Archivos de Diario para marzo 2020

miércoles, 04 de marzo de 2020

North side - 3/3/2020

March 3, 2020 (Wednesday) 9:00 am – 11:30 am: 1 freshly killed newt, and 7 more new ones.
The weather was nice and warm.
I've only included fresh-looking newts. 1 of them was killed this morning. I tried to remove (kick to shoulder) all newts that weren't attached. I need to check for duplicates, as it is so hard to tell whether they were killed two days ago or two weeks ago.
I saw at least 1 live newt in the little pond near Limekiln trailhead. Last year I saw newts there often, this year I think this was the 2nd or 3rd time I've seen them. I also went down to the lake near limekiln trailhead looking for newts, and saw none. I didn't see any water in the little creek there this year. Last year I saw newts there, mating.

Other roadkills - 2 toads, 1 Jerusalem cricket, 2 millipedes.
Coverage: north part - the county park parking lot till the second stop sign.
Rainfall: (MTD: 0.02 in; YTD: 15.21 in), nice and warm (25C). Data from - http://www.weathercat.net/wxraindetail.php
Traffic: 1 trucks, 29 cars (including 3 road-maintenance pickup trucks), 5 bikes, 2 bikes, 7 pedestrians.
Checking for duplicates:

Publicado el miércoles, 04 de marzo de 2020 a las 05:48 AM por merav merav | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

jueves, 05 de marzo de 2020

South/Aldercroft side - 3/4/2020

3/4/2020, 10:09am - 11:51am
Coverage: Aldercroft Heights Road intersection to second stop sign.

Newts: I didn't see any newts that looked even close to fresh. No live ones either.
Other roadkill: 1 mole, 1 orgy of boxelder bugs

Weather: Sunny, clear, warm, was up to 75F when I finished.
Rainfall: MTD 0.02in, YTD 15.21in (per http://www.weathercat.net/wxraindetail.php?year=2020)

Vehicles: 17
Bikes: 3

The bodies I found were very dry and mostly ratty too, and I was able to remove most of them and fling them to the side of the road. It will indeed be interesting to see what happens if it does actually rain this coming week (hope so!)

Lots of ceanothus blooming on the hillsides above the reservoir, smelled wonderful when the wind was just right.

Publicado el jueves, 05 de marzo de 2020 a las 03:47 PM por newtpatrol newtpatrol | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

martes, 10 de marzo de 2020

North side - 3/10/2020

March 10, 2020 (Tuesday) 9:00 am – 12:00 pm: 71 new dead newts, many of them fresh.
The weather was a bit cold, dry.
Following Saturday's rain, there were many freshly killed newts, in different stages of decomposition. I've only included ones that seemed fresh, so might have missed some of the older ones. I tried to remove all newts from the road. It was easier now to remove the very dry ones. I also removed the freshly killed ones, that were really gross. I was able to remove most of the newts, so next time would be easier to survey.
Other roadkills - 1 millipede, 1 earthworm, 1 moth.
Coverage: north part - the county park parking lot till the second stop sign.
Rainfall: (MTD: 0.23 in; YTD: 15.44 in). Data from - http://www.weathercat.net/wxraindetail.php
Traffic: 5 trucks, 31 cars (including maintenance pickup trucks, 1 by Midpen and 2 from the quarry), 14 bikes, 1 motorcycle, 8 pedestrians.

Publicado el martes, 10 de marzo de 2020 a las 10:39 PM por merav merav | 4 comentarios | Deja un comentario

jueves, 12 de marzo de 2020

South/Aldercroft side - 3/11/2020

Coverage: Aldercroft Heights Road intersection to second stop sign.
3/11/2020, 10:25am - 12:30pm

Dead newts: 165
Other critters: 1 dead frog

Vehicles: 13
Bikes: 10

Weather: Partly cloudy, warm. We got a little rain earlier in the week, so no surprise that so many newts were on the move.

Rainfall: MTD 0.34in, YTD 15.55in (per http://www.weathercat.net/wxraindetail.php?year=2020)

Wow, it was brutal today. Since I removed almost all of the newts seen recently, I'm sure that most of the ones seen today are new, and many looked definitely fresh. There were a few that were ratty crackers (maybe hard to remove last week), so I didn't count them, but did remove them if possible. I also removed all of the new ones posted today. I wonder if getting a homeopathic dose of their toxin makes us stronger.

Once again, by far most of the newts were found on the east side of the road, further away from the reservoir.

I'm behind in posting observations, but will get to it asap.

Publicado el jueves, 12 de marzo de 2020 a las 04:28 AM por newtpatrol newtpatrol | 4 comentarios | Deja un comentario

martes, 17 de marzo de 2020

North side - 3/17/2020

North side - 3/17/2020
March 17, 2020 (Tuesday) 9:30 am – 11:45 am: 2 live newts, 114 new dead newts, many of them fresh. 3 of them were tiny juveniles.
The weather was cold and sunny, a bit windy.
It has been raining in San Jose on Saturday-Monday, and everything was pretty wet. Some of the little creeks were flowing. There were many freshly killed newts. Since last time I was able to remove almost all dead newts from the road, most of the dead ones today were documented. Since they were wet, this time I was able remove ALL NEWTS. Next week all dead newts will be new.
I found a male newt crossing the road, from the lake to the hillside. I moved it to the other side... I saw another live newt in the little pool by the limekiln trailhead.
Other roadkills - many earthworms - I recorded only a few, 1 caterpillar, 1 centipede, 2 snakes.
Coverage: north part - the county park parking lot till the second stop sign.
Rainfall: (MTD: 1.91 in; YTD: 17.12 in). Data from - http://www.weathercat.net/wxraindetail.php
Traffic: 1 truck (not gravel, but came out of the quarry, and went west on ABR), 24 cars (including maintenance pickup trucks, 1 SJJJ), 4 bikes, 25 pedestrians.

Publicado el martes, 17 de marzo de 2020 a las 10:12 PM por merav merav | 6 comentarios | Deja un comentario

miércoles, 25 de marzo de 2020

South/Aldercroft side - 3/18/2020

Coverage: Aldercroft Heights Road intersection to stop sign.
9:11am - 11:00am

Dead newts: 46
Other critters: 1 dead worm
Live newts: 1 (silly thing was heading toward the reservoir)

Vehicles: 9
Bikes: 4
Pedestrians: 1

Weather: Partly cloudy, on the warm side, after several days with rain.
Rainfall: MTD 1.91in, YTD 17.12in (per http://www.weathercat.net/wxraindetail.php?year=2020)

The south side newts must have gotten their move on en masse the week before, I was pleasantly surprised to see so few this week. As before, I removed from the road all of the ones I recorded.

Publicado el miércoles, 25 de marzo de 2020 a las 04:35 AM por newtpatrol newtpatrol | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

North side - 3/25/2020

March 25, 2020 (Wednesday) 10:00 am – 11:50 am: 0 live newts, 66 new dead newts, a few juveniles.
The weather was nice and sunny. Started raining and hailing after I got back into the car!
There was some rain in the past few days, especially at night.
All newts observed today were new, as I removed everything last week. Today I also removed everything from the road.
Other roadkills - some earthworms, 2 millipedes, 1 acorn woodpecker - I saw it only on my way back, so was killed while I was on the road. Looked intact, but dead, on the lake side of the road.
Coverage: north part - the county park parking lot till the second stop sign.
Rainfall: (MTD: 2.69 in; YTD: 17.90 in). Data from - http://www.weathercat.net/wxraindetail.php
Traffic: 8 trucks, 39 cars (including County Parks maintenance pickup trucks), 4 bikes, 9 pedestrians.

Publicado el miércoles, 25 de marzo de 2020 a las 11:12 PM por merav merav | 2 comentarios | Deja un comentario

jueves, 26 de marzo de 2020

South/Aldercroft side - 3/25/2020

Coverage: Aldercroft Heights Road intersection to stop sign.
2:50pm - 4:35pm

Dead newts: 29

  • one juvenile (I've been putting a ruler in the photo with the small ones)
  • One live large spotted banana slug sliding across the road

Vehicles: 22
Bikes: 5
Pedestrians: 4

Weather: Chilly, some sprinkles, a bit of rain, mostly cloudy.
Rainfall: MTD 2.69in, YTD 17.9in (per http://www.weathercat.net/wxraindetail.php?year=2020)

Again, I removed all of the newts I recorded, except the first one, just spaced and got distracted.

It was nice to see a small patch of delphiniums blooming along the road. And I was amazed at how many (probably) Calochortus albus there are in patches, not flowering yet, but will be wonderful when they are.

Publicado el jueves, 26 de marzo de 2020 a las 05:09 AM por newtpatrol newtpatrol | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario