The newts are here - Wednesday 11/18!
@tyap and I were there this morning, and we documented about 30 dead newts (many juveniles!) on the north section of the road. I'll upload all the observations later today, but I wanted to reach out to everyone and check if anyone is willing to go there and do the south section of the road today or tomorrow?
(@truthseqr) @sea-kangaroo, @anudibranchmom, @newtpatrol, @Joescience1
I'll share another post later with the data.
Kommentit
if anyone is planning on going, please write a comment here, and also add your name to the calendar. And make sure you don't remove any newts near the Midpen plots. There's just one in the south section. If you see dead newts next to it, take a photo, and note to yourself that it's by the plot, and leave it there. And please remove all other newts. Let me know if you have any questions!
I can go tomorrow, and maybe swing by San Jose to pick up a vest on my way, if that works for you. I'm going to try out my technologically advanced new Newt Spatula and see how that goes (a.k.a. paint scraper tied to a walking stick).
Just checking-- I think we're standardizing this year's photos to be rotated with the newts' heads pointing up?
That would be awesome, @sea-kangaroo! Yes, text me when you're on your way. I'll be home.
We used leaves and sticks today, and it worked just fine. The best thing about them is that you don't need to clean them... But whatever works for you - a spatula sounds very handy. I would try to push them into the vegetation, as far from the road as possible. A little bit gross, but it will make our work so much easier.
The Midpen study is orienting photos to the south side of the road, and I thought we could do the same. I don't think it matters much, as the phone will often reorient itself, and there's no way to remember that. I also think the position we find them might not be the one the way they died, if they were hit by another car/ moved by an animal/ not completely dead and then moving a bit more. I don't mind orienting the camera some way or another, just not sure it's that important.
Just went to add to the calendar and saw that Robin is on there for the south side this Friday. @anudibranchmom , are you going tomorrow?
Robin said she could go if no one else could do it today. I think it's better to go today, if you can go, @sea-kangaroo. (I already told Robin you're going today.) @anudibranchmom
We can start a discussion about next week - I'm hoping to be away for a few days, so we need two people to do the entire road in the middle of the week. Who's interested?
We don't usually celebrate holidays on the holiday itself, so I can go out next Wednesday or Thursday. I'll be out of town the week of Christmas (put it on the calendar), so can't do that one this year though.
I'm so sad to learn that 34 newts have died already. My heart cries for them.
I agree with @merav that the position you find the newts in post-mortem is not necessarily the way they were travelling prior to death.
When we were comparing corpses week over week (because I was originally told NOT to remove the bodies from the road by POST), it was helpful to have all the pictures oriented one way. But since you're removing the corpses, that doesn't apply any more. When I took photos with my camera, it was easy to crop and rotate them, but when you're taking pictures with a phone, the phone may auto-rotate like @merav pointed out. Seems like it's not worth the trouble to try to orient them in a specific way.
@joescience1 (seems the link didn't work in the first message in this thread)
@merav, I'm confused and curious... Why are there so many juveniles at the beginning of the migration? I thought they all migrated uphill at the end of last season and I expected they'd stay there until they matured. I was under the impression that they don't join the migration until they're adults and ready to breed.
Everyone (@merav, @sea-kangaroo, @newtpatrol, @anudibranchmom, @tyap) please remember to add the juvenile observations to the following project so we can track them. Thanks!
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/pacific-newts-dead-juveniles-lexington-reservoir
Tiffany (CBD) and I had a meeting with Cheryl S. Brehme, the newt expert from USGS. I asked her about all the juveniles - almost a third of the newts we found yesterday. She wasn't sure. In the past, she told me that juveniles travel back to the hills in the summer. That's part of the reason why I continued the surveys year-round. I haven't seen any newts since May, so this area might be too dry for them to migrate during the summer. Maybe because the lake holds water year-round, they can stay there until the first rain, when it's easier for them to travel. Another option is that they are simply out foraging.
I'll survey south side on Tuesday morning (added to Calendar).
That's great - so we've got next week covered, with @anudibranchmom and @sea-kangaroo. Thank you!
@sea-kangaroo - did the spatula work? did you find any newts?
We need a photo of the Newt Spatula! :-)
I did, I still have to get photos off of my second card (and tag and add everything), but I think I found 30-40 dead newts, some pretty fresh. ~10 were juveniles. I was there later in the day so I think midpen had already cleared out their study plot and buckets because there wasn't anything at all in their area.
My spatula was temporarily decommissioned to actually scrape paint on a sudden house repair so I just used a gloved hand this time, but even just after one dry day they were getting a bit hard to peel up so definitely going to try next time! I'll send a pic when I reassemble.
Oh yeah, and I think I need some box next to my name checked to be able to post in this year's project journal.
I made you a curator, I think it should work now. Let me know if it doesn't.
Lisää kommentti