North section - 12/21/2023
Thursday, 9:20-11:35 pm. 138 dead newts, no live ones
Weather: Cold. We got heavy rain the day before in San Jose.
Coverage: Jones trailhead to the second stop sign. I walked with Keith.
I documented 138 dead newts, many of them were fresh, others had faded in the rain. At least 13 were juveniles. 58 newts (4 juveniles) were found on the hill side of the road, and 81 (9 juveniles) on the reservoir side.
Other roadkill: Santa Cruz Black salamander, millipedes, centipedes, wasp, banana slugs.
Traffic - 41 cars, 13 trucks (including County Parks, County Roads, construction), 1 motorcycle, 10 bikes, 14 pedestrians, 20 parked cars (3 cars at the farther parking lot).
My observations of the day - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?captive=any&on=2023-12-21&place_id=any&user_id=merav&verifiable=any
Comentarios
@merav, I realize the rainy season started later this year and we've had less overall rain, but the counts for this year are way below last year:
In Nov 23, there were 403 vs 1262 last year
In Dec 23, there were 724 vs 1412 last year
So many juveniles have been killed this year: about 40% of the total
Where are all the adults?
This is alarming!
I agree. Did we do fewer surveys?
Possibly fewer surveys this year, because the rainy season started later. Still...
Chileno Valley folks have noticed a lot more juveniles this year. Not sure if it's the same for our newt population.
Just seems like there are significantly fewer adults, and the ones you all have documented are smaller in size (younger) than in previous years. Very few really big ones (i.e., old ones).
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