Precipitation carnage and Mountain Lion report - South section - 03/20/2022

South section - 03/20/2022
Conducted survey of the South section from 7:30 am - 10:30 am (earlier than usual time)

Weather: Clear, sunny, started at 41 F (Note that area received 0.09" rain the afternoon before: http://www.weathercat.net/wxraindetail.php)

Observer: Robin

A higher-than-usual proportion of freshly-dead newts, including two that must have walked onto the road between the start time and the end time. Also more other amphibians than usual. In one of my four conversations about newts, a local resident told me she saw a Mountain Lion crossing Alma Bridge Road where we were chatting two evenings prior. She had lived in the mountains many years and was knowledgeable enough to convince me ("Long tail as big as my wrist; it looked at me as it walked right in front of my car."), so I have added this report as a unphotoed, casual observation.

Newts:
121 dead adult newts, nearly all freshly dead within last 12 hours
4 dead juvenile newts
3 live adult newts in road (moved to safety)
1 live juvenile newt in road (moved to safety)
1 injured adult newt in road (probably fatal, moved to safety)

Dead Non-newts:
1 Santa Cruz Black Salamander (adult)
1 Sierran Tree Frog
4 California Slender Salamanders (plus one alive, moved to safety)
2 Western Fence Lizards
1 millipede
1 Button's banana slug

Documented Human Activity:
Cars: 23 moving, 1 parked
Trucks: 1
Bikes: 12 (plus 1 tandem bicycle)
Pedestrians: 9
Conversations with people about newts: 4 (!)

Final note of interest: Several trees, mostly oaks, on the downhill/Reservoir side of the road have been flagged with various colors of tape. A few say "do not cut." A closer examination revealed bird nests in many of the flagged trees. :-) I wonder who who is marking them.

Publicado el 20 de marzo de 2022 por anudibranchmom