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 Snapping Turtles and one beloved Blandings. On Thursday, Maura and Alexis were elated to find one of Alexis’s precious 2019 headstart babies as well as one of the elusive Blandings Mommas who they have been trying to catch since the beginning of the field season. In honor of finding the Blandings 2019 Baby who was a flashback to Alexis’s first field season, this week Alexis and Maura looked into the initial dates in which some of the Telemetry turtles were caught.
The headstart baby was born August 2019 and released in July of 2020. August 2019 was a fresh start for both Maura and Alexis! Maura started her final year of undergrad at Saint Louis University. During that semester she was in Microbiology, Conservation biology, Statistics, Spanish Literature, and World Religions. Her favorite class was most definitely Conservation Biology learning about all the ways science can help save disappearing species. By, the time the Baby Blandings was released in July of 202o she had received her degree in Biology with a Minor in Spanish and was moving on to Veterinary School. Alexis started her first year of veterinary school August 2019 and was falling in love with the Blanding’s species July of 2020.
The county’s first encounter with the one of the Freeman Moms was in June 2016. Alexis was volunteering at Lincoln Park Zoo and became owner of her first car that month. Maura in 2016 had recently graduated high school and was starting her undergraduate education.
Although we had some trouble trying to catch the Hannaford Momma this season, the initial encounter with her was in April 2013. In 2013, Maura was finishing up her freshman year of high school and traveled to Florida for a national Volleyball tournament. Alexis was preparing for her trip to Germany and Austria that summer.
Finally, one of our Pingree Mommas was first caught in July of 2009. Maura attended the Chicago Blackhawks hockey camp and learned how to skate backwards. Alexis spent that month at sleep away camp for the third of four summers.
