Tuesday, 9:30-13:05 1 live newt! 295 dead newts.
I walked with Ann and Bob.
Weather: cold, then nice.
Coverage: from the Jones Trailhead parking lot to the second stop sign.
Newts: I documented 295 dead newts, at least 1 of them juvenile (very small!). 165 of the newts were found on the hill side of the road, 130 were found on the lake side. Many of them were fresh.
Other roadkills: Tylobolus millipedes, centipedes, Jerusalem crickets.
Traffic: 42 cars, 17 trucks (County Roads), 13 bikes, 1 pedestrian, 26 parked cars (6 cars in the farthest parking lot).
My observations of the day - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2022-02-01&place_id=any&user_id=merav&verifiable=any
Please don't hike/ survey there alone - this was on the news yesterday - "2 assaults possibly involving same man on Los Gatos walking trails prompt investigation" - https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/2-assaults-on-los-gatos-walking-trails-prompt-investigation/

I walked the north section with Jim. Weather was very warm and sunny. 9am to 11am.

Stats:
83 dead newts
1 live newt!
20 cars
5 trucks
8 parked cars
2 bicycles

The live newt was found on the hill side almost to the hill. We helped it finish the way and it was active, large and healthy. One dead newt was hit by a bicycle. :(. 62 dead newts on the hill side of the road, 21 on the reservoir side.

8:00-11:15 AM
Observers: Me and first-time Newt Patroller @helenacohen (also a Midpen docent!) Let's all welcome Helena, she did a great job!
Weather: Sunny, no rain.
Coverage: from Aldercroft Road to the stop sign.
Newts: 125 dead newts. No juveniles. No live newts.
Other roadkills: None.
Traffic: 21 vehicles, 4 bikes, 2 pedestrians.

In the Notes box of every observation, I continue to include: "Over 5,000 Pacific Newts die on this 4-mile stretch of Alma Bridge Road in Los Gatos each year. For more info or to help: https://www.bioblitz.club/newts"

Wednesday, 11:00-13:40 on live newts, 64 dead newts
I walked with Tara.
Weather: very cold, then nice.
Coverage: from Aldercroft Heights Rd intersection to the second stop sign.
Newts: 64 dead newts, some very fresh. 28 of them were found on the lake side of the road, 36 on the hill side. No juveniles.
Other roadkills: millipedes, fence lizard, 2 Glowworm Beetles.
Traffic: 1 RV, 17 cars, 1 pedestrian, 16 bikes, 3 parked cars.
My observations of the day - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2022-02-09&place_id=any&user_id=merav&verifiable=any
Saw my first Hound's Tongue today!
We went down Soda Spring, and saw a small newt ball and an egg mass, same place as 2 weeks ago.

Monday, 9:07-12:52 no live newts. 499 dead newts!!
I walked with Robin. And so glad she was there!
Weather: cold, nice.
Coverage: from the Jones Trailhead parking lot to the second stop sign.
Newts: I documented 326 dead newts, Robin had 173 newts. Some were a bit small, probably no juveniles. We saw at least 6 live newts in the little pond by Limekiln trail.
Other roadkills: Tylobolus millipedes, 2 fence lizards, turkey vulture, spider, caterpillars, moths, California Tortoiseshell butterfly.
Traffic: 39 cars, 4 trucks, 3 motorcycles, 3 bikes, 13 pedestrian, 15 parked cars (3 cars in the farthest parking lot).
My observations of the day - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2022-02-14&place_id=any&user_id=merav&verifiable=any
Robin - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2022-02-14&place_id=any&user_id=anudibranchmom&verifiable=any

Wednesday, 9:15-12:45 on live newts, 358 dead newts
I walked with Jim.
Weather: cold, a bit windy
Coverage: from Aldercroft Heights Rd intersection to the second stop sign.
Newts: 358 dead newts, all at least a bit dry, none were freshly killed. 1 tiny juvenile, some others seemed rather small, but I'm not sure they were juveniles. 152 of them were found on the lake side of the road, 206 on the hill side.
Other roadkills - spring is here: millipedes, centipede, 3 fence lizards, 2 Ring-necked Snakes, a toad, a frog, Santa Cruz Black Salamander.
Traffic: 1 truck, 16 cars, 1 motorcycle, 18 bikes, 1 pedestrian, 16 bikes, 2 parked cars.
My observations of the day - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2022-02-16&place_id=any&user_id=merav&verifiable=any
Jim's observations of the day - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2022-02-16&place_id=any&user_id=jim769&verifiable=any

Conducted survey of the North section from 8:46 am - 12:45 pm. Weather was 40° F, clear skies when I started.

Observers: Karan, Lauren and Janet (WCSV volunteers)

Documented 403 Dead newts. No distinct juvenile size from my recollection. No live newts :(

Documented Human Activity:
Cars:86
Motorcycles: 0
Bikes: 13
Pedestrian: 24
Parked cards: 20

Notes: I did observe quite a few floaters (i.e. dead newts on the side of the road that were peeled already from the ground), so I asked the volunteers to either throw them off the side of the hill or dig a shallow grave to avoid double dipping in the future.

3 groups of pedestrians stopped by to ask what we were doing. One of them exclaimed "Oh so these are the same ones they have on the road signs. I was thinking do the signs show a crocodile crossing? I didn't even know if we had crocodiles in this area". Another person asked what are the possible solutions to avoid this to which I discussed road closures, elevated roads..blah blah. Although he wasn't sold on any of the options except road closures. And one couple was just curious if these were the same things they saw on the side of their trails while hiking.

Link to my observations for today: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2022-02-21&place_id=any&q=roadkill&subview=map&user_id=karangattu&verifiable=any

This is LONG, but hopefully interesting!

Conducted survey of the South section in two parts:
Part 1 (solo): 'North stop sign' to 'former pit trap area sign' (7:15 am - 9:00 am)
Part 2 (with Helena Cohen): Aldercroft intersection to former pit trap area sign (9:15 am - 11:00 am)

Rainfall - YES!: (MTD: 0.03" - all from last night; YTD: 0.46"). Data from http://www.weathercat.net/wxraindetail.php

Pavement was wet. Morning weather was 44°F and cloudy when I started, 54°F and RAINING LIGHTLY (!!!) immediately after Helena and I ended.

The observers: Robin and Helena

The non-newts: one pretty moth, and 3-4 un-IDable, wet goo blobs that may have been slugs.

The newts:

LIVE NEWTS! THE NEWTS WERE MOVING ACROSS THE ROAD ALL MORNING, EVEN AS LATE AS 11:00 am. Even in areas we had cleared, new live ones would emerge from the bushes onto the road. In addition to two injured, near-death newts, I recorded 12 live, healthy, adult newts on the road, all escorted to safety, and Helena had eight, for a total of 20 live newts saved.

One local resident, in her car, stopped to tell me that she had pulled over multiple times to rescue more live newts from the road but felt guilty she couldn't save one newt, because there wasn't a safe place to stop near it. One pedestrian said he had moved a few on the North side of Alma Bridge Road. Another pedestrian asked what side he should carry them to at this time of year. I love that so many of the people we met were aware of the problem and willing to do something.

Videos: yes, plenty. I filmed one newt crossing the road from start to finish; it took over seven minutes. Another did it in about four minutes, with a vehicle passing by it/me on the road. Also other videos that may be useful for outreach.

Dead newts: 97 adult plus 1 juvenile, nearly all very fresh. I'm surprised by this low number.

There was unusual human activity: COUNTY ROADS doing maintenance.
Vehicles: 37, comprised of 22 passing vehicles and a large crew of ~15 County Roads employees with 15 trucks and heavy machinery involved in clearing foliage from the sides of the road near Soda Spring Canyon for fire safety. "Fire safety is more important than preventing erosion." They had that huge grinding tractor-mower thing going, so don't expect roadside wildflowers for a long while. I imagine it grinds up newts too. On the plus side, many of the crew seemed to know what I was doing already; they asked a few questions, and even pointed out a few dead newts near them to me. One guy said they would not be repaving Alma Bridge Road this year; they'll be working on the other side of Hwy 17.
Bikes: 5
Pedestrians: 3

If you made it this far, thanks for reading!

Please sign up for next week since Merav is not available!

:-)