Top Photo: Three of five sets of new turtle perches in Wetlands.

With our changing wetlands and growing turtle population, basking perches for our resident turtles are at a premium. As old snags and logs that used to be in the wetlands rotted and decayed it’s become tough for a turtle to find a place to sun itself. It’s sometimes a tight squeeze for our aquatic turtles.

A half a dozen years ago, I tossed in a 10’ pine log and anchored it to the bottom with a cinder block. It was about a foot in diameter. It lasted a season or two before it sank to the bottom. You can still see it from the Main Wetlands Overlook when the water’s low.

My log usually held only one turtle at a time, rarely two. The problem? When one turtle tried to climb aboard as another basked, the log would roll, knocking the basker into the water. The solution, lash two or three smaller diameter logs together to minimize roll.

Thanks to our crack exhibits team, specifically Tech Jill and Fabricator Andrew, that’s exactly what happened. We now have five sets of logs ready for turtle basking.

Here’s some photos of our new turtle perches.

The turtles seem to have taken to their new basking logs with a vengeance.