While we were busy with the daily routines of our lives on June 11, something was happening on a nearby beach in Marion that has happened for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years. On this morning, the first female endangered diamondback terrapin returned to the site of her own birth, now the newly restored turtle habitat on the beach of the Cove, to dig three “test nests” before leaving behind her precious eggs.
The yearly return of the diamondback terrapin is a time to celebrate for Don Lewis, AKA “The Turtle Guy” and his wife, Sue Wieber Nourse. And this year, there is even more reason to celebrate. The restoration of a small patch of sand that residents of Jenney Lane and the surrounding area have come together to create is now the cradle to a number of nests of terrapin eggs. These precious eggs will be protected until they hatch to ensure the ongoing survival of the terrapin in Marion.
“When we began our work in Sippican Harbor and Hammetts Cove, diamondback terrapins were on the brink of extirpation,” wrote Lewis in an email update of the project. The turtle population consisted only of aging adults with no juveniles or “recruits.” Terrapins are not migratory, which means, said Lewis, that once the estuary loses its population, “it is largely gone forever.” The main reason for the decline in the terrapin population in Massachusetts has been the loss of habitat as humans develop the coastline.
Lewis and “Team Turtle” were hoping to alter the fate of the terrapins before “forever” came to Hammetts Cove. They were hoping the new “turtle garden” would turn things around for the terrapins. Now, there is reason to hope.
On June 13, two terrapins came to the new turtle garden to explore the terrain and dig test nests before crawling back to the sea to wait for the right moment to return. Lewis and Nourse have taken turns “babysitting” the turtles as the terrapins test the new turtle garden. On June 17, the couple reported that they had their very first natural nest deposited in “Turtle Beach,” as the residents now affectionately call it.
When terrapins choose other nesting areas just outside the turtle garden, Lewis and Nourse transplant them into the sanctuary of the turtle garden, which will leave an impression on the newly hatched terrapins so they in the future will lay their eggs in the same safe location.
On June 30, Lewis and Nourse were even more excited to find a young turtle “lady” they had previously documented in April at Sippican Harbor’s main mating aggregation for terrapins, at Head of Harbor north of Burr Brothers.
“We had never before documented a turtle from Head of Harbor nesting at the Cove, which indicates that the Cove serves a larger population of Marion’s diamondback terrapin population than we had known,” said Lewis. “Of course, that makes the turtle garden even more important as critical nesting habitat for threatened diamondback terrapins in Buzzards Bay!”
As of July 7, Turtle Beach now hosts seven diamondback terrapin nests, five of which were laid naturally without prompting or “imprinting” by humans.
“The ladies are seeing the turtle garden from the creek,” said Lewis on July 6 during a phone interview. “It was put in the exact right location, which means it will be self-perpetuating. Which means that when I’m long dead and nobody remembers why the sand pit was put there, they’ll continue to go on.…”
The nesting sites are secured with a “predator excluder,” a small cage-like structure to keep the eggs and the hatchlings safe until Lewis and Nourse and Team Turtle can transport the baby terrapins safely to the sea.
The nesting period should end in about a week or so, and the eggs will incubate in the sand beneath the warm sun until about late August until early October.
Lewis and Nourse have been jointly following the diamondback terrapins in Buzzards Bay since the 1990s, some of which they have tracked for as long at 35 years.
Lewis says, if you see a diamondback terrapin or Eastern box turtle, do not hesitate to call them at 508-274-5108.
By Jean Perry
