Kathlean Wolf
Wild Warner
On the first day of spring, I discovered a large turtle skeleton on the shore of Warner Pond. The perfect dome of weathered white bone must have been there for nearly a year, cleaned by insects and bleached by the sun. I collected every bone I could find, and that evening, after dark, I returned with a black light and used it to locate seven more tiny bones under last year’s leaves. Over the next month, I had fun assembling the 222 bones into a complete turtle skeleton. I named her Jenny, and she was part of my Urban Wildlife presentation at the Bird and Nature Festival in April.
In early May, while crossing the bridge north of the Warner Park Rainbow Shelter, I looked down to see three dark shapes moving beneath the water. A minute later, they swam closer to the surface — snapping turtles! Two males trying to woo a female? Their chubby paws, splayed wide, allowed them to swim backward as well as forward; whether trying to get closer to each other or trying to run away, I couldn’t tell.
May also brought the first baby painted turtles up from their nests. Painted turtle eggs hatch in the fall, but the inch-long turtles stay in their nest over the winter, absorbing the last of their yolk for energy. This ability to safely make it through their first winter has allowed painted turtles to move further north than any other turtle species.
Once the babies emerge from the nest, it’s a race; they must reach the water before they’re discovered by a predator. Crows, raccoons, gulls, skunks and even chipmunks find the turtles to be an appealing meal. Once in the water, they hide in aquatic vegetation, eating insects and tiny fish.
June is the start of turtle nesting season. From early June through the end of July, female turtles will make the trip up onto land, searching for a suitably sunny spot to dig a nest and lay their eggs. Mother turtles dig out vase-shaped nests with their back paws. Painted turtles lay 6–9 eggs into this nest, then cover the opening with a mud plug made of dirt and the mother’s urine.
Snapping turtle nests are larger and messier, with rocks and dirt strewn about. The largest female snappers can lay up to 80 eggs. If you see a mother turtle digging a nest, give her plenty of space, avoid looking at her, and remove dogs from the area so she can complete the nest and place her babies safely inside.
Once, turtles had many nesting areas available, spread out along miles of shorelines. Today, these nesting sites are covered over by buildings and roads. Many more nests are concentrated into the remaining nesting grounds, and predators take advantage of this. In some areas, virtually every new nest is pillaged the same day it’s made.
One way to help turtle populations is to prevent this extreme predation by covering new nests with wire cages or screens. If you’re interested in learning how to make safe, effective nest covers to use in your yard or in the park, visit the DNR’s Wisconsin Turtle Conservation Project website, or contact me at wolf.kathlean@zoho.com.
