South section - 2/8/2023

Wednesday, 9:30-12:30 pm. 0 live newts, 163 dead newts.
Weather: Started cold, then warm. It was raining over the weekend, by now most newts were very dry, and it was difficult to ID the other amphibians.
Coverage: Aldercroft Heights intersection to the first stop sign. I walked with Kat.
Newts: we had 163 dead newts, at least 30 of them juveniles, many very small. 84 of the newts were found on the reservoir side, and 79 on the hill side.
Other roadkills: millipede, Jerusalem cricket, 4 unknown amphibians - 2 probably tree frogs, another one very large, maybe a bullfrog.
Traffic: 40 cars, 10 trucks, 0 motorcycles, 9 bikes, 0 pedestrians, 2 parked cars. County Parks and Midpen trucks, a tractor and a pickup from County Roads, doing some work near Soda Spring int.
Idylwild Rd was blocked again on the way back, Old Santa Cruz Hwy still blocked in a couple of places...
We had a couple of conversations about the newts - with County Roads and some kids.

My observations of the day - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2023-02-08&place_id=any&user_id=merav&verifiable=any

Posted on February 10, 2023 02:35 AM by merav