Western Pond Turtle (Actinemys marmorata)
Last Modified: October 17th, 2014 - 11:33 AM Entered by: Robert and Nicholas Hess
Record 52935
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Country: United States |
State: California |
County: Los Angeles County |
Time: 2010-08-21 17:15:00 |
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Qty: 1 |
Age: Adult |
Sex: -- |
Method: Visual encounter |
Habitat: canyon stream bed |
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Body Temperature: ----- |
Air Temperature: 85.00F |
Ground Temperature: ----- |
Humidity: ----- |
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Sky Conditions: Clear |
Moon Phase: Waxing Gibbous |
Elevation: ----- |
Barometric Pressure: ----- |
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Notes
The GPS entry is approximate, as we also did not have a GPS with us that day. But it should be within 300 feet.
Unfortunately there are also no voucher shots because this was an unplanned herping trip (in part because we were not really permitted to stop and hike in the burn area).
But the turtle we found was definitely a Western pond turtle, about 7-8 inches long. The person with me, Edwin Tucker, told me he had seen Western pond turtles at the same spot before prior to the big fire of 2009. He was very glad to see that at least this one specimen had survived the fire.
In general, the streambed looked quite healthy and alive despite the fire. We also found 6 thamnophis hammondii of all sizes and one juvenile pseudacris hypochondriaca in a timeframe of about an hour. Those records have been entered separately.
Note added on 6-14-2012: We recently vouchered a WPT at the same general location. See Record 110242.