Vest not enough? Do you need to augment your winter Newt Patrol look? A friend sent this to me and I felt it was worth sharing with all of you Newt Patrol fashionistas.
https://fossilforager.bigcartel.com/product/california-newt-beanie
And yes I ordered one 😊

Friday February 2, 2024
Time: 9:15 am - 11 am
Weather: Cool, scattered clouds, light rains with a few showers

Terry and Monica walked the north section of Alma Bridge Road, from Lexington Reservoir County Park parking lot to the first stop sign: 46 dead newts, other roadkill included millipedes and earthworms.

Terry's observations: 21 dead adult newts, no juveniles. no live newts, 1 millipede
Monica's observations: 25 dead newts, 1 juvenile
Traffic - 3 Pickup trucks, 11 trucks, 3 parked cars, 13 cars, 0 pedestrians, 0 bicyclists.

Terry's observations from the day: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2024-02-02&place_id=any&subview=map&user_id=teellbee&verifiable=any

Monica's observations from the day: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2024-02-02&place_id=any&subview=map&user_id=monicarichards&verifiable=any

Wednesday, February 7, 2024
Time: 9:30 am - 11:30 am
Weather: cool, very rainy - road was covered with rivulets of water, which may have washed away road kill, along with the heavy rains earlier in the week.

Terry and Dave walked the north section of Alma Bridge Road, from Lexington Reservoir County Park parking lot to the first stop sign: 23 dead newts, no other roadkill noted. Dave counted traffic, but did not make iNat observations.

Terry's observations: 23 dead adult newts, no juveniles.
Dave's traffic count - 1 pedestrian, 15 trucks. 31 cars, no motorcycles or bicycles

Terry's observations for the day:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2024-02-07&place_id=any&subview=table&user_id=teellbee&verifiable=any

Friday, 8:50-11:10 am. 34 dead newts, no live ones
Weather: very cold, but dry for a change.
Coverage: from ABR and Eldercroft Heights intersection to the first stop sign. I walked with Robin
We documented 34 dead newts. I documented 20 dead newts, at least 1 of them was a juvenile. Robin documented 14 newts.
Other roadkill: an earthworm
Traffic - 12 cars, 9 trucks (county roads), 0 motorcycles, 5 bikes, 4 pedestrians, 10 parked cars. County Roads trucks were back, removing vegetation from the reservoir side of the road this time, and scraping the road. We spoke with one of the regular guys, and since he showed interest in the newts, we gave him a sticker. Apparently he told the other guys on the radio we've got stickers, and then everyone wanted one :)
Robin's observations - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?nelat=37.28846542128399&nelng=-121.83923534021862&on=2024-02-09&place_id=any&swlat=37.07182299879744&swlng=-122.08368114099987&user_id=anudibranchmom&verifiable=any
My observations of the day - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?nelat=37.28846542128399&nelng=-121.83923534021862&on=2024-02-09&place_id=any&swlat=37.07182299879744&swlng=-122.08368114099987&user_id=merav&verifiable=any

Monday, February 12, 2024
Time: 9 am - 11:00 am
Weather: mild and partly sunny, temperature, mid-50s F.

Merav and Terry walked the north section of Alma Bridge Road, from Lexington Reservoir County Park parking lot to the first stop sign: 43 dead newts, other roadkill: a rodent.
Terry's observations: 20 dead adult newts, no juveniles.
Merav's observations: 23 dead newts, 1 rodent
Traffic count:
Cars 26, Bicycles 11, Trucks 2, Motorcycles 3, Parked cars 12, Pedestrians 6

Terry's observations for the day:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2024-02-12&place_id=any&user_id=teellbee&verifiable=any

Merav's observations for the day:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2024-02-12&place_id=any&subview=map&user_id=merav&verifiable=any

Thursday, 9:05-11:30 am. 83 dead newts, no live ones
Weather: cold, but it rained last night.
Coverage: from ABR and Eldercroft Heights intersection to the first stop sign. I walked with Mia.
We documented 83 dead newts - about twice as many newts we had in recent weeks. I documented 58 dead newts, at least 3 of them were juveniles. Mia documented 25 newts, at least 3 of them were juveniles.
Other roadkill: earthworms, tree frogs, a bullfrog, millipedes, centipedes.
Traffic - 22 cars, 6 trucks (county roads, midpen), 0 motorcycles, 6 bikes, 1 pedestrian, 0 parked cars.
Mia's observations - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2024-02-15&place_id=any&user_id=mialom&verifiable=any
My observations of the day - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2024-02-15&place_id=any&user_id=merav&verifiable=any

I walked with Terry from 9:15 to 11:30. Coverage was from Aldercroft Heights Rd to the first stop sign. The weather was cold and rainy.

We saw 0 live newts, 25 dead newts. 5 were juveniles , the rest adults.

There were 17 cars, 8 trucks, 0 bicyclists, and 0 pedestrians.

Other roadkill: several frogs, centipedes, earth worms, millipedes, a bird.

Friday, 11:30-1:42 pm. 102 dead newts, no live ones
Weather: nice.
Coverage: Jones trailhead to the second stop sign. I walked with about 15 students up to Limekiln trailhead, then continued alone.
I documented 102 dead newts, some of them were fresh, a few were juveniles.
Other roadkill: frog, glowworm beetle.
Traffic - 57 cars, 13 trucks (including County Roads, SJJJ, Midpen), 2 motorcycles, 15 bikes, 25 pedestrians, 18 parked cars (1 car at the farther parking lot).
My observations of the day - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2024-02-23&place_id=any&user_id=merav&verifiable=any
I met with a group of students today - a graduate design studio from Harvard University called Wild Ways: California Connectivity, led by Nina-Marie E. Lister and Chris Reed. They came to hear about our newt study, and later joined part of the survey. It was great to have them!

Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024
Terri, Oscar, and I walked the North section of Alma Bridge Rd. from the Jones Trail parking lot to the 2nd stop sign
Time: 9:04 am-10:57 am
Weather: clear skies. Started at 47 degrees F and increased to 62 degrees when we were done.

I documented: 31 adult newts, 2 juveniles, and 2 amphibians (may have been newts?). No live newts
Terri documented: 41 adult newts, 2 juveniles, 5 amphibians (maybe newts), 1 arthropod (maybe millipede)

Other roadkill: occasional centipede
Traffic - 22 cars, 14 trucks, 8 bikes, 1 pedestrian. 7 parked cars

My observations of the day: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2024-02-28&place_id=any&user_id=motherpurina&verifiable=any

Terri's observations of the day:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?created_on=2024-02-28&on=2024-02-28&place_id=any&subview=map&user_id=teellbee&verifiable=any
(Edited to correct url above)

Thursday, 9:55-11:55 am. 45 dead newts, no live ones
Weather: drizzling most of the time, then pouring :)
Coverage: from ABR and Eldercroft Heights intersection to the first stop sign. I walked with Keith.
We documented 45 dead newts, possibly a few were juveniles. !8 of the newts were documented on the reservoir side, 27 on the hill side.
Other roadkill: tree frog.
Traffic - 14 cars, 10 trucks (county roads, SJJJ), 0 motorcycles, 0 bikes, 1 pedestrian, 10 parked cars.
county roads had about 10 trucks by the Eldercroft Heights intersection. Another crew (SJJJ?) was cutting trees in Soda Spring Creek.
My observations of the day - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2024-02-29&place_id=any&user_id=merav&verifiable=any