Volunteer Tracks Sanctuary’s Box Turtles

Tim O’Brien tries to identify box turtle.

Wellfleet Bay volunteer Tim O’Brien and his wife Kim Novino are known as tireless sea turtle rescuers, but what brought Tim to Wellfleet Bay 25 years ago was the sanctuary’s land turtles—box turtles. As a kid growing up in Attleboro, Tim says he loved all turtles but that box turtles were his favorite because they seem to have distinct personalities.

Eastern Box Turtle wearing transmitter tag

In fact, among the sanctuary’s estimated 100 or so box turtles, some have earned nicknames—“our regulars”, as Tim calls them.

“There’s ‘Queen Victoria’, the matriarch of the sanctuary,” he notes. ” Smooth as a bowling ball and 75-plus years old, she’s likely outlived many of the researchers who have studied her. We love seeing her in the spring as it confirms that she survived yet another brumation (hibernation) cycle.”

“Sleeping Beauty”, Tim says, is a young female whose skin color he’s never been able to see because she refuses to come out of her shell. And then there’s the “Old Warrior.”

The Old Warrior (note dings in shell and quasi-grumpy expression)

“He’s a beat up, chewed up old male with a shell that has been broken and healed several times. He hisses and protests when we pick him up, even though he’s been handled dozens of times!!”

The eastern box turtle is listed as a species of special concern in Massachusetts, meaning that its continued decline could threaten the species if allowed to go unchecked.

During the sanctuary’s 30 years of monitoring box turtles, radio telemetry has proved to be a valuable tool. During the summer, Tim can be found in the sanctuary’s fields and open woodlands wielding a contraption that looks like an old TV antenna which is attached to a receiver used to pick up signals from turtles fitted with small transmitters.

“When we find them, we measure and weigh them, and record where they were found,” Tim explains. “Over the many years of study, this data helps us understand which turtles actually live here and how well they’re doing.”

This year, Tim hopes  to use some new equipment—transmitter tags that can last a year or more. He says the sanctuary may also do a DNA study of box turtles at Wellfleet Bay to determine how its turtles compare with other Cape Cod box turtle populations.

Tim uses a radio telemetry antenna to find tagged turtles at the sanctuary

Like most turtles, box turtle hatchlings do their best to keep a low profile under leaf litter “doing their best not to become lunch for the many predators that will eat them,” Tim says. And at least some must succeed because every spring, a few young box turtles are found. “Usually these are three or four year old turtles, which suggests that we have a healthy, replicating population on the property.”

Box turtle hatchling