TBT: Critter Invasion

Jordan teaching Nature in 2012.

Growing up in the area, I have always had a passion for all the critters I could find in the woods. As a kid I would come back to my house with an assortment of critters in my pockets: a snake, a frog or two, and possibly some worms, depending on the day. This passion for nature brought me to Foley even before I was a counselor, learning more about the snakes and spending time at Hidden Lake catching as many turtles that would fit in the bottom of the canoe.

After making the decision to be a Foley counselor in 2012, I taught in the Nature Center and began to pass on my love for the all things that creep, crawl, and swim (except spiders, of course). With being part of the nature program, I got to completely relive my childhood, which was incredible! A big difference in being at camp is I had the opportunity to spend my time in the woods with a group of campers, rather than exploring alone. This group-style adventuring allowed for the finding and safe capturing of a wide variety of critters and a bunch of them during our hunts.

Jordan teaching a Critters class during Environmental Ed
in Spring 2013.

My first summer as a counselor I experienced many critter happenings for the first time. A vivid memory I have is having campers catch red belly snakes and create habitats in the nature center for them. We fed the snakes and kept them for about a week at a time. At the end of one of the sessions, we came across seven red belly babies as we were cleaning out the tank. I have never experienced a captured animal giving birth while in captivity and I loved sharing that experience with all the campers.

Among the red belly snakes, campers also caught salamanders, skinks, garter snakes, painted turtles, saw snapping turtles, found worms, and gathered many insects for our critters to eat. I enjoyed passing along information that I love and sparking their passion for the outdoors and all it contains.

--Jordan Anderson

Camp Creature: The Painted Turtle

Muncher hanging out in a bucket
on tank-cleaning day.

Raise your hand if you know the name of Camp Foley's Painted Turtle! Well, even if you didn't raise your hand our shout out, "MUNCHER!" no worries. Today, I'm going to share with you all the fun facts about Painted Turtles, a native turtle to our area.

First of all, let me tell you something super cool: Fossils show that the Painted Turtle existed 15 million years ago! Amazing! Also, the Painted Turtle is the most widespread native turtle of North America. It can be found from southern Canada to Louisiana and northern Mexico, from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans. The most common place we see the Painted Turtle at Foley is over in Hidden Lake because it enjoys fresh waters with soft bottoms, shallow waters, slow-moving currents, basking sites and aquatic vegetation. Those factors make Hidden Lake the perfect home for the turtles.

There are actually four types of Painted Turtles:

Norm meets a Painted Turtle!

• Eastern Painted Turtle: This turtle ranges from five to seven inches long. It's upper shell is olive green to black and it may have a pale stripe down the middle with red markings. The segments of the shell have pale edges and occur in straight rows across its back. This segment pattern is unlike all other North American turtles.
• Midland Painted Turtle: This turtle has a dark, symmetrical shadow in the center of its bottom shell that varies in size and prominence. It ranges from four to 10 inches long.
• Southern Painted Turtle: This is the smallest of the Painted turtles - only four to six inches long. Its top shell has a red line running down the middle, and its bottom shall is tan.
• Western Painted Turtle: This is the type of Painted Turtle we see in at camp, and the type of Painted Turtle that Muncher is. It's top shell has a mesh-like pattern of light lines. It's bottom shell has a large colored splotch that spreads to the edges and often has a red hue. The Western Painted Turtle can grow up to 10 inches long.

Painted Turtles basking on Hidden Lake.

As a cold-blooded reptile, the Painted Turtle regulates its body temperature though its environment, notably by basking. All ages bask for warmth - sometimes groups up to 50 turtles can be seen basking together. At Hidden Lake, we often see the Painted Turtles basking on logs. The Painted Turtle will spend the night perched underwater to sleep, and will wake at sunrise to emerge from the water and bask for several hours. Once it's warm enough for activity, it will take to the water to forage. It repeats this cycle two to three times each day in the warmer months. In the winter, it hibernates. Fun fact: during hibernation the Painted Turtle does not breathe! If its surroundings allow, it may take in oxygen through its skin. 

Our Painted Turtle's, the Western Painted Turtle, diet changes seasonally. In the early summer, 60% of its diet is insects, by late summer 55% is plants. The Painted Turtle is the diet to a few predators though, so it must be careful! Painted Turtles are most vulnerable when they are young. Nests are frequently ransacked and the eggs are eaten by garter snakes, crows, chipmunks, squirrels, skunks, groundhogs, raccoon, badgers and fox. The small, bite-size hatchlings can fall pray to water bugs, bass, catfish, Snapping Turtles, snakes, herons, rice rats, weasels, muskats, minks and raccoon. As adults, the Painted Turtle is more protected with its shell, but they can fall prey to alligators, ospreys, crows, hawks, Bald Eagles and especially raccoon. 

Final Fun Fact: Painted Turtles can right themselves when they are flipped upside down!

You Can't Dibs Nature!

Snapping Turtle (Photo by A. Faricy)

As I canoed along on my second to last of 14, three hour canoe classes over the last three weeks, I examined the actions of the 6th graders. A couple were kneeling precociously in the bottoms of their canoes, hands outstretched, canoes tilted dangerously to one side, attempting to catch painted turtles.  Others were cautiously peering in to the murky bottom in search of the elusive snapping turtles that are frequently spotted.  While still others, craned their necks skyward watching two of the seven local bald eagles swoop effortlessly in and out of the trees.  I smiled as I heard one 6th grade girl say to another "We dibs that turtle!".

"Dibsed" Turtle (Photo by A. Faricy)

The fact that kids were "dibsing" turtles was some what of an accomplishment for me. As we stood on the shore prior to our adventure, many of the kids squirmed nervously at the mention of catching turtles. Now they wanted them. Wanted them so bad they "dibsed" them. That is about as close as you can come to formal ownership when you are in 6th grade. Success.

Nested Loon (Photo by A. Faricy)

After catching a couple turtles and handing them off to some of the kids who were not so lucky as to dibs a turtle, we made our way through a small tunnel and out on to the larger lake. I want to believe that the nesting loons were grateful I made the kids wait for me as I stood watch near their nest, keeping excited kids from getting to close as they took pictures with their disposable cameras. When an eagle swooped low over the loons nest the kids got to see what a nervous, angry adult loon looks like. I was just grateful the loon seemed more nervous about the eagle than us.

As we made our way back, I couldn't help but smile about the response the girl who had her turtle "dibsed" out from under her had to her friend..."You can't dibs nature!"

So true.

Alli Faricy, Director