Alexis removing a frog from the trap while Maura holds the trap above water Welcome back readers! Full disclosure, we wrote this blog about 4 weeks ago and forgot to ever publish it. So, now we get a walk down memory lane while Maura and Alexis are working our way through all of [...]
Hello beloved readers! Alexis and Maura reporting live from our lab in Champaign, reminding about the final week in the field. The last week in the field was definitely bittersweet for all! The week started off while Joey and Natalie placed traps at the two final sites of the field season, Alexis and Maura took [...]
Hello beloved readers! Another exciting week out in the field catching turtles. This week Bill had family vacation, so as the saying goes "while the boss was away the kids decided to play" (also known as work hard). The week started off with one hot and humid Monday. Alexis, Maura, and Joey faced the unruly heat [...]
Welcome back readers! This past week the water continued to drop and we had to hike out toward the middle of the marsh to find enough water for our traps. Thursday and Friday we got some of the rain we had been asking for and bundled up accordingly. We were reminded to keep our raincoat [...]
Dear Beloved readers: This week has certainly been an interesting seven days in the field. With the low water levels and lack of rainfall, the turtles have decided to stay cozied up in the marsh making turtle catching even more difficult. However, on Tuesday, Maura and Alexis took on the DANGEROUS task of processing eight [...]
Hey all you happy herps and hatchlings! This week was a little different, with Alexis leaving Maura for three days for some teeny turtles, head-starts. Head-starting aims to help with Blanding’s turtle conservation by collecting eggs during nesting season, and then sending the hatchlings to a facility (Turtle Town) that will spend the next year [...]
Hello readers! Alexis and Maura here to cover another week out in the field! This week we took on two different sites to find the beloved turtles! While there was an initial excitement of new sites, this week brought on many challenges including in-climate weather and getting our water legs back in action. Although new to the [...]
Welcome back readers to another year of Kane County shenanigans! If you are a first time reader, welcome! You should be prepared to learn about wildlife and the work that goes into studying them. Alexis back this summer with a new vet student named Maura. We are two veterinary students from the University of Illinois who will [...]
This week I had the honor of finding and sampling Blandings turtles in Illinois! I got bust out the waders from the storage closet and yes, they did in fact have water in them...STILL. After a three hour drive and coffee break later, it was time to check the traps! While the traps that [...]
You may be wondering, what is the point of this project? What is so special about the Blanding's turtle? Here is the scoop on Blanding's turtles and why they need our help! A Background on Blanding's Blanding's turtles (Emydoidea blandingii) are best known for their brilliant yellow chin and throat, and their notched upper jaw, [...]
