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I Like Turtles: The 2025 Terrapene carolina carolina count

We love Eastern Box Turtles (Terrapene carolina carolina). We were surprised to see so many in our woods and wondered if we were seeing a few repeatedly or if there really were as many as there appeared to be.

Short answer: There are a lot.

We used an imperfect method of marking them with nail polish last year. Despite not starting until almost June, we saw at least 25 unique turtles, many of them multiple times in surprisingly far-ranging locations. We saw them mating. We saw them laying eggs. We saw them eating mushrooms and carrion. We saw a few youngsters. We met a particularly friendly guy we named Wordsworth who hung around Dove Cottage for a while. And all this was during a brutal drought, during which the turtles disappeared for a few weeks.

Laura uses nail polish to mark an Eastern Box Turtle while faithful Trash Hound waits nearby.

There were so many sightings — and the system for marking them I devised was so convoluted —  that we’re moving away from it this year and just taking photos of each turtle we encounter. We might start using nail polish again, but I think it would be mostly just to tell if we’ve seen a turtle before or not.

An Eastern Box Turtle feasts on a dead squirrel. I was a bit surprised by this. Althea had killed the squirrel the previous day, and I saw a turtle heading toward it. When I returned, the turtle was next to the squirrel, where it remained for much of the next day.

Last year, Laura found the first turtle while she was digging out a vernal pool on March 14 along the old logging road. This year, Turtle 1 was discovered much later, on April 29, in a seep that is sort of around the corner from the seep where Laura dug the vernal pool.

A female Eastern Box Turtle laying eggs near Dove Cottage.
Turtle eggs. She left two, which we caged to protect them from predators, but they never hatched. We’re thinking the drought may have been a problem …

This year, I’m just going to list them here as I find them. The numbers reflect total sightings, not number of discrete individuals.

Ideally, I’d love to be able to ID them based on their shell pattern, which apparently is unique, but I think I’d need an AI program or something to review the photos to de-duplicate them.

But first, a gratuitious photo of our buddy Wordsworth, a beautiful turtle we’re hoping to see again this year:

Wordsworth spent so much time around the cottage we started warning guests to look out for him since he often sunned himself on the gravel driveway.

2025 Turtle Count

Turtle 1

First turtle of 2025, 4/29/25, female, marked with two slashes from last year, drinking from seep where loop trail crosses ridge and heads to south hollow.
First turtle of 2025, 4/29/25, female, marked with two slashes from last year, drinking from seep where loop trail crosses ridge and heads to south hollow.
First turtle of 2025, 4/29/25, female, marked with two slashes from last year, drinking from seep where loop trail crosses ridge and heads to south hollow.
First turtle of 2025, 4/29/25, female, marked with two slashes from last year, drinking from seep where loop trail crosses ridge and heads to south hollow.

Turtle 2

Medium male on trail leading from Bobcat Landing to Dark Hollow. Mark from last year. Two dots. 4/29/25
Medium male on trail leading from Bobcat Landing to Dark Hollow. Mark from last year. Two dots. 4/29/25

Turtles 3 and 4

Male and female together. Male, on left, was on back. He was closed tight when found. Female was moving, probably trying to flip him back till I showed up. I moved them out a few feet from the log they were against, righted the male, and left. 45 minutes later when I retunred there was no sign of them. This was where loop trail crosses ridge trail up near the Pipsissewa. Neither of them was marked. 5/1/25
Male and female together. Male, on left, was on back. He was closed tight when found. Female was moving, probably trying to flip him back till I showed up. I moved them out a few feet from the log they were against, righted the male, and left. 45 minutes later when I retunred there was no sign of them. This was where loop trail crosses ridge trail up near the Pipsissewa. Neither of them was marked. 5/1/25

Turtle 5

Male, unmarked, across North Hollow creek on property next door. 5/4/25

Turtle 6

Female, no marks, on trail from Bobcat Landing to Dark Hollow..

Turtle 7

Female, no marks, on Logging Trail between vernal pool and beech amphitheater. 5/14/25

Turtle 8

Male, unmarked, found on logging trail just west of Laura Farrell Memorial Vernal Pool 5/14/25

 

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Dog Bob Feral Bends Forest Farm Leaf Litter MycoBob

Newts, turtle sex, and a morel-munching salamander

We had a good, drenching rain on Friday night, prompting me and Althea to spend a lot of time in the woods searching for oddities over the next few days. We weren’t disappointed.

Eastern Newt (Notophthalmus viridescens)
Althea tries to figure out what these two Common Box Turtles (Terrapene carolina) are up to
A bunch of blonde morels surround our forest altar to Morchella, a tribute to fortunate foraging. I did the same with black morels I found the previous day and found the blondes almost immediately the next morning. Morchella smiles upon such offerings.
Black morels pay tribute to Morchella.
We found this Eastern Red-backed Salamander on a blonde morel (morchella americana) that we foraged over the weekend. We released him back into the wild …
Dwarf Larkspur (Delphinium tricorne)
Long-spurred Violet (Viola rostrata)
Black-and-gold Flat Millipede (Apheloria virginiensis)

 

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Feral Bends Forest Farm Leaf Litter Phenology Journal

A spring walk through a riot of wildflowers …

Althea and I spent several hours yesterday morning stomping around Feral Bends Forest Farm to see what’s happening in the understory. Long story short: It’s stunning. Here are a few photos.

There are large white trillium (Trillium grandiflorum) everywhere, and some are becoming pink as they age.
Althea with a large white trillium.
Parts of the woods are carpeted in mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) and they’re blooming.
Dwarf Larkspur (Delphinium tricorne)
Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum)
Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum)

 

Fire pink (Silene virginica)
I’m finding fire pink (Silene virginica) in multiple locations. It really pops.
Blue Phlox (Phlox divaricata)
Blue Phlox (Phlox divaricata) is everywhere. I never get tired of seeing it.
Woodland Stonecrop (Sedum ternatum)
Woodland Stonecrop (Sedum ternatum)
Rattlesnakeweed (Hieracium venosum)

Inspired by the Athens Conservatory’s Bluebell Preserve along the bikeway, Laura-Sue and I planted some Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica) above the creek area where we plan to locate a bench. It’s already a location with a lot of trillium and other wildflowers.

I love the way beech trees cling to the dry, sandy soil on the southwestern slope of the ridge. Feral Bends was heavily logged a few decades ago and they left behind most of the beech. At first

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, I saw that as a bad thing, but I’ve grown to love beech trees …

 

A morel shrine that we’ve created long the ridge. Laura-Sue is working on a scheme to create altars to forest deities throughout Feral Bends.
During my walk, I found another specimen of the crane-fly orchid (Tipularia discolor). It doesn’t flower till late summer.
And a reminder that nature is metal. Not sure who this squirrel pissed off, but whatever it was basically ate his face and left the rest to rot. He’ll make good fertilizer for the mayapple and wildflowers surrounding him.