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This was the 15th season that the residents of this local population of Eastern Box turtles were being tracked and studied. Turtle M1, the first member of this local population found and radio-tagged, is still being tracked in 2008, and 5 turtles found in 2009, are still alive and active and being tracked.

This was the third summer in a row that was dominated by heat wave periods od several months, which reduced the amount of tracking accomplished. Study turtles that spent much of their summer seasons a good distance from the roads, were tracked only occassionally, and a couple turtles were lost as a result.

M57 injured 7-15-22 by tractor tire

M29+M6 near road cross 7- 22

June was hottest ever on record

crossings

M24x2

M6 x2

M50x2

M71x2

M69

M72 x2

M49 x2

Turtle M1(Female) was re-intoduced to her activity area exactly at her hibenation site in early spring after being released fom the Wildlife Center where she spent the winter. She was tracked very seldom this season due to weather and distances, but her radio was followed from the ridges surrounding the drainage. M1 did not cross the road into the meadow to nest this season as she often does.

0.3 GPS miles tracked this season.

Turtle M3(male) strayed from his normal activity area again this season, as he did in 2020. M3 still visited the area where he has been found mating with M24 in most past years. He still met and mated with M24 before and after her forray into the meadow to nest, but did not seek out M24 at the activity area she has been utilizing the last couple of years. M3's change in travel behavior has more than doubled his tracked travel distance.

He did not cross the road, and was observed mating a number of times with turtles M24, and M43.

3.4 GPS miles tracked this season.

Turtle M6 (female) traveled a similar route up-slope and into the meadow and return, crossing the road twice, as she does in most seasons. She was tracked less this season than most years, due to the weather, and was lost toward the end of the summer, possibly due to radio failure or small mammal attack, and was not found at her normal site at hibernation.

1.0 GPS mile tracked this season.

Turtle M10 (male)

1.5 GPS miles tracked this season. M10 likey traveled much further. but part of fhis activity area is difficult to track, especially in hot weather.

Turtle M11 (female)

1.4 GPS miles tracked this season, almost entirely in the woods. She seems to have switched from being primarily a meadow resident to primarily the woods and slopes. M11 was back at her normal hibernation spot by 10/13/22, but stayed close by in shallow forms until 1/13/22, the first day of a very cold cold front that entered this area.

Turtle M18 (male) is is at least partly a meadow resident, but usually hibernates in the woods or under trees in the meadow. This season he stayed in the lower meadow much of the season, where he is usually found mating, and chose a sheltered hibernation site in the woods in deep rich soil.

0.9 GPS miles tracked this season.

Turtle M24 (female) made 2 successful road crossings this season, into the meadow to nest; a normal summer travel behavior for this turtle. After returning from nesting, she mated with M3(M), as usual, and spent the majority of the rest of the summer in a sheltered hollow mid-slope which seems to have become her new primary activity area, although she doesn't travel very far. She hibernated down-slope in a sheltered spot, in her activity area.

1.2 GPS miles tracked this season.

Turtle M29 (male) primarily a meadow resident, was tracked less this season because of the hot and humid summer weather.

1.3 GPS miles tracked this season

Turtle M38 (female) With the recent deaths of M15(m), M19(m), and M51(m), all killed on roads, M38 has few if any permanent male co-residents in the hollow which is her primary activity area. One new male (M73) was found near M38 and stayed close the rest of the season.

0.8 GPS miles tracked this season.

Turtle M40 (female), stayed in the hollow last winter and most of this summer, but traveled over the ridge-top and nto the drainage where he has his primary activity area

again this season made the very long trip from the sheltered cove to the Cabin Meeting Area. She did not return to the primary drainage, but instead stayed nearby and hibernated mid-slope in the hollow.

0.7 GPS miles tracked this season.

Turtle M41 (female) has been a primary resident of the north facing slope since first found, and spent this entire season on that side of the ridge and hibernated there, where she emerged in the spring.

0.5 GPS miles tracked this season

Turtle M42 (female) is primarily a resident of the sheltered cove and south slope where she hibernates, but travels to the meadow, crossing and re-crossing the road during some summer season after traveling a very long distance.

0.2 GPS miles tracked this season

Turtle M43 (female) hibernated in the woods close to the Cabin Meeting Area in 2018 and traveled over the ridge top at emergence to her primary activity area where she spent

. Oddly, during this summer, M43 traveled back to within a few feet of her 2018 hibernation spot once again and retuned to her primary activity area only 2 days later.

During the 2021 season, M43 mated with M3 (and maybe others) several times.

2.2 GPS miles tracked this season.

Turtle M48 (male) is primarily a ridge-top resident, and that is exactly where he chose to stay this season.

Turtle M48 is rarely observed mating or meeting, but usually covers a large area of the ridgetop during the summer seasons

0.7 GPS miles tracked this season.

Turtle M49 (female) Another large female, M49 was originally found in 2017, but lost only 2 days later. She has spent most of her travels since being re-found, in the hollow across the ridge, and has hibernated on the very top of the ridge for 3 seasons.

1.3 GPS miles tracked this season

Turtle M50 (male) M50 hibernated in 2021 on the south facing slope in the hollow in the clearcut,

This season she returned to within a short distance of his 2019 site to hibernate.

M50 was originally found crossing the road into the meadow 5 years ago, and has been tracked traveling a number of very long annual routes since. This male is a possible transient, but has continued to travel within the study area. No primary activity area has yet to be determined.

M50 was tracked 1.6 GPS miles this season.

Turtle M57 (female) M57 seemed determined from emergence, to leave her normal activity area and travel the ridge-top. In July she made a very long forray following the creek, to a maintained meadow about a mile distant. She made the same trip in 2020, and returned to her primary activiy area on the ridge.

This season, during this forray, she was run over by a tractor tire, which pressed her into the soft soil, but broke her carapace. She was removed to a rehab location, and appeared to eventually heal, and was returned to her normal activity for the fall and hibernation.

GPS miles tracked this season.

Turtle M58 (male) was tracked out of hibernation on top of the ridge and back into hibernation in 2021. M58 was found 9/2/18, lost, found again in 2019, lost, and found once again in September 2020 when meeting with M13 on the top of the ridge. M58 spends time during the summer months in the lower meadow, where other turtles go to meet and mate.

1.9 GPS miles tracked this season.

Turtle M64(Male), was found in 2020 while mating with M63(F), who was found new in 2019. Again this season, he stayed within a relatively small primary activity area of about 7 acres.

There are no physical barriers around this activity area, and M64 is continually active during the summer months. The tracked route may appear to be random movement, but it includes a number of familiar small open spaces and landmarks.

Turtle M64 was thread-trailed for the entire season, from emergence to hibernation, and was radio tracked nearly every day for the same time.

GPS miles tracked this season, with gps locations.

Turtle M68 (Male), 351 grams, was found mating with M24 on 7/28/21. M24 traveled outside her normal activity area to find this male. M68 is evidently not a transient, as he stayed almost entirely within the area of the ridgetop and slopes the entire season

2.7 GPS miles tracked in 2022

Turtle M69 (female), 479 grams, was found mating with M64 on 10/13/21 the same place M64(m) was found last season mating with M63(f). This late in the season and close to cold fall temperatures, M69 traveled only a short distance before selecting a hibernation site.

Turtle M72 (male), 430 grams, This transient was found 7/19/22 crossing the road, and soon after was found crossing the busy highway and traveling to the same area that M66 traveled last season. Almost certainly a transient

1.4 GPS miles tracked in 2022

Turtle M73 (male), 490 grams, was found 9/13/22 close to M38(f), while searching for M38. He stayed close-by the Cabin Meeting Area the rest of the season

Turtle M32 (male) was tracked less this season than in the past, but traveled the same activity area, in the same unusual up and downslope pattern he traveled in previous years.

0.6 GPS mile tracked this season

Turtle M13 (Male) spent most of the season on top of a high ridge as he has done the past few seasons. He made an unexpected forray to the lower meadow in mid summer, and returned to the top of the ridge for the remainer of the season.

0.9 GPS miles tracked this season

M66 (Male), grams, was found crossing the road on June 3rd by employees Chris and Troy. Certainly a transient from the local Box turtle population to the north.

GPS miles traveled:

2.2 miles in 2021, 22 points

1.7 miles in 2022, 11 pts