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What's the story on Blanding's Turtles?

Blanding’s turtles live in southwestern Nova Scotia in three small populations on the Mersey and Medway watersheds (Kejimkujik National Park and National Historic Site, McGowan Lake and Pleasant River). Recently, new concentratoins have been located on the Medway River and in the Tobeatic Wilderness Area.  Blanding’s turtles have been listed as Endangered under both the federal Species at Risk Act and the Nova Scotia Endangered Species Act. The listing is in part due to their small population size and limited distribution in the province. Since 1969, approximately only 300 individual adults have been identified, most within the three currently known populations. Unconfirmed sighting reports suggest that additional populations may exist elsewhere in the southwest region of the province. Searching for new populations is a labour intensive undertaking, requiring the help of many volunteers. Our ongoing projects employ researchers and volunteers to protect nests from predators, monitor known populations, learn more about newly discovered areas and follow up on public sighting reports to find new locations of Blanding’s turtles.

  Photo Credit:  Jeffie McNeil

You Can Help!

Want to help with our research and recovery?  There are many ways you can get involved!

•  Volunteer:  If you are interested in assisting with Blanding's turtle nest protection, hatchling emergence, population suverys or radio-tracking turtles, contact us at 902-682-2371 or email info@merseytobeatic.ca.   

• Report Sightings:  If you see a Blanding's turtle, call the species at risk reporting line at 1-866-727-3447 (don't forget to leave your name and contact information), or report your sighting online at www.speciesatrisk.ca/sightings.

• Become a Steward:  Stewardship is protecting and being responsible for something. Habitat loss is the most likely the primary reason why species become at risk. Learn how to maintain or recover healthy ecosystems and habitats for species at risk, and get involved with recovery actions.  Learn more in our Healthy Lakes and Wetlands for Tomorrow: A Landowner Stewardship Guide for Species at Risk in Nova Scotia. 

Check out a short video of  'Fern' the Blanding's turtle digging a nest on the MTRI Youtube channel. Blanding's Turtles nest in June and the hatchlings tend to start emerging in September. 

Visit the Blanding's Turtle pages on Nova Scotia's Species at Risk Conservation and Recovery website at www.speciesatrisk.ca, or our Healthy Lakes and Wetlands for Tomorrow: A Landowner Stewardship Guide for Species at Risk for more information on this species and helpful tips to aid in conservation and recovery.

 

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Blanding's Turtle Nest Protection, Hatchling Emergence, Distribution and Monitoring.

Blanding’s turtles in Nova Scotia are listed as Endangered under both the federal Species at Risk Act and the Nova Scotia Endangered Species Act. One of the concerns for this long lived (80+ years), slow maturing (20+ years) species is the lack of young adults in the population.  Raccoons are the primary nest predators and their populations may be unusually high in human inhabited areas (i.e. campgrounds and communities).  Rates of predation of unprotected nests are variable but can reach 100%. An annual volunteer-based nest protection program was established in Kejimkujik and later expanded to populations outside the park to engage the public in helping to protect and care for Blanding’s turtle nests.

Blanding's turtles occur in the southwest region of Nova Scotia but the extent of their range is still not well understood. They exist in three small populations and a few smaller concentrations. Until the mid 1990’s, the only known population occured in Kejimkujik. Two new populations outside the park were discovered in 1996-7 and have been monitored regularly since their discovery.  In 2006, volunteers Harold and Diane Clapp discovered a small concentration of Blanding’s turtles in the Tobeatic Wilderness Area and in 2012, they discovered another concentration on the Medway River. This ongoing project employs researchers and volunteers to monitor known populations, learn more about newly discovered areas and follow up on public sighting reports to find new locations of Blanding’s turtles.

 

 

Photo Credits:  Wesley Pitts

 

Project objectives

Nest Protection and Hatchling Emergence:

• To protect Blanding’s turtle nests from predation in order to improve recruitment into the populations.

• To provide an opportunity for volunteers to engage in species at risk recovery.

• To collect long-term data on female survivorship and recruitment, clutch size, hatching success, site fidelity and nesting frequency.

• To locate previously unknown nesting areas.

Distribution and Monitoring:

• To conduct live-trapping and visual surveys in new areas to determine if Blanding’s turtles are present.

• To radio track turtles found in new areas to determine seasonal habitat use.

• To conduct live-trapping and visual surveys in known populations to collect long-term data on survivorship, abundance and movement patterns of all age classes, including previously released head-started turtles.

• To provide an opportunity for volunteers to engage in species at risk recovery.

• To engage landowners in new occurence areas.

• To encourage new sighting reports from the public.

 

Photo Credits:  Jeffie McNeil

 

Methods

Nest Protection (June): 

• Known nesting sites were monitored on a nightly basis during nesting season. Surveys began in early evening and continued until approximately 10 pm if no turtles were seen or until the last turtle had left the site.

• One female at Pleasant River was radio tracked to locate her nesting site.

• Volunteers watched females go through the nesting process and recorded data on turtle identity, behaviour, movements, weather, timing of activities and clutch size.

• Once a nest was completed and the female had left the site, volunteers covered the nest with a wire mesh cage and secured it with large rocks to protect the nest from predation.

Hatchling emergence (September - October): 

• Nests were monitored periodically until the first hatchlings emerged and then were monitored daily by volunteers and researchers who marked, measured, weighed and released hatchlings turtles at the nest site.
  

• A subset of hatchlings in Kejimkujik was radio tracked upon emergence from the nest to locate habitats used throughout fall and winter.

Distribution and Monitoring:

• Live-hoop traps were set by trained staff and volunteers and baited with canned sardines in soy oil.  Traps were set in groups of 1 - 11 traps per site, depending on habitat size and configuration.  Traps remained set for 2 - 4 nights and were checked daily.

• Visual surveys were conducted on foot or by canoe, occasionally with the aid of trained conservation canines.

• All new turtles captured were measured, weighed and photographed.  They were given a unique code by notching the outer scutes of their shell and were released at the capture site.

• On selected turtles, radio transmitters were attached to the back of the shell using epoxy.  Care was taken to ensure that the selected transmitter weight did not exceed 5% of the turtle’s body weight.

 

2014 Results

Nest Protection (June):

• Nests were laid from June 8 - June 28 2014.
  

• Forty-three Blanding’s turtle nests were located and protected.
  

• Seventy-five volunteers contributed close to 2000 hrs of effort to locate and protect these nests.
  

• Two young female’s nests were found for the first time.
  

• One new nesting site was located in a Christmas tree lot outside the park. 

 Hatchling emergence (September - October):

• It was a record year for hatchings in Kejimkujik, with 226 hatchlings emerging from 26 nests.
  

• Emergence success was much lower at sites outside the park, with 53 hatchlings emerging from 17 nests; the reasons for the differences in success are not known but may be due to differences in substrate heat and moisture retention.
  

• Volunteers radio-tracked 15 hatchlings from Kejimkujik following release. Two of these were tracked and enclosed for the winter so that they can be tracked again in spring.

Distribution surveys:

• Five new areas were trapped for 167 trap nights and 5.7 hours of visual surveys, but no Blanding’s turtles were captured through trapping.

• Two new Blanding’s turtles were found on roads by local residents and MTRI volunteers.  Both were near known populations, though not in established areas. One of these turtles was outfitted with a radio transmitter and tracked throughout fall.

Monitoring known populations:

• In Kejimkujik, 24 trap sessions (358 trap nights) and 82.3 hours of visual surveys were conducted with the goal of monitoring the population and re-locating past released head-started turtles.  A total of 26 individual turtles were encountered from these efforts including nine adult males, four adult females, five maturing males, five wild juveniles and three head-started juveniles.  Five of the turtles found had not been seen in ten years or more including one who had not been seen since 1988. 

• Outside the park, nine trap sessions (147 trap nights) were conducted to monitor known populations, resulting in 21 Blanding’s turtle captures.  One of these was a new 14 year old juvenile that may have emerged from a protected nest.

 

Years of Data

Nest Protection:

• Ongoing project since 1989 (Kejimkujik), 2000 (McGowan Lake) and 2002 (Pleasant River) 

Distribution and Monitoring:

• Ongoing project since 1996 

 

Partners

• Parks Canada

• Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute

• Friends of Keji Cooporating Association

• Acadia University 

• Blanding’s Turtle Recovery Team 

• Government of Canada through the federal Department of the Environment: Habitat Stewardship Program for Species at Risk

• Canadian Wildlife Federation 

• Private donors

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