Well, we picked the right day for Unofficial Bring Your Daughter To Work Day this week.
It started off with the drive to the LMEF office in the morning. I have my eyes on the road while my daughter scans the fields for wildlife. We note a Great Blue Heron flying low across a bean field, probably moving from a roosting site to a feeding site. Usually they fly up above the tree line, so it was a little curious.
We then made a brief pitstop next to a cell phone tower where my daughter had previously spotted a large nest. Did you know that Bald Eagles and Osprey really like cell phone towers? Great visibility, no predators, and the towers are now everywhere. We pulled out the binoculars and confirmed two large birds on the nest, both with white heads. Bald Eagles! I reported the nest to DNR’s volunteer database manager, John Pohl (baeanests*at*yahoo*dot*com). He keeps tabs on all the Bald Eagle, Osprey, and Great Blue Heron nests in the state. He quickly confirmed that it was a NEW site to his database. We were pumped!
Almost to the office, at the four-way stop at Lakeshore Drive and Main Street. We see a Map Turtle waddling against one of the curbs, pretty exposed to traffic at this busy intersection. DNR suggests helping turtles across the road, in the direction they are going, if you can safely do so. Do NOT pick them up by the tail.
Along with another family walking by, we helped it across the road, and observed while it waddled down the sidewalk towards the elementary school. I think it was too slow to make it to the free breakfast program! My daughter noted that the shell was peeling a bit — this is normal. Map Turtles are probably the most common turtles at the lake.
After work, we headed back towards Plymouth and I zipped past a very large lump in the centerline. Turtle! I waited until I could make a safe U-turn. The turtle was crossing in a low spot in the road with solid guardrails, so I wasn’t going to be able to safely pull over. The Snapping Turtle was slowly making its way across, so I decided to put on my hazard lights and just proceed very slowly, keeping a sharp eye on my rearview mirror for approaching traffic. Another successful turtle crossing!
(Years ago, I had stopped for a turtle, got out, and approached to move it, and it froze up in the road. Had I not approached, I think it would have just continued. Sometimes, it might just be best to stand back and stand guard, if able to do so safely).
Then, my eagle-eyed daughter spotted yet another large nest on a cell tower. We pulled over, got out the binoculars, and confirmed nesting Osprey. It was a big nesting bird hat trick for us! John confirmed that the nest was known to the DNR, but they hadn’t had any new observations on it since 2023, so we were happy to help keep the database up to date.
I got home, cracked a drink, and grabbed something to read for my evening patio sit, awaiting the next World Cup game to air. My daughter, indefatigable, went with mom for a hike at Memorial Forest, an 80-acre woods managed by the Marshall County Parks and Recreation Department (I’m on the board; you can read about it’s fascinating natural features in this 2023 report).
They came in the driveway and she practically jumped out of the car before it stopped moving. “Box turtle! Laying eggs!”
I sometimes have a flair for the dramatic, so in my anguish of missing out on such an opportunity, I fell to my knees and hollered out across the neighborhood, “Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!” imitating a Spanish-speaking fútbol commentator celebrating a “Gooooooooooooooooooooooollll!”. Then I congratulated her on her good luck.
This wasn’t a total surprise, as we found several Eastern Box Turtles at this site during the 2023 Natural Features Inventory. The shell patterns didn’t match previously-photographed individuals so this appears to be a new individual, not a repeat. There is pretty good forest conductivity between these 80 acres and the surrounding forests… a good sign for their future.
While not officially endangered or threatened, Eastern Box Turtles aren’t nearly as common here as Snappers or Map Turtles. They are terrestrial beasts who need pretty sizeable mature forests for habitat, something not exactly abundant in northern Indiana (unlike the south). They remain under constant barrage from pet-trade poachers and the ever-present threat of becoming roadkill. While it is fine to briefly handle them, they do NOT make good pets.
We returned the next day with a nest protection box from our TART team. Technically this is outside of the lake’s watershed, but given the conservation priority of these guys, I couldn’t help myself. I marked it with a flag and let my mowing crew know.
Not only did we score a Big Bird Hat Trick — Great Blue Heron, Osprey, and Bald Eagle — we picked up a Turtle Hat Trick as well — Map, Snapper, and Box. What a day! It had us feeling like David (Canada) and Messi (Argentina), who had hat tricks of their own during the opening games of the World Cup.
Recent Comments