Blanding’s turtle
(𝑬𝒎𝒚𝒅𝒐𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒂 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒊)
Conservation Status: Endangered in Maine

Photo Credit: USFWS/National Digital Library

Facts: If you live in York or Cumberland County and visit vernal pools in the spring, you may be lucky enough to spot one of these rarely seen Blanding’s turtles feasting on amphibian eggs and larvae, insects, worms and plant material upon emerging from hibernation. It may seem like an overindulgence, but Blanding’s turtles consume the bulk of their annual food requirements in May and June alone! Once full, Blanding’s turtles travel overland between small, acidic wetlands, and sometimes larger marshes and swamps. Typically, in mid-June females move up to 1 mile away from the wetlands to find sandier soils in gardens, pastures and road edges with sun exposure in order to build their nests. Often it is near these roadside nests that we see the highest adult mortality rates for all of Maine’s rare turtles, including Blanding’s, due to car strikes. These roadside nests are also easily spotted by predators and often graded by summer roadwork crews, leading to low survival rates. Roads also create habitat fragmentation, further isolating small groups and putting populations at risk. Blanding’s turtles can live to be more than 75 years of age with female sexual maturity not occurring until 14 to 20 years of age; therefore, the loss of even a few adults in any given year can lead to long-term decline of a pocket population.

What we can do to help: Encourage your municipality to conserve vernal pools and Blanding’s turtle habitat by limiting building permits that can degrade wetlands (ie. dredging, filling); also, request that your town avoid paving and road widening projects near known turtle habitat during spring and summer months.

Sources: https://www.maine.gov/ifw/docs/endangered/blandingsturtle_72_73.pdf, https://www.fws.gov/international/cites/cop16/blandings-turtle.html