![\"\"](\"https:\/\/vetmed.illinois.edu\/wel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2026\/07\/IMG_1935-300x225.jpeg\")
The members of the Reinke Lab! On a log!<\/p><\/div>\n
On Monday, we got to work setting traps and radio-tracking turtles. Since the Reinke Lab wanted to learn radiotelemetry techniques, we made sure to set aside some turtles for later in the week. Instead, unfortunately for Gail and I, we decided to track the turtles that would require extensive hiking and searching. Initially resolving to track 8 turtles, we only managed to track 5. Unfortunately, it seems many of our telemetry turtles embarked on Lord-of-the-Rings-esque journeys, particularly Debra. By this time, most of our gravid female turtles had laid their eggs and headed back to their usual stomping grounds. Beatrice, one of our gravid females, unfortunately had to be induced to lay eggs due to her proclivity for laying eggs in a nearby human-dominated area. To avoid her spending too much time along roads and in human spaces, Lake County Forest Preserve elected to induce her. Her eggs are currently being taken care of by LCFPD staff until they are ready to hatch. Debra, another one of our gravid females, has been spending much of her time along the northern side of our field site, but this week was nowhere to be found. I ended up hiking about 3 miles through the marshes, woods, and prairies of our field site looking for her. Luckily, Grace managed to find her later in the week at the far southern end of our field site, evidently she dropped off her eggs and ran (Maury would have a field day with her)!<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/vetmed.illinois.edu\/wel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2026\/07\/IMG_1934-225x300.jpeg\")
Typical bycatch plus some cool inverts!<\/p><\/div>\n
Our traps for this week were set radiating from a central point along four lines. This allowed the vets to remain in the center and receive turtles from each trap set, allowing us to efficiently work up turtles. Though this system was more efficient, it was certainly a lot to get used to. Our biologist team would text us and we would work out a person to ferry turtles back and forth. It made this week a strange mix of my legs falling asleep while working up turtles and my legs aching from hiking back and forth from the biologist team.<\/p>\n
On our first day of checking traps, we caught 3 snapping turtles with Gail hand capturing one massive turtle! This gave me plenty of practice since we definitely catch fewer snapping turtles than our other species. We also captured 3 Blanding’s turtles, including one we had caught previously during Blanding’s Bowl. For the Reinke Lab, it was super cool comparing these Blanding’s with the Painted turtles that they were used to. They were able to help gather measurements and collect samples\/data with the vet team, hopefully giving a different perspective on turtle research. Perhaps the most difficult part, however, was gaining their “marsh legs” which always takes a second.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/vetmed.illinois.edu\/wel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2026\/07\/IMG_1937-225x300.jpeg\")
Reinke Lab working up a turtle!<\/p><\/div>\n
Since many of the lab members were also birders or interested in other species, we kept an eye out for other species throughout the week. By the end of the week, we spotted least bitterns, double crested cormorants, great blue herons, great egrets, green herons, marsh wrens, Northern flickers, garter snakes (ID pending!), and Northern leopard frogs. We also caught our typical bycatch species like white river crayfish, central mudminnows, or green frogs.<\/p>\n
After checking traps on Wednesday, Gail, Grace, Callie, and Susan helped show the Reinke Lab how to track turtles with radio-telemetry. Though it may sound simple on paper, actually tracking turtles in the marsh down to an exact location to put your hand is much more difficult. Radio waves can undergo interference from vegetation, nearby buildings, or topography. Despite the challenges and it being their first time, everyone from the Reinke lab was able to track a turtle!<\/p>\n
On Thursday, we caught a few painted turtles, but no Blanding’s. To celebrate our work this week, the Reinke Lab invited us to their campsite for some hotdogs and mac and cheese! Obviously, we said yes. We also had the opportunity to visit a nearby nature center and go for a beach visit along Lake Michigan. We skipped rocks, got ice cream, took pictures of birds, found some rare plants, and played some water volleyball! Despite the untimely loss of our beachball, it was a fun relaxing mid-week break.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/vetmed.illinois.edu\/wel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2026\/07\/IMG_1938-300x225.jpeg\")
Learning radiotelemetry!<\/p><\/div>\n
For our last day, we were really hoping to catch one last Blanding’s turtle. By now, the Reinke lab had become seasoned pros, able to navigate the marsh with no problems. As we checked each trap, we waited in anticipation until finally we found the smallest baby Blanding’s turtle we had found yet. Weighing just 67 grams, we were immediately enamored with our little friend. Since it was a brand new Blanding’s turtle, we needed a new name. To celebrate their hard work this week, we decided it would only be right in the Reinke Lab named our new turtle. They settled on the name Montane, the trusty field truck of Dr. Reinke and the lab.<\/p>\n
This week was an especially special exercise in collaboration. We got to work on our science communication and teaching skills while seeing our everyday work through a new lens. The Reinke Lab got to see a different kind of turtle research and work on new skills like radiotelemetry. Each of us were able to build new skills, make new connections, and have fun in the field! Hopefully, this leads to a long future partnership, growing symbolically alongside this week’s newest baby turtle: Montane!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This week, we had some visitors from the Reinke Lab of Northeastern Illinois University! Led by Dr. Beth Reinke, the lab typically studies painted turtles at a field site in northern Wisconsin. This year though, one of the lab’s students, Gail, has been with us in the field working on their project on Blanding’s turtle […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1591,"featured_media":6957,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vetmed.illinois.edu\/wel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vetmed.illinois.edu\/wel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vetmed.illinois.edu\/wel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vetmed.illinois.edu\/wel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1591"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vetmed.illinois.edu\/wel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6953"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/vetmed.illinois.edu\/wel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6965,"href":"https:\/\/vetmed.illinois.edu\/wel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6953\/revisions\/6965"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vetmed.illinois.edu\/wel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vetmed.illinois.edu\/wel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vetmed.illinois.edu\/wel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vetmed.illinois.edu\/wel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}