Dec 20 - South side
New system worked great: Two 3" Post-it Notes in the pocket for the dual purpose of measurement and color-coding the post-photo carcass status. Design flaw: For next time, I'll laminate them like a luggage tag so they don't blow around as much, and attach them to my paint scraper.
50 dead newts (all adults by the new definition), 0 juveniles, 0 live newts.
December 20, 2020 (Sunday) ~10-12 am
Weather: Dry and sunny in the mid 50s. No rain for many days.
Other roadkill: Flat skunk still there, though now missing head and disintegrating fast.
Coverage: Aldercroft parking to first stop sign
Rainfall: MTD 1.85", YTD 2.75" (per http://www.weathercat.net/wxraindetail.php?year=2021)
Traffic: Busy! Details:
- 19 bicyclists, including two different pairs of folks who stopped me to chat about the newt project for ~10 minutes. They're very supportive and loathe the speeders as much as we do for obvious reasons.
- 2 electric bicycles
- ONE GUY ON A UNICYCLE! :-)
- 41 cars (is this a record?), most at normal speeds except an Audi and a Lexus speeding. And my first sighting of the new electric Mustang.
- 4 parked cars.
Zero commercial trucks.
Pit traps: Empty.
Comments
@anudibranchmom, you devised a neat system. It makes it very clear which newts are in the Midpen/HTH study zone. Thanks!
At least 3 of the newts look like juveniles to me (i.e., SVL < 2 inches):
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/66853289
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/66853281
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/66853051
@anudibranchmom - great system! I thought of using an old notebook, but I agree that laminating is a good idea. I'll have to figure out something.
Sounds like you had an interesting morning!
@merav, for what it's worth, the ruler you & @karan used last time made it very easy to differentiate juveniles from adults and get measurements. The 4-inch ruler is perfect - if the newt is longer than the total length, it's an adult; otherwise, it's a juvenile. Maybe you can laminate your ruler so it holds up for 5 months.
the ruler is already laminated, but I was thinking I need so note system to show whether I'm next to a HTH site or not. I like how clear it is to figure out what @anudibranchmom meant just by looking at her photos.
@truthseqr I've change the annotations for those three observations.
Ok. Super. Thanks!
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