As Fall sets in, one would think our local conservation field workload would get lighter, particularly the part involving reptiles and amphibians, but it actually picks up!
For the number of Blanding’s turtles and Eastern box turtles Wild Toledo tracks with radio-transmitters, the end of the season means one more burst of field work before settling in for the winter. This time of year, the turtles are near their overwintering sites and are in a type of holding pattern until the cold weather drives them underground. The Toledo Zoo will track turtles to their overwintering sites to characterize the landscape features influencing site-selection. With 36 turtles to track to their overwintering sites, we definitely have our work cut out for us!