Thought I would send you these photos of a baby Snapping Turtle. I removed 10 from my river road on Friday, Sept 9th. My friend on Nogies Creek had 6 baby Blanding’s hatch on Labour Day after they had covered up the nest to protect it from predators.
Marie Windover, Cty Rd 507, Flynn’s Corners
Baby Snapping Turtle – Marie Windover
Snapping Turtle size comparison with lighter – Marie Windover
Blanding’s Turtle – Rick Stankiewicz
Ontario is home to eight different species of turtle. Seven turtle species have been designated as Species at Risk. Three species of turtle (in bold) are found in the Jack Lake watershed.
Status of Ontario turtles
Blandings Turtle (Emydoidea blandingii)
Threatened
Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina)
Extirpated
Midland Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta)
No Status
Northern Map Turtle (Graptemys geographica)
Special Concern
Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina)
Special Concern
Spiny Softshell (Apalone spinifera spinifera)
Threatened
Spotted Turtle (Clemmys guttata)
Endangered
Wood Turtle (Glyptemys insculpta)
Endangered
On a provincial basis, turtle observations are stored in the Ontario Herpetofaunal Survey database (Crowley undated). Prior to 2014 there were records of 4 Blandings turtles, 8 snapping turtles and 10 midland painted turtles in that database. Members of the Jack lake Association have sporadically contributed to this database over the years but a concerted effort was initiated in 2014 to solicit volunteers from around the lake to report turtle observations. Over the past three years (2014-2016) JLA volunteers have made a substantial contribution (recorded observations of 155 individual turtles) to the knowledge of the distribution and general status of turtles in the Jack Lake watershed. Individual observations, combined with data from the Ontario Herpetofaunal Survey, have been summarized by Kerr (2016).
Turtle Observations from the Jack Lake area (Square 17QK35). Data was derived from the Ontario Herpetofaunal Survey supplemented by observations from volunteers of the Jack Lake Association.
2014: 2 Blandings, 32 Painted, 12 Snapping
2015: 3 Blandings, 58 Painted, 20 Snapping
2016: 5 Blanding, 14 Painted, 16 Snapping
Submitted by Steve Kerr, Jack Lake
Painted Turtle laying eggs – Rick Stankiewicz
Snapping Turtle – Rick Stankiewicz
Blanding’s Turtle – Rick Stankiewicz
Today (June 26) my daughter, Cathy, and I decided to take my aluminum boat into the marsh wetland in front of my trailer at the Woodland Campsite near Buckhorn. We were looking for any possible photo opportunities. We arrived at a small clearing in the cattails and while bemusing a cedar tree trying to grow from a submerged stump, discovered a turtle at the base of the cedar basking in the sun. We allowed the boat to drift closer and discovered the turtle to be a Blanding”s Turtle. It was not as skittish as the Painted Turtles tend to be and stayed put during the picture taking.
Barb Evett
Blanding’s Turtle – Barb Evett
Last weekend I stayed at my daughter’s house on Northey Bay, Stoney Lake. A Blanding’s turtle was seen for 3 evenings in a row attempting to lay eggs in the driveway. Not sure if she succeeded as we came back to town. I counted over a dozen sunfish nests along the waterfront being guarded by the mother fish. It is so easy to spot the circles kept clean by the swimming of the fish because of the colour contrast on the bottom. A barred owl was calling in the evening.
This weekend camping at Silent Lake I also saw the sunfish nests and heard barred owls. Lots of veerys too. When we got home from camping we found a eastern red-backed salamander in the back of the van when unpacking. It now lives in Burnham’s Woods.
Sue Paradisis
Blanding’s Turtle Rick Stankiewicz
Veery – Wikimedia