January 26, 2021 - North side

January 26, 2021 (Tuesday), 9:00am - 11:15am
Coverage: (Note this is different) Los Gatos rowing club to second stop sign.

8 dead newts, 0 juveniles, 0 live newts.

Other roadkill: one millipede, one worm (I bet @merav logged the worm)

Weather: Chilly, around 50F, mostly sunny to start, with clouds moving in, as a storm system approaches (yay! but hopefully not too much all at once...)

Traffic: 16 cars; 3 bikes; 5 quarry trucks; 1 pedestrian (a very quiet day)

Merav and I started off together at Jones, flagging newts on the first mile of road between Jones and the Los Gatos rowing club for the how-many-are-disappearing experiment. She documented those newts and did the other half of the flagging, while I continued on to do the rest of the usual mid-week survey.

One interesting thing happened regarding the experiment. On my return trip, I checked the flagged newts to see if anything had changed already. I could not find one of the newts that Merav flagged (#16), just looking around the area I'd expect to find it. Looked further to find that it was on the other side and a bit down the road. It was a newt cracker, so easily blown around. While we were texting about how to handle such an event, a quarry truck came along and disappeared the newt, at least from the larger surrounding area I looked for it afterward. So right there may have happened the very thing we're studying.

I had postulated that not a large number of newts disappear, based on their toxicity and being ground into the pavement, such that we generally need to peel them off. But then there are, of course, other circumstances (like getting stuck to tires), along with those who go through enough of a dry phase to turn into crackers and can simply blow away, like this one.

Julkaistu tammikuu 27, 2021 03:38 AP. käyttäjältä newtpatrol newtpatrol

Kommentit

Here's the data for the first mile - we had 23 newts in total, all were added to this (2021) project. They were also added to the new newt project - https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/pacific-newts-roadkill-survival-study-lexington-reservoir
Is the traffic data for the entire duration of your walk?
I need to upload the other roadkills. I had a moth, a centipede, and a worm.

Lähettänyt merav noin 3 vuotta sitten

@merav Yes, this is the traffic data for the entire walk, including the first mile.

Lähettänyt newtpatrol noin 3 vuotta sitten

@newtpatrol, I remember in the winter of 2018-2019, there were hundreds of newts on the road one weekend, but by Wed the street was completely clear, as if a street sweeper had passed by - no newts! They must've all blown away in the wind. (This was before the team decided to remove the carcasses, so they'd typically accumulate so that hundreds would be there are one time.)

(Sat 1/19/19) https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/pacific-newt-roadkill-lexington-reservoir/journal/20949-268-dead-no-live-ones-seen-total-death-toll-2-040
"I found 268 fresh newt carcasses"

(Wed 1/23/19) https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/pacific-newt-roadkill-lexington-reservoir/journal/21042-no-fresh-carcasses-found
"Large sections of the road were completely clear of carcasses, as if the road had been swept clean (perhaps by the last heavy rain or heavy winds). "

Lähettänyt truthseqr noin 3 vuotta sitten

Thanks, @newtpatrol.
@truthseqr - we saw the road scraper today at the south section. They clear the road after the rain, probably removing some of the newts. I wonder if he removed some of our marked newts in the north section.

Lähettänyt merav noin 3 vuotta sitten

Darn! There's always something...

Lähettänyt truthseqr noin 3 vuotta sitten

I know! the guy was very friendly, though...

Lähettänyt merav noin 3 vuotta sitten

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