Real Fishing 2009
Water’s Edge
Used by permission
Click here for painted turtle images
Painted Turtle
Sometimes the most common of animals, the one's you just take for granted, can surprise you. Near where I live there is a pond. Two years ago, painted turtles turned up in it for the first time in at least four years. During that period of time the pond was drained to allow for construction.
By fall those turtles had vanished but in late spring the following year, there they were again. That year southern Ontario experienced one of its worst droughts in memory and the pond was bone dry. Again the turtles vanished.
This past year was a record wet year and once again the turtles returned to the pond. What is so remarkable is that the next closest suitable turtle habitat, the Credit River, to this pond is over a kilometer way. The turtles would have to climb up a steep hill through forests to reach it!
Painted turtles can cover a quite a distance. Females will travel away from their ponds and marshes to find sandy soil suitable for digging their nests. Most travel less than 450 meters but some will venture over 1.6 kilometers away from water to find nesting sites.
It could be that the turtles that found their way to this pond were females looking for a sandy site. The pond in question happens to be surrounded by sandy soil laid down after the last ice age. If so, these wandering turtles may have remembered the location from years ago before construction began. Painted turtles are long lived. In fact no one actually knows just how long they do live but 40 years is certainly not unusual.
Most baby turtles die. A study in Algonquin Provincial Park found that a female did well if two of her babies survive to be adults. On the other hand ninety-nine percent of study's adult turtles survived to the next year. Major predators of the eggs included skunks, raccoons and red fox. Babies fell prey to great blue herons and cold snaps.
The turtles in this pond may not be female at all. One I was able to examine was a small male. How did he find it? Perhaps by following the scent of water? Perhaps it was just dumb luck?
The other question that must be asked is: did the turtles really leave? Turtles do hibernate in the mud at the bottom of ponds so might not these turtles have done just that? Probably not but this possibility, though remote, is unlikely as this pod has a tendency to dry up. However, painted turtles can survive freezing for up to 150 days under the right circumstances.
There is a more likely explanation as to why they ceased to observed at this pond.
Recent research has shown that painted turtles are far more mobile than had previously been thought. Turtles may over winter in the bottom of a deep river. In Spring they may move to a pond that is rich in food but which in Summer dries up. They may then move to another wetland where they will stay until the late Summer, finally returning once again to the safety of the river.
Other turtles may never leave their pond if it meets all their needs. Painted turtles are omnivores feeding on snails, tadpoles, fish, aquatic insects, crayfish, and carrion in addition to algae, duckweed, and submerged plants. The young feed primarily on animal matter and do not change to a diet of mainly plant material until they are older. They do not feed at all if the temperature falls below 15ºC.
For such a common animal they do point out how little we really do know about nature.
All images and text are copyright © 2021 J.D. Taylor Senses of Wildness Inc. These images may not be used in any form without permission. All rights reserved.
Note: A version of this article first appeared in Bob Izumi's Real Fishing Magazine in 2009
Dave's column At the Water's Edge. It is used with the permission of editor.
Water’s Edge
Used by permission
Click here for painted turtle images
Painted Turtle
Sometimes the most common of animals, the one's you just take for granted, can surprise you. Near where I live there is a pond. Two years ago, painted turtles turned up in it for the first time in at least four years. During that period of time the pond was drained to allow for construction.
By fall those turtles had vanished but in late spring the following year, there they were again. That year southern Ontario experienced one of its worst droughts in memory and the pond was bone dry. Again the turtles vanished.
This past year was a record wet year and once again the turtles returned to the pond. What is so remarkable is that the next closest suitable turtle habitat, the Credit River, to this pond is over a kilometer way. The turtles would have to climb up a steep hill through forests to reach it!
Painted turtles can cover a quite a distance. Females will travel away from their ponds and marshes to find sandy soil suitable for digging their nests. Most travel less than 450 meters but some will venture over 1.6 kilometers away from water to find nesting sites.
It could be that the turtles that found their way to this pond were females looking for a sandy site. The pond in question happens to be surrounded by sandy soil laid down after the last ice age. If so, these wandering turtles may have remembered the location from years ago before construction began. Painted turtles are long lived. In fact no one actually knows just how long they do live but 40 years is certainly not unusual.
Most baby turtles die. A study in Algonquin Provincial Park found that a female did well if two of her babies survive to be adults. On the other hand ninety-nine percent of study's adult turtles survived to the next year. Major predators of the eggs included skunks, raccoons and red fox. Babies fell prey to great blue herons and cold snaps.
The turtles in this pond may not be female at all. One I was able to examine was a small male. How did he find it? Perhaps by following the scent of water? Perhaps it was just dumb luck?
The other question that must be asked is: did the turtles really leave? Turtles do hibernate in the mud at the bottom of ponds so might not these turtles have done just that? Probably not but this possibility, though remote, is unlikely as this pod has a tendency to dry up. However, painted turtles can survive freezing for up to 150 days under the right circumstances.
There is a more likely explanation as to why they ceased to observed at this pond.
Recent research has shown that painted turtles are far more mobile than had previously been thought. Turtles may over winter in the bottom of a deep river. In Spring they may move to a pond that is rich in food but which in Summer dries up. They may then move to another wetland where they will stay until the late Summer, finally returning once again to the safety of the river.
Other turtles may never leave their pond if it meets all their needs. Painted turtles are omnivores feeding on snails, tadpoles, fish, aquatic insects, crayfish, and carrion in addition to algae, duckweed, and submerged plants. The young feed primarily on animal matter and do not change to a diet of mainly plant material until they are older. They do not feed at all if the temperature falls below 15ºC.
For such a common animal they do point out how little we really do know about nature.
All images and text are copyright © 2021 J.D. Taylor Senses of Wildness Inc. These images may not be used in any form without permission. All rights reserved.
Note: A version of this article first appeared in Bob Izumi's Real Fishing Magazine in 2009
Dave's column At the Water's Edge. It is used with the permission of editor.