Additional Turtle Sightings
The Western Pond Turtle is an aquatic native turtle that inhabits streams and ponds in the western US. It used to be abundant in the back of Devereux slough but was thought to have been extirpated in the 1960s, when the upper half of the slough was filled to create a golf course. We received a call from Stephanie Pappas who is working for a Western Pond Turtles rescue program. Stephanie said she is certain that we have pond turtles in the slough, because people have been picking them up from the reserve and taking them to her rescue facility. Someone brought her a female turtle found in Isla Vista, adjacent to COPR, which was subsequently released in the dune pond at Coal Oil Point Reserve. When the turtles leave the water to lay eggs or mate, they are vulnerable to being taken as pets or because it is believed that they are sick or injured. For more information on the turtle rescue program, please see:
http://www.tortoise.org/cttc/adoption.html
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Most shore records of sea turtles on the Pacific coast north of the San Diego region involve injured or ill animals that apparently have been transported from the south via a Catalina Eddy current pattern. The COPR turtle is unusual because it seems to be a healthy turtle based on its behavior. In June 2005 the Santa Barbara News Press reported an apparent nesting attempt by a turtle presumed to be a Ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) on Santa Cruz Island, but further details have not been released. The photo at right, taken at COPR, shows the extended trackway of a turtle with an angled plastron, or ventral plate, which is consistent with either a green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) or a Ridley turtle. The circumstances of the COPR trackway are consistent with a turtle examining a potential nesting site. COPR is the only significant dune field along the Santa Barbara County coast without extensive light pollution and noise, and the animal came ashore under the right moon and tide conditions. Incubation may not occur, because sand temperatures here (ca. 15 C at depth) are at least 8 C below the thermal minimum needed for success.
