Submitted by Kelsey Bowles
On a snowy Saturday at the end of February, Turtle Trackers and Parks Canada staff gathered at the Parks Canada Visitor Centre in Tobermory to shell-ebrate the hard work of volunteers for the 2025 field season. A “Soup & Suncatchers” workshop was held where participants made stained glass turtle suncatchers and enjoyed soup for lunch, while meeting other volunteers and chatting about the season.
Who are the Turtle Trackers?
During the spring, female turtles are searching for suitable nesting sites to lay their eggs. The Turtle Trackers collect data and monitor “hotspots” within the Bruce Peninsula National Park for nesting activity. When they see a nesting turtle or new nest, they install a protective cage over top of it. This protects the fragile turtle eggs from being eaten by animals like raccoons and skunks. The data collected from the Turtle Trackers also helps Parks Canada better understand nesting locations and turtle activity. Monitoring and protecting nests are crucial to protecting turtle populations.
Bruce Peninsula National Park would like to acknowledge the importance of the Turtle Tracker program and thank all participants. The joint effort between Parks Canada staff and this dedicated team has led to about 700 nest box installations to protect vulnerable turtle nests since the program’s inception in 2017. We look forward to the upcoming season!
If you are interested in joining the Turtle Trackers volunteers, please reach out to r2r@pc.gc.ca.
