Journal archives for March 2023

March 5, 2023

March 3, 2023 - North Segment

I surveyed from 9:04 to 11:34 am. The weather was sunny, 41° to 48° F, with light winds of 5 mph from the SE.

I found zero live or injured newts and 196 dead newts. Two dead newts were juveniles, the rest were adult. Just 51 newts were on the uphill side, 145 newts were on the reservoir side. Most of the carcasses were dried out, even a few desiccated. Very few fresh kills.

There were 42 cars, 5 trucks, 12 bicyclists, and 1 pedestrian. One of the bicyclists checked in about the count as he biked past.

Posted on March 5, 2023 04:47 PM by molly2 molly2 | 0 comments | Leave a comment

March 9, 2023

South section - 3/8/2023

Wednesday, 9:40-12:30 pm. 0 live newts, ?? dead newts.
Weather: cold, rained a bit, then nice, then cold....
Coverage: Aldercroft Heights intersection to the first stop sign. I walked with Kat.
Newts: we had ?? dead newts, a few of them juveniles, including very small ones. I had 43 of the newts on the reservoir side, and 28 on the hill side.
Other roadkills: a toad, and some kind of a frog.
Traffic: 27 cars, 5 trucks (SJJJ, Midpen), 0 motorcycles, 0 bikes, 8 pedestrians, 3 parked cars.
The running guys asked us what we were doing, and thanked us for helping the newts!
My observations of the day - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2023-03-08&place_id=any&user_id=merav&verifiable=any

Posted on March 9, 2023 02:44 AM by merav merav | 5 comments | Leave a comment

March 10, 2023

North section - 3/10/2023

Friday, 9:10-11:15 am. no live newts, 87 dead newts.
Weather: raining most of the time, very wet. The road was overflowing with water, and waterfalls everywhere, with some landslides in different sections. Before I finished the survey I heard the trucks fixing the largest landslide, just before Priest Rock trailhead.
Coverage: Jones trailhead to the second stop sign. I walked alone.
87 dead newts, 22 on the hill side, 65 on the reservoir side, including 2 juveniles. Many newts have been there for a few days, others were very fresh. I felt like I just missed some of them. I kept looking for live newts, but haven't seen any.
Other roadkills: Jerusalem crickets, earthworms. a tree frog, a bullfrog, and 2 large toads. One of the toads was right after the dam's parking lot, on the reservoir side. It was freshly killed. I wanted to document it on my way back, but it was gone. Maybe an animal took it?
Traffic - 19 cars, 12 trucks (including small firetrucks, County roads, Midpen, and county parks), 0 motorcycles, 0 bikes, 0 pedestrians, 3 parked cars (1 car at the farther parking lot).
My observations of the day - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2023-03-10&place_id=any&user_id=merav&verifiable=any

Posted on March 10, 2023 11:05 PM by merav merav | 0 comments | Leave a comment

March 16, 2023

South section - 3/15/2023

Wednesday, 9:30-12:20 pm. 0 live newts, ?? dead newts.
Weather: very cold
Coverage: Aldercroft Heights intersection to the first stop sign. I walked with Kat.
Newts: we had ?? dead newts, a few of them juveniles, including very small ones again. I had 14 of the newts on the reservoir side, and 24 on the hill side.
Other roadkills: toads, earthworms, millipedes, Jerusalem crickets, centipedes, a slug.
Traffic: 42 cars, 7 trucks (carrying tractors to clear the road), 3 motorcycles, 7 bikes, 0 pedestrians, 3 parked cars.
One of the neighbors was very interested to hear about the newts!
My observations of the day - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2023-03-15&place_id=any&user_id=merav&verifiable=any
@bloominkat - add your numbers here -

Posted on March 16, 2023 04:47 AM by merav merav | 0 comments | Leave a comment

March 20, 2023

Friday, March 17 - North Section

I surveyed with Merav from 9:03 - 11:10 am. The weather was 48° F to start but warmed up to 66° F. We documented 117 dead newts, no live newts, though a pedestrian reported one further up the road. 6 of the newts were juvenile, the rest adult.

48 newts were on the uphill side and 54 on the reservoir side

There were 39 cars, 13 trucks, 9 bicyclists, 4 pedestrian, and a motorcyclist. Two local residents stopped to talk. They've been rescuing newts along their residential road off of Alma Bridge Road and sounded like they were often successful!

Other roadlkill seen were millipedes, earthworms, and slender salamanders.

@Merav please edit with your observations and thanks for walking with me! - done.

Merav's observations of the day - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2023-03-17&place_id=any&user_id=merav&verifiable=any
My favorite part was the beautiful animal tracks, including newts, we saw on the mud near the dam . There were also tadpoles and very loud frogs - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?nelat=37.20108312447242&nelng=-121.98719153930591&on=2023-03-17&place_id=any&swlat=37.20056183397921&swlng=-121.98786209155963&user_id=merav&verifiable=any

Posted on March 20, 2023 12:08 AM by molly2 molly2 | 0 comments | Leave a comment

March 23, 2023

North section - 3/22/2023

Wednesday, 9:20-11:30 am. no live newts, ?? dead newts.
Weather: light rain from time to time, a bit cold. Very wet all around.
Coverage: Jones trailhead to the second stop sign. I walked with Kat.
I had 35 newts, 9 on the hill side, 26 on the reservoir side, including at least 1 juvenile.
Other roadkills: earthworms. a large toad, a bird.
Traffic - 68 cars, 13 trucks (including County Roads, SJJJ), 0 motorcycles, 0 bikes, 9 pedestrians, 10 parked cars (0 cars at the farther parking lot).
Traffic was doubled the usual, probably because Eldercroft Heights Rd is now closed (since 3/21), and the entire community living at the south end of ABR will need to leave the area by driving the entire length of ABR. This is really bad news, adding so many cars a day to the road, including the residents, all the utilities, deliveries, etc... Unfortunately, it will take a long time to fix the road.
My observations of the day - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2023-03-22&place_id=any&user_id=merav&verifiable=any
Kat's observations of the day -

Posted on March 23, 2023 02:15 AM by merav merav | 6 comments | Leave a comment

March 26, 2023

South section - 3/24/2023

Friday, 9:15-12:00 pm. 0 live newts, 145 dead newts. We had a much higher number of newts, and a high number of juveniles.
Weather: cold
Coverage: the first stop sign to Aldercroft Heights intersection. I walked with Molly.
Newts: we had 145 dead newts, with many juveniles this time, including many tiny ones. We had 45 of the newts on the hill side (5 juveniles), and 100 (39 juveniles) on the reservoir side.
Other roadkills: Santa Cruz Black Salamander, a toad, frogs, earthworms, many large millipedes, a beetle, a caterpillar.
Traffic: 93 cars, 37 trucks (Many County Roads trucks), 0 motorcycles, 8 bikes, 0 pedestrians, 5 parked cars.
These numbers reflect the road closure, forcing the entire community living by the road to use ABR to leave the area. There were no parked cars (other than a few trucks), no users of that section of the road. The north section was different - a few cars in the Miller parking lot, several cars by each trail head, reflecting the nice weather.
We spoke with a couple of County Roads people about the newts and the conditions of the road.
My observations of the day - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2023-03-24&place_id=any&user_id=merav&verifiable=any
Molly's observations of the day - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2023-03-24&place_id=any&user_id=molly2&verifiable=any

Posted on March 26, 2023 03:51 PM by merav merav | 0 comments | Leave a comment

March 30, 2023

South section - 3/30/2023

Thursday, 9:15-11:35 am. 0 live newts, 61 dead newts.
Weather: cold. Finally no rain :)
Coverage: the first stop sign to Aldercroft Heights intersection. I walked with Keith.
Newts: we had 61 dead newts, with a few more juveniles. We had 22 of the newts on the hill side (1 juvenile), and 39 (8 juveniles) on the reservoir side.
Other roadkills: a toad, earthworms.
Traffic: 89 cars, 22 trucks (Many County Roads trucks, County Parks), 1 motorcycle, 6 bikes, 0 pedestrians, 6 parked cars.
This statement is still important -
These numbers reflect the road closure, forcing the entire community living by the road to use ABR to leave the area. There were no parked cars (other than a few trucks), no users of that section of the road. The north section was different - a few cars in the Miller parking lot, several cars by each trail head, reflecting the nice weather.
My observations of the day - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?locale=en&on=2023-03-30&place_id=any&preferred_place_id=1&user_id=merav&verifiable=any

Posted on March 30, 2023 11:25 PM by merav merav | 0 comments | Leave a comment