Hi and welcome back to the blog! Last week Kayla and I had great trap success and spend lots of busy days with stacks of Blanding's. However, we did have one (major) hiccup: It was a nice Friday afternoon and I was excited to start fieldwork. I pulled my very first trap of the day [...]

Hi all and welcome back to the blog! Last week we continued the tradition of participating in Blanding's Bowl - a week when we make work into a game. Each year, everyone who works in the Blanding's Recovery Program sets their own traps and looks for hand captures to earn points. Each Blanding's turtle caught [...]

Hi Everyone! We know we’ve been away for awhile but there’s lots of exciting stuff to check out in our vlog! Last week was full of fun-filled field days. We caught PLENTY of Blanding’s, along with many snapping and painted turtles. We also had a very unexpected guest in one of our traps! See [...]

Welcome back to the Lake Co blog! We wanted to use this blog to shout out all of the amazing, hardworking people who help us help Blanding's!   Last week the Lake County Blanding's team, Kane County Blanding's team, and the Box Turtle team all joined forces to sample 125 headstarted Blanding's turtles that were [...]

   This week Kayla and Carley did some solo work. While Kayla was collecting field samples, Carley was doing her Summer Research Training Program orientation week at the lab. Carley is participating in the University of Illinois S.R.T.P this summer which Kayla participated in last summer. During this program, students are matched with a mentor [...]

Hi everyone! This past week, Kayla and I moved into the Lake County Field House, set-up the laboratory for the summer, and began field work. Luckily, we had some great weather out in the field this week. Kayla did an awesome job of teaching me the ropes of both field and lab work. We [...]

Hello and welcome to Lake County Blanding's Summer 2021! Blanding's turtle   Blanding's are semi-aquatic turtles who are known for their distinct yellow throat that makes them look like they are always smiling! Unfortunately, Blanding's are endangered in many places, including Illinois. Each summer veterinary students from the Wildlife Epidemiology Lab capture, examine, [...]