, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

In basically the same spot I met the Northern Red-Bellied Cooter laying eggs , I met a Red-eared Slider that was surveying the same area. This turtle didn't seem to be looking to leave Great Falls Lake for another lake, so I'm very suspicious this was another female looking for a desirable spot to lay eggs of her own. You should be able to see the red spot behind the eye that identifies the turtle as a Red-eared Slider. I didn't stick around to confirm this suspicion. While the Northern Red-bellied Cooter was in the process of laying eggs and thus committed to the spot she was in, it's at least possible that my presence might have caused the turtle to decide to go somewhere else to lay her eggs.  Red-eared Sliders lay 3-17 eggs, or 2-30 eggs, depending on what source you're using. The number of eggs correlates to the size of the turtle. The turtle eggs hatch in 59-112 days, and apparently are influenced by temperature and rainfall. My impression is that we've h...

A couple months ago I was on Fox Hollow Lane at Duke Farms and I saw a Northern Red-bellied Cooter who apparently laid her eggs on a cleared patch of ground. (I don't know if the vegetation was removed to make it a better location for turtle eggs or if it had another purpose.) Unless she was an outlier, she laid 5-17 eggs. They're supposed to incubate over 80 days, so they're scheduled to hatch around August 16. I may try and visit around that time, though: Duke Farms is closed to the public (Su+Mo) on August 15 and 16. We've had a fairly hot summer; it's possible that will speed up the hatching. My impression is that many predators find and eat these eggs; it's unclear there will be anything to see. May 28, 2021 at Duke Farms Photo 133214583, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) The mother lays her eggs and buries them. It'll initially look like a small muddy patch, though I'm sure that dries up pretty fast. Buried turtle eggs Photo 13321474...