Jan 9, 2021 - North Side

January 9th (Saturday) 2021 08:15 am -11:34 am
Weather: 42F, mostly sunny

Documented 52 dead newts, 2 of which were juveniles. No live newts observed.
Did not find any dead newts on HTH survey sites since they were ahead of me. They did mention when they passed by that they found a few dead ones and 4 live males in the pitfall traps(all heading towards the water).

Other documented roadkill:
4 centipedes, 1 Jerusalem cricket, 1 moth

Also spotted a dead Western Screen Owl on the road(but it was not due to roadkill, it seemed this one fell out of the sky)

Documented human activity:
Moving Cars: 128
Pedestrian: 52
Bikes: 48
Motor bikes: 1
Trucks: 0
Parked cars: 71

Notes: The road had a lot of traffic today, can be because it was a sunny day but can also because I saw a lot of beginners on the row boats in the reservoir(Introductory session maybe)
3 hikers stopped and asked me about what I was doing. One person said he loves the newt patrol. One person said he had stayed in that area for more than 25 years and he used to see a lot of newts and cottontail rabbits but does not see them as often anymore. And he thought we were doing the lord's work documenting this tragedy. One hiker asked what should she do if she found a dead newt on a trail, I said just leave it as is since we are only documenting roadkill. She thought the HTH buckets were to dump dead newts.

Also I was scanning car tires for signs that deep treads might carry the newts some distance. And in one instance of a truck with huge tires, I found some evidence.
20210109-110714

20210109-110727

Link to all my observations:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2021-01-09&place_id=any&q=roadkill&user_id=karangattu&verifiable=any

Posted on January 9, 2021 11:35 PM by karangattu karangattu

Comments

128 cars?!? I'm glad you made it out in one piece. One Saturday I was out there with Anne there was crazy traffic heading to the boat club early in the morning. I think they attract a lot of traffic.
You had some interesting conversations there...
And amazing find with the car tires! Thanks for spending the time observing car tires. That's a great proof of what we've been saying for a while, that they don't stay on the road for long. Could you please share these photos with me? I'd like to save them with my files, and possibly use them for advocacy/ outreach.

Posted by merav about 3 years ago
Posted by karangattu about 3 years ago

Great work, @karangattu! Thanks for the photos of the newts on car/truck tires and for telling us about your conversations with folks along the road.
One Saturday in 2019, I sat in my car at the Limekiln trailhead and counted all cars that passed (in either lane) on Alma Bridge Rd. for one hour. I counted nearly 100 cars/hr. Most were parents taking their kids to rowing lessons at Los Gatos Rowing Club. Some were headed to the Sierra Azul trails to hike or bike. Many (most?) were speeding, not adhering to the 25 mph (15 mph around curves) posted speed limits. I remember writing in one of my journal posts: "Imagine what a little newt looks like after it's been run over by 100 cars!"

Also, thanks for including a link to all your observations. I really appreciate that, since it makes it easy to see the full day at a click & a glance.

Posted by truthseqr about 3 years ago

@merav, it sure would be helpful to have that traffic counter equipment still out there to record this surge in traffic.

Posted by truthseqr about 3 years ago

Thanks, @karangattu!

Posted by merav about 3 years ago

Wow, great detective work @karangattu! How awful to see the newt splash on the mud flaps, but great you were able to document it. I'm curious about the screech owl - if it looks like it fell from the sky and is on the road, perhaps it wasn't run over by a car but was hit mid-flight? I might consider documenting it as roadkill still, but it's up to you. Thanks for all your work on this! Y'all are awesome!

Posted by tyap about 3 years ago

@karangattu - I agree with @tyap. The owl could have been hit by a car while flying, and that would look different than being run over. I think if we find dead animals by/ on the road, they were probably killed by a car. We can mark them as roadkill, and we can always change that later if someone has a better argument. But it would be difficult to do the opposite - find those observations later and include them.

Posted by merav about 3 years ago

done. Added it to the CA state roadkill project - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/67818401
Feel free to add it to any other relevant projects

Posted by karangattu about 3 years ago

thanks - I've added it to the "other roadkill" project

Posted by merav about 3 years ago

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