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RoadKill 2004 News
April
18, 2004 Hi
Roadkill Fans! Finally,
New England has had some warm temperatures this weekend and all creatures seem
to be moving across roads for either for food, mating or just to get to the other
side. Southern
NH has had lots of rain last week, making it almost impossible to count the dead
creatures on the road. For teachers on vacation this week, please send a report
but with a 0 on the total. Then under the comment section, just put "on vacation".
Most
of NH will be on vacation on Week #9 and of course that will be the end of this
year's recording. I saw my first roadkill snake today, so I know the weather is
warming up. Most of the reptiles love the warm roads and do not have much of a
chance for the speedy motor vehicles. All
for now and will see you on the highways! Dr.Splatt April
8, 2004 Hi
Roadkill Fans! Week
#6 - There is now a full moon along with the first week of daylight savings time.
Have you noticed fewer or more roadkills this week? Cold weather with heavy rains
last week have our area roadkill counts way down from the past years. The ponds
in central NH still have a degree of ice on them but hopefully within a few more
days the ice will be pretty much gone. Once
the waterways open up, then more of a diversity of animals will start to appear
on your tally sheets. Snakes, frogs and of course turtles will find it difficult
to cross the roads without becoming a victim of the project. Think about this:
A turtle can live up to 70 years and a motor vehicle can destroy a whole generation
of turtles in matters of seconds. What do you do when you see a turtle crossing
a road? Stop and pick it up? If you do, please watch for other cars as you do
not want to be hit by a motor vehicle as well. See
you on the highways! Dr.Splatt March
30, 2004 Hi
Roadkill Fans! Week
#5 and what a difference in one week's time! The cold weather in New England has
now instantly changed to spring like conditions. Temperatures this weekend rose
to the mid 60's and everyone (including the animals) were out and about. Waterways
are now melting and in southern NH we are now seeing dead beaver on the roads.
I always wondered why there was so many dead beaver reported in this time period
and found out the answer by reporting my data to Fish and Game. 90% of the beavers
killed by motor vehicles are 2 year old beavers. Why? It is the two year olds
being kicked out of mom and dad's den as they want to have another family. The
homeless beavers are now trying to search for a place to live and of course many
of them cross the roads to venture to new waterways. We
also are looking at the theory: "are there more roadkills before or after daylight
savings time?" This question was brought up by one of my students 5 years ago
and so the time has come to bring forth the same question. Yes, this weekend we
gain an hour but do the animals know this? What do you think? Look at your counts
now and wait a couple of weeks to find out what the counts are after daylight
savings time. An interesting hypothesis that may be proven incorrect or correct.
Until then, see you on the highways. Dr.Splatt March
24, 2004
Hi
Roadkill Fans! A
very cold beginning for Week #4 and of course with the 3-4 inches of snow over
the weekend it has made many of the animals snuggle in their dens. Ice
is still on most of the ponds and lakes in New England and the question still
remains, "When will spring begin?" The sun is getting stronger and soon green
sprouts will start to come out of the once frozen soil. Roadkill counts are way
down this week and that is a good thing. All for now... Dr.Splatt March
16, 2004 Hi
Roadkill Fans! Week
#3 has now approached and I am sure many of you are getting a variety of animals
seen dead on the road. All the ponds and lakes are frozen so none of the reptiles
and amphibians are appearing dead on the roads. March
in New England can bring us very unique weather, warm one day in the 50's and
the next day a ten inch snowstorm. We will see what happens when the next 2-3
storms bring us their fury this week. Keep counting and lets hope for rain instead
of snow. Dr.Splatt February
24, 2004 Hi
Roadkill Fans! Eleven
years and counting! I cannot believe that this Project is going on for this long
and with many thanks to Paul Colombo who is maintaining the web pages and the
many teachers that are participating every year. My school alone (Pinkerton Academy,
Derry, NH) has counted over 3,000 animals in the past 10 years! Many of the animals
are the unfortunate gray squirrel but others include countless raccoons, beavers,
and deer. People are in too much of a hurry driving to and from work. More about
this later and if you plan to participate this year don't
forget to register! Thanks again! Dr.Splatt February
21, 2004  Hi
Roadkill Fans!
We have started to make edits on the web site for the 2004
RoadKill project. This will take a week or so of work but we will soon be up and
running for this year's monitoring. If you haven't yet registered for the project
this year you should drop
by our online registration page and submit your information.
The
monitoring will begin on Monday, March 1, 2004. Information regarding Username
and Passwords for this year's database software will be sent out via email to
all who have registered for the project during the last year as well as former
participants. Keep an eye out in your email for that message soon. ~Webmaster |