So you have all gotten to experience the excitement of the portion of our days spent in the field, but you have yet to experience the joys of our lab work! We actually both really enjoy working in the lab. It gives us a chance to organize all of our samples and learn a little [...]
In a world where Blanding's roam freely but are impossible to find... WE SET TRAPS. Ok but seriously, trapping is a huge part of what we do here in Lake County. Every Monday, the lovely wildlife and turtle techs head out in the field to set anywhere from 20-30 traps throughout the swales. Each morning [...]
.... but there is a T and that stands for TURTLE SQUAD. In all seriousness, though, we as veterinary students on this project would not be able to do what we do without the incredible team we get to work with every single day. This group of turtle-y cool people work incredibly hard while also [...]
Hello, fellow turtle lovers! I (Kirsten) am doing a takeover this week because I was Sam-less last week! She went home to New Jersey for her sister's graduation. The highlight of this last week was the Blanding's Turtle Recovery Program celebrating World Turtle Day by releasing 91 head-starts into the wild! This program was started [...]
Our first week together in the field! You can be as prepared as you want for field season, but there are some things that you just cannot plan for. We learned that the hard way on day one! Standing in the middle of a swale that was three feet deep after finding two turtles with [...]
Surprise! Today's blog we're taking a sneak peak at the box turtle team. Why might you ask? Well, while Kirsten is moving her personal belongings to Lake County, Sam is diving into a mini adventure with the box turtle team! "I know I'm cheating on the Blanding's just a little bit, but they are still [...]
The time of year we have all been waiting for is here... FIELD SEASON! Months of preparation have gone into this weekend, and we are so excited to finally move all of our supplies up to Lake County, Illinois for the summer. We were all coming off of our post-finals stress, so the Dunkin' Donuts [...]
Blog 1: “The Big Pack” Welcome to the Summer 2019 Blanding’s Blog! Our names are Sam and Kirsten and we are veterinary students at the University of Illinois. We also are student researchers in the Wildlife Epidemiology Lab here at U of I. ( Kirsten- Second Year Student) (Sam - First [...]
