Box Turtles M44 to M54

M44 (Female) 480 grams, was found on 9/9/16 mating with tutle M3 who traveled a long straight route to find her. She stayed close to the found location in the woods for the remainder of the season, sometimes very close to the road.

GPS distance tracked:

0.2 miles in 2016 (2 months), 10 pts

1.6 miles in 2017, 42 pts

In 2017, M44 crossed the road to nest in the meadow, and returned to her primary activity area, where she spent the remainder of the season. She moved from her first hibernation spot that season, and with no working transmitters, was lost for the 2018 and subsequent seasons.

M45 (M) 425 gr was found on 9/11/16 meeting with M19(M) who traveled from the top of the ridge the day before to meet M45.

M45 is an adult with a mostly smooth carapace with indistinct annuli and a very deep concave plastron.This male is certainly a transient, and wears a message vial. He was lost June 2017. GPS distance tracked:

1.2 miles in 2016 (Green), 1.5 months, 19 pts

1.2 miles in 2017 (Yellow), 1.5 months, 11 pts

M46 (M), 430 grams Found 10/2/16 meeting with M10(M) . He was thought to be a likely transient, traveling through this local population. He quickly disappeared from radio range after being radio-tagged and released.

M46 was re-found in 2018 meeting with M3(M) at the same place he was found in 2016. He was radio-tagged and tracked across the south slope to the sheltered cove shared with M52, M40, M42, and others.

The route maps are probably not too representative of actual travels, as M46 was tracked to the lower part of the sheltered cove that was visited infrequently during the 2018 through and all subsequent seasons.

M47(F), 390 grams Found new 10/2/16 mating with turtle M29 at the meadows edge. She climbed to the top of a high ridge where she hibernated as the weather turned cold. She emerged in December 2016, moved away from her original hibernation location, and was lost due to transmitter failure. M47 was re-found in 2017 while tracking M13, and was re-tagged and tracked for the remainer of the season. GPS distance tracked:

0.4 miles in 2016 (1 month), 7 pts

0.2 miles in 2017 (1.5 months), 9 pts

38 feet in 2018, 3 points

M47 was again re-found in 2018 and again lost with 2 transmitters, after only 3 locations were recorded. This is the tiny yellow dot on the photo to the left.

M48 (Male), 480 grams was found meeting with turtle M13 (Male) 6/20/17 on a high ridgetop which they shared for nearly the entire summer season. Like turtle M46, M48 has exaggerated flared, rear marginal scutes, and many scutes which have grown to overlap.

GPS distance tracked:

1.3 miles in 2017, 5 months, 25 points

1.6 miles in 2018, 35 points

1.7 miles in 2019, 24 points

1.7 miles in 2020, 21 points

1.5 miles in 2021, 20 points

0.7 miles in 2022, 12 points

1.5 miles in 2023, 13 points

M48 has made at least 2 successful road crossings (2018 and 2019) and in 2021 traveled almost to the road edge, but did not cross. He generally travels on top of the ridge, but other than looking for mates, there doesn't seem to be much pattern to his overall travel routes.

M50 (Male), 370 grams was found 8/3/17 by park employees Chuck and Steve, while crossing the road. After being radio-tagged, he quickly traveled down slope to a wooded area in the meadow where he spent most of the late summer and fall. M50 met with turtle M54(M) on 10/8/17 in a brushy unmowed corner of the meadow and on 11/4/17, re-crossed the road and quickly found a well sheltered hibernation location. GPS distance tracked;

0.5 miles in 2017, (3 months), 21 points

1.8 miles in 2018, 33 points

0.7 miles in 2019, (4 1/2 months), 16 points

1.1 miles in 2020, 15 points

1.4 miles in 2021, 14 points

1.6 miles in 2022, 27 points

0.9 miles in 2023, 11 points

In 2018, M50 made an unbelievably long trip, crossing several ridges to the top of the ridge shared with M27(M), M57(F), and others, and hibernated on a sheltered lower flat. Tracked after 2019 emergence, M50 was lost in September, but re-found already in hibernation in December. Soon after emergence in 2020, M50 climbed up and crossed the ridge into the major drainage on the other side, and was lost due to the tracking distance into the drainage, but was re-found 9/8/20, after another long trip to a far ridge.

In 2021, M50 made the very long return trip ending in the clearcut where he hibernated in 2019, and in 2022 M50 stayed primarily in the same area he spent 2018, including the power line ROW, and north slope.

M51 (Male), Dead, 520 grams was found 8/8/17, meeting with M15(M) in the power line ROW. He stayed in the area most of the remainder of the season, then moved away and hibernated in the power line ROW.

GPS distance tracked:

0.8 miles in 2017, (3 1/2 months), 26 points

3.0 miles in 2018, 58 points

2.3 miles in 2019, (5 months), 33 points, DEAD

During the 2018 season, M51 was one of many turtles that utilized the man-made meeting area near the cabin site.

Turtle M51 was killed by a vehicle on a private, narrow, gravel road on 10/4/19, as he was attempting to cross. He was likely a permanent resident of Edsel Hollow, where he met with and mated with a number of other turtles: many who travelled into the hollow from other drainages

M52 (Male), 430 grams was found on 8/22/17 meeting with M42(F). M52 remained in an area difficult to access, and was tracked infrequently during the 2017 season, into hibernation.

GPS distance tracked:

0.4 miles in 2017, 9 points

2.7 miles in 2018, 38 points

0.3 miles in 2019, 10 points

During 2018, M52 traveled a long distance route up-slope to the first road crossing, and climbed across the very highest point on a high ridge, and down the other side to a busy highway, but did not cross, but instead, turned around and traveled nearly the same route eventually back to his original sheltered cove and into hibernation. M52 moved from his first hibernation and was lost due to a bad transmitter.

M53 (Female), 585 grams was found on 9/7/17 mating with M48 (also found new in 2017) on top of the high ridge which is appearently a primary activity area for a number of turtles. This is one of the largest turtles in this population. Primarily a ridge-top resident, M53 occasionally makes short forrays into the meadow.

GPS distance tracked:

0.6 miles in 2017, (2 months), 14 points

2.0 miles in 2018, 26 points

1.0 miles in 2019, 17 points

1.2 miles in 2020, 19 points

1.2 miles in 2021, 18 points

0.3 miles in 2022, 9 points

1.1 miles in 2023, 12 points

M54 (Male), 420 grams found 10/8/17 meeting with M50(M) in a brushy unmowed corner in the meadow , the day after mowing was completed . It doesn't appear that either turtle is a meadow resident.

M54 may be a transient or possibly a resident of the distant south slope, but he seems to find his way around this study area very well, or at least remembers his hibernation sites and travel routes. He was found deep under soil and leaves several places between Oct 15th and Nov 28th 2017, after crossing the road.

After emergence in the spring of 2018, M54 crossed the road and spent nearly the entire season in the meadow and in the woods near the meadow and in the fall crossed back and hibernated in the south slope western cove near the area he hibernated in 2017. But in 2019 M54 didn't return to the meadow, instead he crossed the drainage, adjacent slope, and climbed up to the next ridge. He traveled most of the way back to his 2018 hibernation location before 2019 hibernation. He met with M27(m), M57(f), M51(m), and others during his 2019 forray. In 2019, 2020, and 2021 he hibernated in the same area on top of the ridge.

GPS distance tracked:

0.5 miles in 2017, 13 points (7 weeks)

2.3 miles in 2018, 29 points

2.1 miles in 2019, 22 points

1.7 miles in 2020, 32 points

2.3 miles in 2021, 38 points

0.6 miles in 2022, 19 points

0.6 miles in 2023, 28 points

M49 (Female), 515 grams was found meeting on 7/15/18 in the Cabin Meeting Area, radio tagged, and released where she was found and immediately mated with turtle M51 (now dead).

Turtle M49 was originally found in 2017 in the drainage south slope, mating with M12. She was hand-carried out of the drainage and was processed, but escaped her outdoor enclosure before being radio-tagged, and was lost for the remainder of the season. The blue dot near the drainage bottom in the photo is the location of the original find of M49 in 2017.

GPS distance tracked:

1.4 miles in 2018, 29 points

1.3 miles in 2019, 25 points

1.5 miles in 2020, 31 points

1.4 miles in 2021, 25 points

1.4 miles in 2022, 40 points

2.1 miles in 2023, 37 points

M49 stayed on the south facing slope of the hollow for the remainder of the 2018 season, and climbed to the top of the ridge at season's end where she hibernated close to a maintained hiking trail. In 2019 she spent considerable amount of time buried in the mud of a small spring on the slope during the heat wave months, and hibernated on top of the ridge a few yards from her 2018 location.