The Wood Turtle, Glyptemys insculpta, at River Denys: A Second Population for Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia

Abstract

The Wood Turtle, Glyptemys insculpta, population at River Denys, Inverness County, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, was unknown except locally until listed in a provincial survey in 1995. Subsequently a hatchling was photographed at McLennan Brook on 17 September 1999, and three adult males were photographed between 14 and 19 September 2000. Two adult females were photographed at South Side River Denys on 18 June 2001. An excavated nest and empty egg shells were located at the same time on a stony-gravel bank at the outflow of McLennan Brook, and one sub-adult male was found at the edge of a hay field on 19 August 2001. Additional observations made of a nesting site and five basking sites, mostly along the main branch of River Denys, provide further evidence that a breeding population of Wood Turtles exists in River Denys watershed.