Locally Endangered Turtles

    If you are living in or visiting Wells, York, or South Berwick Maine, you may notice some unusual crossing signs. According to the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and the Nature Conservancy, there are endangered turtles nesting in those areas, the Spotted and Blanding turtles.
    For Spotted turtles mating occurs from March to May. During June, females leave the wetlands and travel up to a mile to a sunny site with sandy soils to lay a clutch of 3-7 eggs. Spotted turtles occasionally nest in natural forest openings, exposed bedrock areas, or sedge hummocks in swamps, but are frequently attracted to yards, pastures, gravel pits, and road edges. Nests are often concentrated in human-created habitats where nest loss may be high from predators or road grading. Incubation time depends on soil temperature, but typically lasts 88-125 days, and hatching occurs in September and October. Eggs may not hatch in cold, wet summers (IFW).

    Mating season occurs from May to July for Blanding turtles. Nesting usually occurs in mid-June when females move up to one mile from wetlands to search for exposed sunny locations and sandy soils. Prior to human alteration of the landscape, turtles selected forest openings or exposed bedrock areas to nest. Now, most nest in yards, pastures, and along road edges. During nesting excursions, females may remain out of wetlands for 3-17 days. Nest digging is initiated in the evening and completed after dark, and clutches include 5-11 eggs. Nest predation varies, but is usually high and can be 100 percent for some populations in some years. Incubation time is dependent on soil temperature, but typically lasts 68-118 days, and hatching occurs from late August to October. Hatchlings likely happen over winter in nearby wetlands (IFW).

    According to the IFW, “turtles have evolved a strategy of long life expectancy (greater than 30 years for spotted turtles) to offset a late age at first reproduction and high nest mortality. Because of this unusual life history, spotted turtle populations occur at low densities (only about 21 turtles per square mile in Maine), and are extremely vulnerable to any source of adult mortality. Road mortality and collecting for pets reduce populations, and the loss of just a few individuals every year can lead to the long-term decline and extinction of a population.”

    So when you are staying at The Mariner Resort and visit these areas, be on the look out for these endangered creatures.

Information collected from The Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and the Nature Conservancy.