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 released in multiple counties in Illinois. We absolutely could not have sampled that many tiny turtles, completed all the blood work, and slept without the help of every single person involved. Although Carley and I missed being in the field this week, it was tons of fun to work with our friends and the baby Blanding’s.
Alexis (Kane Co), Kayla + Carley, Dr. Laura, Kelcie, + Rachel (Box Turtle Team)
Kayla labeling eppendorf tubes while Carley makes a desk out of a drawer
While we were working at Turtle Town, the Lake County turtle techs were busy in the field tracking all of the telemetered turtles and preparing for nesting season. This year we are fortunate to be working with 4 great turtle techs! Timmy, who was featured in our first vlog teaching Carley how to track telemetered turtles, has been working as a turtle tech for 4 summers now. Pat is working on his second summer, while Shelby and Kaleb are both first time turtle techs at Lake Co.
Meet Shelby:
“I love being able to contribute to the efforts of conserving such an imperiled species.”
Meet Kaleb: Kaleb has a crazy talent for hand captures!
Meet Timmy: “Within my four years as a tech, I’ve met lifelong friends and incredible people, made countless memories, and helped see a conservation project come full circle whole learning a TON along the way. What I love most about Blanding’s turtles is how personable they are. They bring so much joy to everyone they cross paths with. You simply can’t not smile while holding one! In short, it’s been the best experience I’ve had, ever.”
While our daily jobs sometimes look different, together we make a great team with the common goal of supporting the Blanding’s Recovery Program.
