Pacific Newt Roadkill: 5,293 dead
April 8, 2019 (Monday)
I'm done. Today will be my last roadkill survey for the 2018-2019 newt migration season. There were only 8 carcasses for the past 5 days, so it looks like the migration season has just about ended.
TOTAL DEAD: 5,293
This season (2018-2019): 4,822
2017-2018 Season: 471
Other roadkill: 67 (21 Species)
Data collection days: 51
Special thanks to @merav and @biohexx1 for walking the beat with me and helping to collect data for this gruesome project.
Important lessons learned:
• Pacific Newts don’t just come out on rainy nights. A significant number of them are out and about during the daytime. Also, some of the highest roadkill numbers occurred when there had been no rainfall for several days.
• Similar carnage is probably happening throughout the Santa Cruz Mountains wherever a road bisects the newts’ habitat.
• The government is very slow to take action. A lot of public pressure is required to get them to take any action at all. There’s a lot of politics involved. Ugh!
Comentarios
Thank you for this data. I wish I was able to present it in September.
h.
Thank you for doing this, Anne. I will try to do a couple more, to make sure they are all gone. I hope I won't find any.
Merav
That's great, @merav! I just can't do it any more.
@biohexx1, does that mean you definitely can't do it? I'll try to find someone else.
I will not be able to do it. I need to teach on Mondays, and a Sunday presentation wouldn't get me back in time.
I just joined iNaturalist, and I would like to help with the Lexington newt project if I can. I would need some guidance, though. I haven't been to that area in years -- wondering if there are signs that tell drivers to slow down (for what that's worth). Also wondering about safety precautions for me if I'm on the road making observations. I'll go to the area and take a look. Thinking some newts might cross due to this rainy spell (writing this on May 17). I saw one last night in my yard in Corralitos.
The county put up newt signs about 2.5 months. There are ineffective. The newts are so small that people can't see them when theyre driving 35+mph. It would be wise to wear an orange/reflective vest since there is no roa-shoulder in most places.
Thank you, biohexx1. I definitely intend to wear a vest. I'll go in the next few days and report what I see.
When I wrnt with @truthseqr , we went pretty early to avoid the traffic.
@erfert, did you see any newts during the rainy week? I haven't been back since April 8th.
Añade un comentario