Eastern Box Turtles M24 to M31

Turtle M24 (Female) 415 gr. Found September 22nd, 2012, this small female crosses the road nearly every season to nest, putting her survival at great risk. She was found close to M3(male) and M21 (male) in the ROW and hibernated close to these turtles at the ROW edge. GPS distance tracked:

1.2 miles in 2013, 62 pts

1.1 miles in 2014, 45 pts

0.3 miles in 2015, 30 pts

1.6 miles in 2016, 47 pts, (4 mo)

0.2 miles in 2017, 8 pts, (2.5 mo)

1.5 miles in 2018, 40 pts

1.5 miles in 2019, 49 pts

1.3 miles in 2020, 55 pts

1.6 miles in 2021, 68 pts

1.2 miles in 2022, 43 pts

1.5 miles in 2023, 47 pts

0.6 miles in 2024, 25 pts

M24's primary activity area seems to be divided between the top of the ridge, including the power line ROW and the woods downslope. M24 is often found mating with M3 (male) during the summer season, but not as often when residing downslope. When nesting in the meadow, she is often found in exactly the same area year to year, although she crosses the road at different locations each season.

Turtle M25 (Female) Dead 435 gr. Found late in the 2012 season, prefered to spend her time in the meadow in long grass and under shrubs. She nested in the sandy north part of the meadow and laid 4 eggs in 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017.

During the annual mowing of the meadow by the land owner, she was moved into the woods for her safety, and she moved back into the meadow on her own afterward.

In the fall of 2014 the sawtooth route pattern on the 2014 photo is the result of physically moving M25 into the woods many consecutive days while the meadow was being mowed, and each day having her travel back to the meadow. For the duration of the recent meadow mowings, M25, as well as all other meadow dwellers are moved into the woods nearby and kept safe in individual plastic containment boxes.

During the 2017 season the meadow, mowing was started without warning on 7/7/17, and M25 and M14 were killed the first morning by being crushed by tractor tires.

M25 traveled 1.3 GPS miles in 2013, 1.9 miles in 2014, 1.4 miles in 2015, 2.3 miles in 2016 and 0.6 miles in 2017 (3.5 months).

M26 (Male) Lost, was found crossing the road on 6/5/14 by Steve, a park employee. At 430 grams he is not large, but travels long distances quickly in steep terrain and overgrown meadow. M26 traveled 1.1 miles in a large broad loop in steep terrain, and on 7/6/14 was back near the original road crossing location. He re-crossed the road and quickly took a nearly straight line route west on the ridge out of radio range. He was re-found in December 2014 in hibernation for a total of 2.5 miles for the season. M26 was found and tracked at emergence 2015, but was soon lost, and never yet re-found.

M27 (Male), 525 grams. Turtle M27, entirely painted with white house paint, was found by a park employee in 2012 in a parking lot within this study area, and was moved into the woods to avoid being run over. He was reported several days later, but was never re-found that season. Possibly an abandoned pet, he evidently remained in the area through 2 winters before being found on 6/8/14 while meeting with turtle M19(M) (now dead), only about 1000 feet from the parking area where he was originally found. M27's primary activity area and hibernation sites are consistant year to year.

GPS distance tracked;

2.1 miles in 2014, 41 pts, (4 1/2 months)

2.2 miles in 2015, 29 pts

1.2 miles in 2016, 25 pts

1.2 miles in 2017, 22 pts

2.3 miles in 2018, 28 pts

2.2 miles in 2019, 31 pts

2.0 miles in 2020, 38 pts

2.0 miles in 2021, 39 pts

2.2 miles in 2022, 50 pts

1.3 miles in 2023, 33 pts

2.2 miles in 2024, 43 pts

With the paint now worn off, M27 is being tracked as a member of this population. This turtle seems much too old to have been aquired as a juvenile pet. He likely was taken from the wild as an adult, and later released near where he was captured. His continued presence brings up a number of questions about box turtle homing abilities, as well as the repatriation of adults to a new area.

M30 (Male) a 470 gram male was found on 7/19/14 mating with turtle M6 in a very heavily overgrown part of the meadow a few days after she was observed nesting nearby. M6(f)'s primary activity area is the south slope, across the road, but she crosses the road into this meadow annually to nest and is often found mating here.

GPS distance tracked:

0.8 miles in 2014, (3 months), 30 points

2.9 miles in 2015, 55 points

3.3 miles in 2016, 52 points

1.6 miles in 2017, 35 points

1.1 miles in 2018, (2 months,1 week), 21 points

M30 is resident of the meadow but spends a significant amount of the time in the wooded areas within the meadow and nearby on slopes and benches. He has never been observed to cross any road. M30 was seen meeting and mating with a number of turtles, most likely meadow residents, and probably meets and mates much more than observed. He was tracked continuously since found, but in 2018, traveled out of radio range and was lost for part of the season. M30 has not been re-found since.

M31 (M) a 330 gram male, unbelievably, has traveled 2.3 miles after being found 7/30/14 in the power line ROW on top of the ridge. He quickly crossed the deep drainage and climbed to the top of the next ridge and traveled nearly straight-line WSW. Is this another transient moving through this population? He was not observed mating or meeting, but was found late in the mid-summer season so it is not known how long he was in this local population or how many residents he met.

After traveling well outside of my normal access area, he is now carrying a contact information capsule in case he is found in the future.

UPDATE: M31 was moved back to the exact original find location on Aug 29th where he headed west on a new long straight course. His new designations are M31A (red), M31B (green), M31C (blue), M31D (aqua), and M31E. Tracking M31 has taken a lot of time and effort away from tracking resident turtles this season.

M29 (Male) a 385 gram male was found mating with turtle M25 (now dead) in the meadow on 7/13/14. GPS distance tracked;

2.1 miles in 2014, 39 pts, (3.5 months)

2.0 miles in 2015, 47 pts

2.0 miles in 2016, 48 pts

1.3 miles in 2017, 44 pts

2.3 miles in 2018, 47 pts

1.3 miles in 2019, 26 pts

1.3 miles in 2020, 24 pts

1.0 miles in 2021, 30 pts

1.4 miles in 2022, 31 pts

1.2 miles in 2023, 32 pts

1.2 miles in 2024, 14 pts

Turtle M29 is a resident of the meadow and of the benches and slopes in the woods nearby. He spends much of his time in the meadow and moves quickly when traveling in the woods. He is moved into the woods during the fall mowings of the meadow, along with other meadow residents. This action keeps turtles from harm from mowers and seems to have little or no effect on their behavior. In 2021, M29 was observed to have crossed the road for the first time, and cross back after 13 days. Prior to this he was never observed close to the road, and his travel and hibernation behavior are usually consistant season to season.

In 2014, close to hibernation time, M24 was looking ill with eye problems and was removed and taken to the Wildlife Center of Virginia for diagnosis and treatment and spent the winter there. She was returned to her activity area in the spring of 2015. M24 was lost August 2016 when her radio failed, but was re-found in 2017 crossing the road toward the meadow, and later while mating with M3, was re-tagged and is now being tracked again.