North side - 5/13/2020

May 13th, 2020 (Wednesday) 9:20 am – 11:00 am: I found 5 new dead newts, 2 of them were very small. They were all new, as I removed all dead newts 2 weeks earlier. The dead newt I left down the road 2 weeks ago was now gone.
The weather was a bit cool. It rained Saturday or Sunday night in San Jose.
Other roadkills - a bumblebee, honey bees, a darkling beetle, a dead butterfly, and a dead caterpillar.
Coverage: north part - the county park parking lot till the second stop sign.
Rainfall: (MTD: 0.43 in; YTD: 20.90 in). Data from - http://www.weathercat.net/wxraindetail.php
Traffic: 12 truck, 22 cars, 5 bikes, 9 pedestrians, 4 jets! (including a county parks pickups)
All county park parking lots were open, no street parking near the first County Park parking lot.

Posted on May 14, 2020 05:50 AM by merav merav

Comments

@merav, it's so late in the season and you're still finding dead newts - it's so overwhelmingly sad. I think people have lost interest due to COVID-19 and all the issues it brings along with it. The plight of the poor little newts has been overshadowed by covid.
You're a real trooper to stay with it this long.
Have you gained any insights into the roadkill situation for insects?

Posted by truthseqr almost 4 years ago

I was surprised to see 5 newts, including those two tiny juveniles.
Regarding the invertebrates - it's been interesting documenting them. The large millipedes and earthworms were replaced by butterfly adults and caterpillars, honey bees and bumblebees, and other random finds.
Interestingly, the snakes we started seeing towards the end of winter are gone. I thought they'd be more of them with time. I see lizards from time to time still.

I'm glad I'm still there, as I didn't expect to find any newts this time of the year, and it's interesting following the invertebrates. Well, it's also just nice being outside...

Posted by merav almost 4 years ago

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