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.
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The injured ones are so heart-breaking. I hate to see them suffer. I'm surprised that there are still so many dead newts after a month or more of no rain. Very curious!
Wow, 76 cars on a weekday!?
I can't access the video, but I'd guess it's related to how lizard tails keep twitching on their own when separated from the lizard. I'm not sure exactly which cue stimulates the tail to wriggle, but if it's something like cessation of blood circulation or nerve impulses from the main body, then the body dying might seem the same as tail loss from the tail's perspective.
Oh, sorry, I thought I made the video public. It might be now, but yes, I'm sure that the phenomenon I saw was what you describe, @sea-kangaroo. Somewhat recently I saw two crows huddling over a live lizard in my yard, I disrupted their advances, the lizard dropped their tail and skedaddled to live another day, the tail sat there twitching, and I'm pretty sure ultimately got snatched up by one of the crows, since it wasn't there when I returned.
wow, this is really horrible. Thanks for documenting.
And I'm also surprised there are still so many newts out. I'm glad we're still out there as well.
Thank you - @newtpatrol, @anudibranchmom, @sea-kangaroo!
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