Here in Cook County, we have two very unique species of turtle – the eastern musk turtle and the spiny softshell turtle. On this week’s blog post, Kami is going to tell you all about these guys! She focuses on these particular species and trying to add to the little that is known about them! [...]

Chonkosaurus, a rather overweight common snapping turtle found in the Chicago River, has made themself quite the cook county celebrity but during our time out in the field we came across a hefty spiny softshell turtle that we believe could be the perfect foe. Kami and I come across a plethora of common snapping turtles [...]

The Chronicles of Turtle Girl and Snake Girl Starring: Turtle Girl: Kami Snake Girl: Kate On this weeks episode of, “The Chronicles of Turtle Girl and Snake Girl”, our fierce duo travels up to northern Cook County to set out tricky turtle traps and scout for slithery snakes. It was a brisk Tuesday morning. Paul, [...]

We started this week nice and early on Monday morning  setting a plethora (27!) of traps along the Des Plaines river with Paul from the USDA! While we didn't catch any turtles that day, Kami and I did get some good practice with using the waders. Each of the different species we work with have [...]

Hello and welcome to the Cook County blog -- where we will be sharing our summer field-work adventures with you! School is out, finals are over, and field season is in full swing! This week was a big one for Kate and I as we transitioned out of school-mode and gear up for what is [...]