Starting the journey

  

Sharing another terrapin photo and a short video clip (below).

In the photo above you can see this hatchling's egg tooth.  If you look closely at the very tip of the snout, you can see a pale sharp point.  The egg tooth helps the hatchling break out of the shell.  Later the egg tooth will fall off.

We also have a short video clip of the turtle as it starts on its journey from the nesting area to the salt marsh.  You'll see the turtle blinking, breathing, looking around, and pushing through the sand.  [If you can't see a video player in the e-mail message, click on the title of the post to go to the NHBH website.]

Good luck, little one!

P.S.  With thanks to Eric for editing the video clip! 

Following the path

  

While walking in Wellfleet, MA, yesterday (29 September 2022) every now and then we noticed these tracks crossing the sand.  

I had an idea about the animal responsible for them and I was hopeful that we might find one, but for a while we just keep running across more tracks:

 

 

We were just about to give up when we finally found the individual that made some of the tracks:

 

 

Yes!  I hadn't seen one for years, but this is a Northern Diamondback Terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin) hatchling.

These turtles live in salt marshes on Cape Cod and the young turtles emerge from nests at this time of year.

Here's a view of the hatchling from the side:

 

 

And another view from above, this time with a ruler for scale.  The turtle's shell is only ~2.5 cm long:

 

 

Turtles are one of the groups of animals that led me down the natural history path, so I was glad to spend a few moments with this little terrapin.

Between showers

It was a rainy day on the Outer Cape, but we had a few interesting observations between showers:

 

Salt marsh near Boatmeadow Creek in Eastham, with Cape Cod Bay in the background

In the late afternoon, we walked the edge of a different salt marsh near Uncle Tim's Bridge in Wellfleet.  Along with the beautiful colors of the grasses in Duck Creek, we came upon the following:

 

Juvenile Mud Fiddler Crab (Uca pugnax)

 

 Egg shells of a Diamondback Terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin)

 

Hundreds of small, silvery fish at the upper edge of the marsh.  Perhaps they were stranded by the high tide?  

Here's a close-up:

 

My best guess on the identity of this fish is a juvenile Menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus) — growing up, we called them Pogies.  If you can confirm, or have a different guess, let me know.

I didn't get any pictures, but we also had nice views of terns, jaegers, shearwaters, and Gray Seals off Lecount Hollow Beach in Wellfleet.

Not too bad for a stormy September day!