Hi All,
We have received the following notification:
and, one additional interesting observation:
Summary of First Observed Confirmed Nesting by Region/County and Date:
Happy Herping!
Heather
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Hi All,
We have received the following notifications:
- Location: Oxford County; Species: Snapping Turtle; Evidence: multiple confirmed nests; Date: June 5, 2025; Source: Scott Gillingwater; Comments: all nests collected for incubation
- Location: Middlesex County; Species: Snapping Turtle; Evidence: multiple confirmed nests; Date: June 5 and 6, 2025; Source: Scott Gillingwater; Comments: all nests collected for incubation
- Location: Middlesex County; Species: Midland Painted Turtle; Evidence: multiple confirmed nests; Date: June 5 and 6, 2025; Source: Scott Gillingwater; Comments: all nests collected for incubation
- Location: Middlesex County; Species: Eastern Spiny Softshell; Evidence: confirmed nests; Date: June 6, 2025; Source: Scott Gillingwater; Comments: all nests collected for incubation
Happy Herping!
Heather
On 06-Jun-25 5:41 PM, Heather Fotherby wrote:
Hi Everyone,
We have received the following notifications:
- Location: Ottawa; Species: Midland Painted Turtle; Evidence: confirmed nest (7 eggs); Date: June 4, 2025; Source: David Seburn
- Location: Haldimand County; Species: Snapping Turtle; Evidence: digging nest; Date: June 5, 2025; Source: farmer/landowner (submitted by Cathy Blott); Comments: digging about 40 feet from a creek
- Location: Regional Municipality of Waterloo; Species: Snapping Turtle; Evidence: predated nest; Date: June 5, 2025; Source: Jillyan Birtch
- Location: Regional Municipality of Waterloo; Species: Midland Painted Turtle; Evidence: 2 nesting females, 1 female confirmed test digging, 1 predated nest; Date: June 5, 2025; Time: 19:30 - 19:45 hrs; Source: Jillyan Birtch
- Location: Halton Region; Species: Snapping Turtle; Evidence: nesting on roadside; Date: June 6, 2025; Time: Morning; Source: Kim Barrett
- Location: Norfolk County; Species: Snapping Turtle; Evidence: two females nesting on roadside; Date: June 6, 2025; Time: Morning; Source: Jessica Linton
- Location: Hastings County; Species: Midland Painted Turtle; Evidence: deceased on road, was gravid; Date: June 5, 2025; Source: Leeanne Leduc
- Location: Regional Municipality of York; Species: Northern Map Turtle; Evidence: gravid female, hit by car; Date: June 5, 2025; Source: Chantal Theijn
- Location: Regional Municipality of Waterloo; Species: Midland Painted Turtle; Evidence: gravid female, hit by car; Date: June 6, 2025; Source: Chantal Theijn
- Location: Regional Municipality of Niagara; Species: Snapping Turtle; Evidence: gravid female, hit by car; Date: June 6, 2025; Source: Chantal Theijn
- Location: Hamilton; Species: Snapping Turtle; Evidence: gravid female, hit by car; Date: June 5, 2025; Source: Chantal Theijn
Happy Herping!
Heather
On 05-Jun-25 10:53 PM, Heather Fotherby wrote:
Hi Everyone,
We have received the following notifications:
- Location: Parry Sound District; Species: Midland Painted Turtle; Evidence: 2 Nesting females; Date: June 3, 2025; Source: Tianna Burke; Comments: one nest collected with 9 eggs, and the other collected with 7 eggs
- Location: Lambton County; Species: Eastern Spiny Softshell; Evidence: 2 confirmed nests; Date: June 4, 2025; Source: SCRCA
- Location: Regional Municipality of York; Species: Midland Painted Turtle; Evidence: deceased on road, crushed eggs; Date: June 4, 2025; Source: Jory Mullen
- Location: Regional Municipality of Waterloo; Species: Snapping Turtle; Evidence: 2 Gravid females and several test pits. Date: June 5, 2025; Source: Holly Anderson.
- Location: Ottawa; Species: Snapping Turtle; Evidence: predated nest; Date: June 5, 2025; Source: David Seburn
Location: Ottawa; Species: Northern Map Turtle; Evidence: 3 nests (confirmed and eggs collected); Date: June 5, 2025; Source: David SeburnHappy Herping!
Heather
On 04-Jun-25 7:18 PM, Heather Fotherby wrote:
Hi All,
We have received the following notifications:
- Location: Regional Municipality of Waterloo; Species: Midland Painted Turtle; Evidence: Dead-on-Road (DOR) with eggs; Date: June 3, 2025; Source: Tasha Sawatzky
- Location: Middlesex County; Species: Snapping Turtle; Evidence: adult covering nest; Date: June 4, 2025; Time: Morning; Source: Nathan Grant
Location: Parry Sound District; Species: Midland Painted Turtle; Evidence: Confirmed nest; Date: 3 June 2025; Time: Evening; Source: Grundy Lake Provincial Park Naturalist (submitted by Hope Freeman); Comments: Two (2) confirmed Midland Painted Turtle nests.
Location: Middlesex County; Species: Snapping Turtle; Evidence: confirmed nest; Date: June 4, 2025; Time: Morning; Source: Scott Gillingwater- Location: City of Hamilton; Species: Snapping Turtle; Evidence: gravid, had already dug ~4 test pits when first found; Date: 2025-06-04; Source: Sarah Richer, RBG
- Location: Middlesex County; Species: Midland Painted Turtle; Evidence: confirmed nests; Date: June 2 and 3, 2025; Source: Scott Gillingwater; Comments: two (2) nests confirmed on June 3rd, and two (2) on June 2nd
Happy Herping!
Heather
On 02-Jun-25 5:24 PM, Heather Fotherby wrote:
Hi All,
We have received the following notification:
- Location: York Region; Species: Midland Painted Turtle; Evidence: Nest; Date: 2025-06-01; Source: Melissa Martins; Comments: 8 eggs collected by staff under approved permits
Happy Herping!
Heather
On 02-Jun-25 9:17 AM, Heather Fotherby wrote:
Hi All,
We have received the following notifications (I apologize for not checking my emails on the weekend!):
- Location: Lambton County; Species: Midland Painted Turtle; Evidence: nesting; Date: May 30, 2025; Source: Erin Postenka
- Location: Oxford County; Species: Midland Painted Turtle; Evidence: nesting; Date: May 30, 2025; Time: 16:00 hrs; Source: Scott Gillingwater; Comments: 10 eggs laid.
Happy Herping!
Heather
On 30-May-25 7:42 AM, Heather Fotherby wrote:
Hi All,
We have received the following notifications:
- Location: Middlesex County; Species: Midland Painted Turtle; Evidence: Digging; Date: 2025-May-29; Source: SCRCA; Comments: Good luck out there all!
- Location: Essex County; Species: Snapping Turtle; Evidence: digging; Date: May ?, 2025; Source: https://inaturalist.ca/observations/285058568; Comments: exact location and date obscured in iNat record.
Happy Herping!
Heather
On 27-May-25 9:46 PM, Heather Fotherby wrote:
Hi All,
Your notification for today thanks to Dave Seburn and iNat:
- Location: Bruce County; Species: Midland Painted Turtle; Evidence: digging; Date: May 27, 2025; Source: https://inaturalist.ca/observations/284674516
Happy Herping!
Heather
On 26-May-25 1:29 PM, Heather Fotherby wrote:
Hi All,
I have received our first notification for our 2025 nesting season:
- Location: Lambton County; Species: Snapping Turtle; Evidence: 4 gravid females; Date: May 26, 2025; Source: Erin Postenka
Happy Herping!
Heather
On 13-May-25 2:50 PM, Heather Fotherby wrote:
Hi All,
I hope everyone is doing well!
I apologize as I am a little late getting this initial email out to everyone this year. I'm assuming that everyone on this list would like to continue to contribute to this email group and continue to receive turtle nesting notifications. Please only reply to this email if you would like to be removed from this group.
Just a few reminders on how this group operates:
- Please only reply to me with your turtle nesting notifications and not to the entire group.
- When submitting a turtle nesting notification, please use the format outlined below and do not include any more specific location information than the Region or County.
- I will provide a daily turtle nesting notification to the group during the nesting season with all of the observations that have been submitted.
- The intent of this email list is to provide researchers and consultants with a heads up on the onset of the turtle nesting season across Ontario.
Refer to the email below for an example of a turtle nesting notification that was sent out last year. Please provide your nesting notification in the same format as in the email below:
- Location: X; Species: X; Evidence: X; Date: X; Source: X; Comments: X
This will allow me to quickly copy and paste it into an email for everyone.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or suggestions for the group.
Thanks!
Heather
On 12-Jun-24 9:03 AM, Heather Fotherby wrote:
Hi All,
We have received the following notifications:
- Location: Frontenac County; Species: Midland Painted Turtle; Evidence: observed depositing eggs in nest; Date: May 30, 2024; Source: Jeff Leader, Brant for Turtles
- Location: Brant County; Species: Snapping Turtle; Evidence: nest with eggs; Date: June 2, 2024; Source: Jeff Leader, Brant for Turtles
- Location: City of Brantford; Species: Snapping Turtle; Evidence: nest with eggs; Date: June 3, 2024; Source: Jeff Leader, Brant for Turtles
Summary of First Observed Confirmed Nesting by Region/County and Date:
Happy Herping!
Heather