Pacific Newt Roadkill: 22 found dead today; 4 alive

December 14, 2018 (Friday)
I hiked for about an hour at El Sereno OSP. It was very windy and stormy up there. I didn't see any newts (alive or dead).

I also hiked the Limekiln / Priest Rock loop at Sierra Azul. It was blustery, cold, and drizzly, so I hoped to find a bunch of live newts. I was disappointed to find only 4 on my 4-hour hike there.

I found 22 dead newts on Alma Bridge Rd. between Priest Rock and Limekiln trailheads this morning. All of these were decomposed and older than 2 days. I compared the pictures with all previous observations to ensure I didn’t add any duplicates to the project. The last time I did a roadkill count on this section of Alma Bridge Rd. was two weeks ago (Dec. 1, 2018).

See: https://www.inaturalist.org/calendar/truthseqr/2018/12/14

I set up a subproject to track decomposed carcasses so I can get a better idea of how old they are and whether or not to include them in the project.

See: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/pacific-newts-decomp-study-lexington-reservoir-area

Coverage: (9%) Between Limekiln & Priest Rock trailheads. Although this is a small section of road, it has the highest mortality rate.

Rainfall: (MTD: 0.61 in; YTD: 4.09 in) There has only been 0.37 inches of rain since the last time I did a roadkill count for this section of road (2 weeks). It’s been dry since Dec. 6th, hence all the desiccated carcasses.

Note: This journal post was updated on 02/10/2019 with the latest information: fresh vs. decomposed carcasses, % Coverage, Rainfall, links to observations & project.

Posted on December 15, 2018 04:47 PM by truthseqr