Eastern Box Boxturtle 2023 Summer Season

There was not much of a 2022-2023 winter this season. The daily temperatures were well above normal and , at least in this regon, there were no snow storms and only 2 small ice storms of 1/2 inch thick ice. There were a few sub zero nights, but they lasted only one or 2 days. Luckily all study turtles went into hibernation in late fall, as usual.

There was almost no 2023 spring, with very warm daily temperatures, and went right into summer with a solid month of hot, humid heat waves, followed by a month of daily rain strorms.

Turtle M1(Female) was re-intoduced to her activity area in the spring of 2022 from the Wildlife Center where she spent the winter. She was tracked very seldom again this season due to the hot weather and long distances. M1 did not cross the road into the meadow to nest this season, but did cross the ridge into the hollow where she visited the cabin site spending only a few days on this side of the ridge before crossing back and returning to the south facing slope, her primary activity area.

0.8 GPS miles tracked this season.

Turtle M3(male) strayed from his normal activity area for the third season. He met and mated with M24, as he usually does. Turtle M3's change in travel behavior in recent years has more than doubled his tracked travel distance compared to most of his tracked years.

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

2.2 GPS miles tracked this season.

Turtle M10 (male)

1.5 GPS miles tracked this season. M10 likey traveled much further. He has esablished a fairly large primary activity area, and appears to stay within it from year to year. This turtle usually spends more time in the power line ROW than he has in recent seasons. He hibernated in exactly the same location as 2022, 2021, and 2020.

Turtle M11 (female)

1.1 GPS miles tracked this season. M11 emerged from hibernation much earlier than any other previous season, and remainded within a few yards, basking during the daytime. Eventually she traveled through the woods to the meadow and traveled to the ridgetop of an adjacent low ridge, where the stayed for most of the season. She was tracked as she stayed mosly within a small activity area, before she traveled back through the meadow toward her hibernation location.

Turtle M13 (Male) usually thought of as a ridge resident, M13 spent most of the season at the meadow edge, starting around mid-summer. He stayed in the same geneal area of the meadow, close to the @big tree@ and @the corner, most of the season. He was tracked through the woods and slope as he was apearently headed back toward his rigdetop hibernation area, be in stead he continued untill he crossed the road and traveled down a very steep slope where he was found in a sheltered area under pines.

1.2 GPS miles tracked this season

Turtle M18 (male) is mostly a meadow resident diring the summer months, but usually hibernates in the woods. This season he spent the first half of the season in the upper meadow but then traveled to the lower meadow for the second half of the season, where he remained and again chose a hibernation site in the woods in deep rich soil.

1.1 GPS miles tracked this season.

Turtle M24 (female) made 2 successful road crossings this season, into the meadow to nest; 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. She hibernated down-slope into a sheltered spot, in her activity area.

1.5 GPS miles tracked this season.

Turtle M27 (male)

1.3 GPS miles tracked this season. M27 is another long tracked study turtles who has remained within a defined primary activity area...in this case a ridge top and north slope.

Turtle M29 (male) primarily a meadow resident, spent nearly the entire season on a ridgetop in open woods. Late summer, he suddenly disappeared from this area, and was eventually found on a small ridge top distant, co-inciently where M11(f) traveled to and stayed the season.

1.2 GPS miles tracked this 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 M38 (female) . One new male (M73) was found near M38 and stayed close the rest of the season.

0.9 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 into 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.

0.9 GPS miles tracked this season.

Turtle M41 (female) Dead, 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

0.4 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.

1.6 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.

1.3 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

1.5 GPS miles tracked this season.

Turtle M49 (female) Another large and active 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 several seasons. She covers approximately the same area and travels similar routes every season.

2.1 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 he 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 was once thought of as a possible transient, but has continued to travel within the study area. No definate primary activity area has yet to be determined, but

M50 was tracked 0.9 GPS miles this season.

Turtle M57 (female)

Last 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.

0.8 GPS miles tracked this season.

Turtle M58 (male) 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.

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.

1.7 GPS miles tracked this season, with gps locations.

M66 (Male), grams, was found crossing the road on June 3rd, 2021 by employees Chris and Troy. Thought to certainly be a transient from the local Box turtle population to the north, he was found there several times this season.

GPS miles traveled:

2.2 miles in 2021, 22 points

1.7 miles in 2022, 11 pts

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

0.3 GPS miles tracked in 2022

Turtle M69 (female) Dead, 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 turtle hibernated only a few feet from M64(m) this past winter, and traveled the short distance into a small meadow early this season, where she was killed by a lawn mower.

Turtle M70 (male), Dead, 507 grams, was found 10/14/21 and was tracked all of the 2022 and 2023 seasons. in mid October 2023, M70 was found to have a broken plastron and hinge, and was removed from the woods and taken to the Wildlife Center of Virginia, where he was killed.

Turtle M71 (male), 442 grams, was found 11/7/21, and was tracked the entire 2022 and 2023 seasons

0.8 GPS miles tracked in 2022

Turtle M72 (male), 430 grams, This old mature Box turtle 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 he was lost toward the end of the season when his tranmitter failed. His hibernation location is unknown.

Turtle M73 (male), 490 grams, was found 9/13/22 close to M38(f), while searching for M38. He was tracked 2.5 GPS miles and hibernated in the woods west of the cabin. He returned to the cabin meeting area several times during the season and was observed mating with M38 on 3 occassions, and likely mated with the other females that occassion the same area during the season.

2.5 GPS miles tracked in 2023

Turtle M74 (female), 450 grams, was found 8/19/23, while searching for M71. She stayed nearby the rest of the season on the lower slope and did not cross the road, although she was found close to the road a few times. Several study turtles have been killed on this private gravel road by vehicles over the past few years.