Earlier this spring I was fortunate to finally come across my first wild Ontario Wood Turtles with a good friend. Wood Turtles are one of the most imperiled reptile species in Ontario and as a result any hints as to their whereabouts are closely guarded. For fear of giving out too much information, I can't provide any other details about this Endangered species. I will however post some photos.
We discovered two Wood Turtles in a few hours of searching. The first was this adult female, just a gorgeous individual!
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| Wood Turtle - Ontario |
Wood Turtles are a long-lived species that may not reproduce for the first time until they are a dozen or more years of age. Egg predation can be quite high, especially in areas where Raccoons, Red Foxes, Striped Skunks, Coyotes, or Common Ravens are particularly abundant, and it is not uncommon for over 80% of nests to be completed predated (and in some areas, nearly 100% predation has been reported). Young turtles are also susceptible to a wide range of potential predators, and even adults are not safe since their plastron (bottom shell) is unhinged, making it impossible for turtles to completely protect themselves inside their shells. Because of these factors Wood Turtle populations hang in a delicate balance, fine-tuned through natural selection in conjunction with their environment over thousands of years. A slight change in the rate of egg predation, or the loss of a few mature turtles due to road mortality can be enough to send a local population downhill quickly, eventually leading to local extirpation.
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| Wood Turtle - Ontario |
This was not my first time observing Wood Turtles. During the summer of 2011 I spent a weekend with a friend in Michigan. Undoubtedly, the highlight of the weekend for myself was kayaking down a beautiful river in the northwestern part of the Lower Peninsula, spotting two separate Wood Turtles basking on logs at the edge of the river. Both those encounters were brief however, as the turtles quietly slipped in the water shortly after being detected.
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| Wood Turtle - Ontario |
Finally discovering Wood Turtles in Ontario was pretty gratifying for me for several reasons. As a reptile-obsessed kid and teenager, I spent many hours poring through my various field guides, longing for the day when I would finally cross paths with a Wood Turtle in Ontario, along with all the other fascinating species depicted in these guides. Nearly fifteen years later, I had finally encountered this species in the wild in my home province. The Wood Turtle was my 24th and final species of native reptile that I have now observed in Ontario. Of our 47 native herp species, just two salamander species lurk in the wilderness that I have not yet observed. Hopefully I will be able to complete my Ontario herp list later this year if I can luck into finding Northern Dusky Salamander and Allegheny Mountain Dusky Salamander, both of which are found locally here in Niagara.
The second Wood Turtle on the day was this young individual, basking near the edge of the stream. Given the turtle's size, he was probably between 2 and 4 years in age, a life stage that I don't see very often in turtles.
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| Wood Turtle - Ontario |
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| Wood Turtle - Ontario |
Speaking of reptiles, I have seen a few other species here and there in my travels. June has been a very busy month for me as I have journeyed all over southern Ontario, ostensibly to complete breeding bird surveys and other wildlife inventories for my job, but with a heavy dose of birding, butterflying, botanizing and herping thrown in here and there. A week or so ago, I was traveling south from Parry Sound with a coworker after completing some surveys. We were not far from one of my favorite locations to find Eastern Massassaugas so a brief detour was in order.
Given that we only had an hour to search and it was an overcast day, I was not terribly surprised that we did not find a buzztail. We did see a few other herps here and there including two Eastern Milksnakes, two Five-lined Skinks and a Northern Ringneck Snake.
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| Eastern Milksnake - Muskoka District, Ontario |
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| Eastern Milksnake - Muskoka District, Ontario |
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| Eastern Milksnake - Muskoka District, Ontario |
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| Five-lined Skink - Muskoka District, Ontario |
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| Northern Ringneck Snake - Muskoka District, Ontario |
As we were about to leave, the sun briefly broke through the clouds, causing a few butterflies to take to the wing. I was pleased to encounter my first Indian Skippers of the year.
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| Indian Skipper - Muskoka District, Ontario |
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| Indian Skipper - Muskoka District, Ontario |
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