73 Dead; 2 Alive; Total Death Toll: 1,672

January 14, 2019 (Monday)
I returned to check on the dead newts I marked for studying the decomposition rate (I put a dot of purple nail polish near them so I could tell them apart from the hundreds of other carcasses on the road).

I covered as much of the road as I could in the 2 hours I had available. I spot-checked parts of Alma Bridge Rd. between Douglas B. Miller Memorial Point and Aldercroft Heights Rd. I also walked the entire length of the road between Los Gatos Rowing Club and Vulcan quarry entrance.

There were 65 newly dead newts (bright orange/yellow belly and/or bright red blood). There were also lots of decomposing carcasses, many of which are now just a slimy mushy splat on the road. I didn't photograph all of them - it takes too long to make the necessary comparisons with previous observations to ensure no duplicates are added to the project. I ended up adding 7 decomposed observations for a total of 73 dead.

This means I am likely under-reporting the deaths on the road by quite a significant amount. I do what I can with the time I have.

See: https://www.inaturalist.org/calendar/truthseqr/2019/1/14 (photos of dead newts submitted in groups of 10 per observation)

I saw two healthly newts on the road this morning heading toward the reservoir. I helped both across the road. On closer inspection of the picture, I noticed that one of the newts had an injured tail.

Rainfall: there has been 0.07 inches of rain since I was last here. There was light rain this morning and the road was wet. Monthly rainfall (Jan): 1.72 inches

Traffic: Not much traffic this morning: about 10 cars/SUVs, 6 pickups (SCC Water, SCC Parks, & private), 6 heavy trucks leaving the Vulcan quarry.

Posted on January 15, 2019 03:45 AM by truthseqr