Author: Wendy St. John

Brand New Babies!

- Wendy St. John 2 Comments

Some western pond turtle photos! Brand new babies, hatched in my lab:

Eventually, they’ll be head-started at a local zoo until they’re about 10 months old, at which time they’ll be released back into the habitat where we collected the eggs. The first picture is of a baby working on getting out of her shell. And the third picture was taken literally seconds after she emerged from her shell. (I was too slow with my camera, or I could have gotten it on video. I’m hoping one of the other babies will oblige; we still have a lot of eggs that have yet to hatch). Also, sorry the photos were so crappy. I need to bring in my real camera and get some better shots.

Baby Turtle Release!

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This is what I did last Friday. (Remember the articles I posted? Yeah)! We released the baby Western Pond Turtles (Emys marmorata) that were hatched in our lab last autumn, and raised at the Oakland Zoo. SO BIG! it was kind of sad to say goodbye to my babies (especially #201), but I sent all of them off with good wishes for happy, healthy lives, and to demonstrate their excellent fitness by having LOTS of babies. 😀

(Plus, being able to wade out into the pond is kind of the most fun thing we do all year. The water level was low this year, though. Last year, the water was up to my armpits).

Ready to go “home”
Walking through the tules
Lauren Greenwood
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201
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Bye-bye 201!
I love you!
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Today’s release team.

Bay Area Zoos & Sonoma State University to Release Western Pond Turtles

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So … this is what I did today. 😀 (I’m one of the SSU herpetologists). The link goes to a National Geographic article about the project we’re doing in collaboration with the Oakland and San Francisco zoos.

By Jordan Carlton Schaul of University of Alaska; Grizzly People on August 17, 2012

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National Geographic Archives

Read the entire article here: http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2012/08/17/bay-area-zoos-sonoma-state-university-to-release-western-pond-turtles/

ME AND MY BB!

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Turtle #201, aka Neville (they asked me to give him a name when he needed to have surgery; apparently, they like to make things more personal like that at the zoo). This is just a teaser … I’ll post more photos of the baby turtle release once I get them off my camera; this photo was taken by someone else. (Haha, obviously). But yeah … ME AND MY BB! Who is now swimming happily in the lake where his mama lives. I didn’t actually cry when I released him, but I came close. <3 <3 <3

 

Songbird Hospital

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Guess what I did today! *hint: the pictures are a clue*

Cliff Swallow
White-throated Swift
Pygmy Nuthatch
Western Bluebird and Pacific-slope Flycatchers

Yes, I spent the afternoon feeding baby birds! For the past four years, I’ve volunteered at a local wildlife rehabilitation center where we work almost exclusively with songbirds. This is the first shift I’ve worked this summer, because I’ve been busy with turtle stuff. But today, I finally made it out there, and I got to spend the day feeding the most adorable babies! (These aren’t the actual babies I fed; this is a compliation of some of the pictures I’ve taken in past years. But they’re representative of the different species I worked with today).

Today, I fed western bluebirds, white swifts, vaux’ swifts, mockingbirds, a black-headed grosbeak, American robins and four species of swallows (cliff, barn, violet-green, and rough-winged), and Pacific-slope flycatchers.

SO CUTE! Their little faces, their huge gaping mouths! I probably won’t do a whole lot of shifts this year, but I’m going back again next weekend. Because, BABIES!!!! (And also because the woman who runs the hospital is a good friend, and I like helping her out). Plus, BABIES!

 

201

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So, this is my favorite turtle! He doesn’t even have a name – he’s just #201. (Well, now he’s actually #801, because of the way we number the babies, but he’ll always be 201 in my heart). He was the tiniest turtle incubated and hatched in our lab for the 2011 season: only 3.32 grams at hatching. So tiny and precious.

He’s nine months old now, and for the first time ever I can actually refer to him by his correct sex. (Most of the baby turtles are female, so I always call them all “she” until proven otherwise). But 201 turned out to be A BOY! Hahaha! I’ve just realized I can even post a picture of his internal boy parts; that’s the very last photo – taken through the endoscope of his gonads. (I hope he won’t be embarrassed by that). Here’s a time series to see how he grew over the past nine months:

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