Herp Update: A Calling Turtle, Caledonia County Work, Salisbury Turtles and Snakes

Current Activity

A Calling Turtle

At this time of year, most of the evening calling activity is coming from a variety of crickets, grasshoppers, coneheads, katydids, and other insects. We may hear the occasional Green Frog calling from a pond edge, or a Spring Peeper making its fall call from a woods not too distant from its breeding pond, and occasionally other frog species will make a call that sounds like a half-hearted version of their spring mating call.

That said, we were surprised recently to receive a report of a calling turtle.  Yes, you read that correctly: a calling turtle in Vermont. Anya Schwartz sent us a video of a Northern Map Turtle that was vocalizing on a beach in Ferrisburgh on August 14th. You should check out her video here. She reported that it called every few minutes for nearly an hour before she left. This behavior was entirely new to us.  I forwarded the video to many of my herpetological colleagues, and it was not a behavior that they had ever seen or heard of either. We do know that young hatchlings can vocalize, and I was made aware of a recording of a Snapping Turtle vocalizing (not just a hissing, but an actual vocalization), but an adult Northern Map Turtle vocalizing out of the water was unknown to us. So, why was this turtle vocalizing?  I really do not know what its motivation or desired result might have been. Nature continues to surprise us.

In Vermont, Northern Map Turtles are only found in Lake Champlain and some of the lakes in the Poultney River drainage.  The Northern Map Turtle photo below was taken by Julian Lee.

Caledonia County Presentations and Surveys

Kate Kelly and I recently spent a couple of days in Caledonia County at the invitation of the Caledonia County Natural Resources Conservation District. Conservation Specialist Karina Morales arranged our visit. We provided a presentation on a Friday night and headed out for a field trip the following morning. One of our goals was to document either a Snapping or a Painted Turtle in Stannard. Despite placing four turtle traps, we failed on that front. We did make needed updates to our Northern Dusky Salamander and Gray Treefrog records, though.

We also found many recently metamorphosed (metamorphs) frogs. Most were Spring Peepers and Wood Frogs, but the group also found a tiny Gray Treefrog. They are solid green on their backs when young. The pattern and the gray colors become visible as they age. Check out Ron Haskells’ photo below of a Gray Treefrog metamorph. You can clearly see the light patch below the eye. This is a good field mark for this species.

Since we were in northeastern Vermont, we also found a number of Mink Frogs. Field trip attendee Bernard Foy got the photo of one below. Their scientific name is Lithobates septentrionalis. If we dissect the name, it means rock walker of the north. Septentrionalis refers to the seven stars of the Big Dipper that were used to navigate while in the north.

We also got our hands a beautiful adult Pickerel Frog. Bernard Foy took the great photo below.

We have another visit to Caledonia County planned for either later this fall or next spring. We will be presenting a PowerPoint presentation and leading another field trip. If you are interested in attending, check the Caledonia County Natural Resources Conservation District’s Events page for the dates.

Salisbury Turtles and Snakes

The Salisbury Conservation Commission recently organized a public turtle-trapping and snake-handling event in Salisbury.  Around 45 attendees got to check the snake hotel and turtle traps with us. We caught both Painted Turtles and Snapping Turtles in the traps and discussed all other Vermont turtle species. The snake hotel had attracted three Common Watersnakes and two Common Gartersnakes that we discussed and, those that wanted to, handled. A young reporter from WCAX Channel 3 joined us for the second half (Snapping Turtle portion) of the event. You can watch her coverage here.