Female Diamondback Terrapin Basking in Sippican Harbor
Turtle Journal’s Sue Wieber Nourse spotted the first diamondback terrapins basking in Sippican Harbor off Buzzards Bay on the South Coast of Massachusetts at low tide on Thursday afternoon, March 22nd. An early spring emergence for diamondback terrapins in the Great White North.
First 2012 Basking Terrapin in Sippican Harbor
On Friday, Sue paddled her kayak back to Sippican Harbor. She discovered a half dozen active terrapins, including a male and female pair. Amazing; the water is still cool to the touch, these turtles have just woken from six months of slumber, their biological systems are still trying to adjust, yet IT’S SPRINGTIME! And in spring, as Alfred Lord Tennison tried to teach us, a young turtle’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.