Quest to find Newts part 2 enjoy

September 19th, 2022

I am at Grand Central Terminal for the train heading to Garrison upstate New York.

From Garrison I am biking across Hudson river to Bear Mountain park.

It's my last attempt to find Red-spotted newts this year, before the cold season starts.

I got down closer to the snake for you to see it.

Here it is.

The snake picks the nice sunny spot to sunbathe while waiting for fish to catch.

And from here I am going to explore a bit further down the stream.

Judging by the maps I am at The Timp Brook.

Aha! I see a newt - resting underwater on a rock.

Let's look around.

Maybe I could spot more newts.

There is one a bit far, but can be seen very clearly.

Walking around I spotted many adult newts.

They have about 2-3 inch long bodies with about the same length of tails.

Newts moved swiftly away when I tried to get too close.

This one is hard to see over the reflection.

Here is another newt.

This one is swimming...to grab some air I suppose.

I have to see these newts closer to identify them.

I managed to pull 3 newts out of water.

All 3 have all the marks and fill the description of adult red-spotted newts!

I've been looking for them for so long in so many different places around NYC.

Finally! On my last trip this year I found the red-spotted newts!

I am over 50 miles away from home - that takes hours of riding on a bike.

I put newts in a couple 32oz food grade containers that are too small for long hours of transportation.

Newts need air for breathing.

So, I am making frequent stops every 30-40 minutes to open the containers for 5 minutes or so.

The bike path along the West side of Hudson river provides amazing sightings.

And watch out for deer!

I wish I was riding my mountain bike for many long miles of the gravel bike path.

Here I spotted a cute one.

This is a relatively even section of gravel bike path without hills.

I dare to ride with my phone in one hand.

My old road bike somehow handles this road quite well.

I am not so sure about the three newts...

It is so quiet and beautiful and monumental here.

Deer again!

Okay. Now I have to pull on brakes.

Deer let me come very close.

Hudson is magnificent!

Standing here I don't miss the noise of the big city at all.

Okay, I have to keep riding for sake of my newts.

Got to get them home asap.

After about 5 hours of my ride and dozen short stops newts want to get more air.

This one climbed out of the water as soon as I opened the container.

There are a couple things I already learnt from this trip.

Red-spotted adult aquatic newts still breathe atmospheric air.

The two newts in a 32oz container look more stressed than the single newt in the same size container.

And the city noise we all get used to is very horrible and annoying to me right now.

I am about a 40 minutes rush ride from North Central park of NYC to Roosevelt Island.

All soaked in the rain that caught me in New Jersey, but happy.

The final 6 long hours of my almost a year long quest to find newts is over!

All 3 newts made it.

It's time to introduce newts to their new home.

Here all 3 newts go.

This is the happy ending of my search for a red-spotted newts quest.

And this is the beginning of new adventures.

This paludarium has much more space than the one shown in my previous videos.

I am very excited about getting new pets.

There are tons of observations for me to make and learn about my newts.

I need to figure out a lot of things about the care of newts.

I hope to make this paludarium as sustainable and self-feeding as I did with all my aquarium gardens.

And I am looking forward to sharing it all with you in many new videos.

It's all going to be Great!

Life is beautiful!!

Have fun and happy adventures :)