Journal archives for April 2021

April 7, 2021

Tuesday 4/6/2021 - south section

Tuesday 8:00-10:00 am: 45 dead newts, 1 live newt!
Cynthia C. and I walked together, documenting both sides of the road at the same time (I did the reservoir side first).
Weather - Cold, nice. Last rain - 3/18-19. Rain MTD 1.82 in, YTD 11.56 in per http://www.weathercat.net/wxraindetail.php
I documented a total of 23 dead newts (updated number, after removing a duplicate), all very dry, all adults. Cynthia documented 22 newts, two of them fresh.
We were surprised to see one newt crossing the road from the hill to the reservoir. It was alive but injured. Its tail was injured, and it had a bit of blood on its face and body. It was walking fine. Probably got hit by a bike. It was added to the injured newt project only.
Other roadkills: caterpillars, crickets, Jerusalem cricket, a fence lizard.
Coverage: from Aldercroft Heights Rd to the first stop sign.
Traffic: 2 trucks, 18 cars, 1 bike, 3 pedestrians, and 3 cars parked by the road.
The HTH array #6 has been removed (they were supposed to end their study by the end of March).
A link to all my newt observations of the day - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2021-04-06&place_id=any&taxon_id=27816&user_id=merav&verifiable=any
@sea-kangaroo - how many newts did you record? I'll update my numbers when you'll have time to upload (take your time...)

Posted on April 7, 2021 01:20 AM by merav merav | 3 comments | Leave a comment

April 6, 2021 - North side

April 6, 2021 (Tuesday), 2:30-3:50pm

27 dead newts (0 juveniles), no live newts.
2 dead fence lizards, one of which may be juvenile; 1 dead (ground?) squirrel

Weather: Warm, mid 70s, clear, has been dry for way too long.

Traffic: 43 moving vehicles, 11 parked, 1 quarry truck, 8 bicycles, 0 pedestrians

Two cyclists passed twice. The first time, one shouted "newts for lunch!", the second time he shouted "Newt Gingrich!"

And I see that HTH's setups are gone.

Posted on April 7, 2021 03:37 AM by newtpatrol newtpatrol | 2 comments | Leave a comment

April 14, 2021

April 13, 2021 - North side

April 13, 2021 (Tuesday), 2:30-4:15pm (including a short detour up Priest Rock)

36 dead newts (0 juveniles), no live newts.
5 dead fence lizards, two of which may be juvenile

Weather: Warm, mid 70s, clear, has been dry for WAY too long.

Traffic: 76 moving vehicles, 14 parked, 0 quarry trucks, 3 bicycles, 7 pedestrians

Most of the newts were very dry, yet several notably fresher.

Not sure what was up with all the traffic today, there was a lot more than usual on a weekday. At least some of it seemed to be related to the rowing club, maybe they've got Tuesday classes on now?

And now for something gory and sad. I encountered what seemed to be a very freshly-killed fence lizard, still in 3d, whose tail was twitching, although I'm pretty sure (hope) the lizard was actually dead. It was creepy enough that for some reason I had to take a quick video before the next vehicle came - here it is (I don't blame you at all for not watching it): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-XmZiiHVbqc4Nw5_R3h024DIdWYdcaxN/view?usp=sharing. And indeed, the next vehicle came soon and put the lizard fully out of its misery.

Posted on April 14, 2021 05:08 AM by newtpatrol newtpatrol | 4 comments | Leave a comment

April 16, 2021

Friday 4/16 - South side

Nice walk with Cynthia this morning. The road crew was laying down fresh asphalt on another section today.
My half of our joint report:
10 newts (only 2 even vaguely fresh)
1 Variable Checkerspot butterfly
0 weirdos
Have a nice weekend everyone.

Posted on April 16, 2021 07:56 PM by anudibranchmom anudibranchmom | 2 comments | Leave a comment

April 22, 2021

Wednesday 4/21 - South Side

Nice walk with Merav today - loved seeing the oak community creatures!

My half of the report:
13 Newts: all adults, mostly T. granulosa, and reasonably fresh
1 Western Fence Lizard, 1 Tylobolus
AND one rarity - a Santa Cruz Black Salamander. Adult, about 3" long, nice fat tail indicating good health until struck by vehicle.
More repaving continues.

Posted on April 22, 2021 01:26 AM by anudibranchmom anudibranchmom | 1 comment | Leave a comment

April 27, 2021

April 27, 2021 - North side

April 27, 2021 (Tuesday), 2:15-3:45pm

31 dead newts (0 juveniles), no live newts.
No other dead critters

Weather: Warm, mid 70s, clear, had a light sprinkle on Sunday.

Traffic: 52 moving vehicles, 16 parked, 1 quarry truck, 8 bicycles, 0 pedestrians

All newts were very dry, some very hard to remove from the asphalt. Not much else to report.

Posted on April 27, 2021 11:15 PM by newtpatrol newtpatrol | 0 comments | Leave a comment

April 28, 2021

Wednesday 4/28/2021 - south section

Wednesday 9:30-11:40 am: we had ??? dead newts, no live newt!
Tiffany and I walked together, documenting both sides of the road at the same time (I did the reservoir side first).
Weather - nice. Last rain - Rained a little bit on Saturday-Sunday. Rain MTD 0.11 in, YTD 11.67 in per http://www.weathercat.net/wxraindetail.php
I documented a total of 13 dead newts , all very dry, all adults? 2 were considerably smaller. Tiffany had ?? newts.
Other roadkills: tiger moths, including a mating pair, a scorpion, beetle.
Coverage: from Aldercroft Heights Rd to the first stop sign.
Traffic: unusual high traffic due to the road paving ongoing event: 7 trucks, 31 cars, 1 motorcycle, 1 bike, 11 pedestrians, and 21 cars parked by the road.
My newt observations of the day - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2021-04-28&place_id=any&taxon_id=27816&user_id=merav&verifiable=any

Posted on April 28, 2021 09:43 PM by merav merav | 0 comments | Leave a comment

April 29, 2021

Wednesday 4/28/2021 - south section (part 2)

Wed 9:30-11:40am
Weather - nice. Last rain - Rained a little bit on Saturday-Sunday. Rain MTD 0.11 in, YTD 11.67 in per http://www.weathercat.net/wxraindetail.php

Walked with Merav, who took all the traffic/ped/bikes/other roadkill data.

Documented 9 dead newts, all adults, all dry. Adding Merav's 13 dead newts that makes a total of 22 dead newts for the day. Lots of repaving activity happening on the road.

My newt observations of the day:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2021-04-28&place_id=any&user_id=tyap

Posted on April 29, 2021 05:00 AM by tyap tyap | 0 comments | Leave a comment