I walked the south section of Alma Bridge Road, from the intersection at Aldercroft Heights Road to the stop sign.
Time: 9:05 am - 11:00 am
Weather: Clear skies, slight wind. Temperature started at 58 degrees F, and climbed to 65 degrees F by the end of the patrol
Traffic: 7 cars; 7 trucks; 1 3+-axle truck; 10 bicyclists; 1 pedestrian (runner); 6 parked cars (2 of which were surveying the road)
Newts: 0 dead newts; 0 live newts

Friday, 9:07-11:11 am. 3 dead newts, no live ones
Weather: cloudy, cold
Coverage: from ABR and Eldercroft Heights intersection to the first stop sign. I walked with Anna P.
We documented 3 dead newts, one of whice was a juvenile.
Other roadkill: sphinx moth.
Traffic - 15 cars, 1 truck, 0 motorcycles, 2 bikes, 4 pedestrians, 6 parked cars.
My observations of the day - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2024-04-26&place_id=any&user_id=merav&verifiable=any

Time: 8:59 am-10:54 am
Weather: cloudy skies, minimal wind; Temperature started at 57 degrees F; and climbed to 61 degrees by the end of the patrol.
Traffic: 19 cars; 13 trucks (one of which was a small firetruck); 7 parked cars; 4 3+axle trucks; 2 bicyclists
Newts: 1 dead (relatively fresh) adult; no juveniles; no live newts seen
Other findings: none

My observations:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2024-04-24&place_id=any&user_id=motherpurina&verifiable=any

Friday, 9:07-10:50 am. 15 dead newts, no live ones
Coverage: Jones trailhead to the second stop sign.
I documented 15 dead newts, 7 on the hill side. Most newts were very dry, a few were juveniles.
Other roadkill: caterpillars, slender salamander.
Traffic - 36 cars, 11 trucks, 2 motorcycles, 6 bikes, 8 pedestrians, 33 parked cars (1 car at the farther parking lot).
I saw a mother wolf spider trying to cross the road with all her babies on her back. I hope she made it. I wasn't able to remove it from the road.
My observations of the day - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2024-04-17&place_id=any&user_id=merav&verifiable=any

Time: 9:06 am-12:09 pm
Weather: clear skies, minimal wind. Temperature was 52 degrees F at the start of the patrol, and climbed to 68 degrees by the end.
Coverage: The south section of Alma Bridge Road from the Aldercroft Heights Road intersection to the stop sign and back.
Traffic: Cars: 18; Trucks: 18 (one was a small firetruck, another was a truck hauling an equipment trailer); bicycles: 7; motorcycles: 6; pedestrians: 1; parked cars: 5
Newts: dead newts=25, of which 4 were juveniles; no live newts; Of the dead newts: 9 were found on the Reservoir side, and 16 were found on the hill side of ABR.
Other roadkill: 1 moth caterpillar, which I included in my uploaded observations; a few earthworms.

link to my observations of the day: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2024-04-16&place_id=any&user_id=motherpurina&verifiable=any

Time: 8:53 am - 10:50 am
Weather: clear skies. Temperature started at 55 degrees F. and climbed to 69 degrees F.
Coverage: The north section of Alma Bridge Road, from the parking area at the base of the Jones Trail, up to the 2nd stop sign on ABR.
Observer: Jennifer
Traffic: Cars=27; parked cars=4; trucks=12; 3+axle trucks=2; bikes=6; pedestrians=1
Newts: 3 adults, all on the Reservoir side of the road. No live newts, no juveniles
Other roadkill: very tiny creatures that were too crushed for me to identify

My observations: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2024-04-09&place_id=any&user_id=motherpurina&verifiable=any

Time: 8:40 AM - 10:30 AM
Observers: Robin and Merav
Weather: cloudy, 45-50 degrees Fahrenheit
Cars: 16 (no pedestrians, bikes or trucks)
Newts: 18 dead adults, no live newts, no juveniles
Other roadkill: one CA slender salamander, banana slugs, and a lot of earthworms (representative documentation).

:

North Section, Alma Bridge Road

Jennifer walked the north section of Alma Bridge Road, starting from the parking area at the base of Jones Trail head to the 2nd stop sign on ABR.
Duration: 8:50 am to 11: 14 am

Weather: started at 49 degrees F and climbed to 68 degrees F by the end of the patrol. Clear skies.

Findings: I found 7 dead newts. No live newts. Of the 7 newts, 2 were on the hill side of the road, and 5 were on the reservoir side. 2 of the dead newts were juveniles.
I also found 1 earthworm and 1 centipede.

The link to my observations from the patrol: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2024-04-03&place_id=any&user_id=motherpurina&verifiable=any

Friday, 9:12-12:00 pm. 81 dead newts, no live ones
Weather: cloudy, light rain
Coverage: from ABR and Eldercroft Heights intersection to the first stop sign. I walked with Mia.
We documented 81 dead newts, with many juveniles. I documented 31 newts, at least 10 were juveniles. Mia documented 51 newts, at least 12 of which were juveniles. 46 of the newts were on the reservoir side, 35 on the hill side.
Other roadkill: skink, alligator lizard, frog?, milliped, centipede, earthworms, cranefly.
Traffic - 15 cars, 5 trucks (county roads), 0 motorcycles, 2 bikes, 0 pedestrians, 4 parked cars.
My observations of the day - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2024-03-29&place_id=any&user_id=merav&verifiable=any
Mia's observations: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?captive=any&on=2024-03-29&place_id=any&project_id=180854&user_id=mialom&verifiable=any
We collected 8 samples from freshly killed newts to check whether they have a fungal disease (Chytrid Fungi). We'll get the results in a few months.

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Jennifer and Oscar walked the North section of Alma Bridge Road, from the Lexington County Park parking lot to the 2nd stop sign.

Time: 8:59 am - 10:35 am
Weather: clear skies, no wind. The temperature started at 49 degrees F, and climbed to 63 degrees F. when we finished.

Jennifer documented: 4 adult newts, and 1 juvenile newt. Two were found on the hill side, and 3 were found on the Resevoir side. No live newts.
Oscar documented 3 adult newts. No live newts.

Other roadkill: 1 toad, 1 probable earthworm

Traffic -2 pedestrians; 26 cars; 2 bicyclists; 17 parked cars; 6 trucks; 2 large (3+ axle) trucks
(: there were a group of bicyclists that were starting their ride on Alma Bridge Road, right before we started our survey. We didn't obtain their numbers)

Jennifer's observations of the day: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2024-03-20&place_id=any&user_id=motherpurina&verifiable=any