Newts Heading for Hills

For the past two weeks, we have seen hundreds of newts heading away from the creeks to the hills. Along Finch Creek, they are all headed south across the Carmel Valley Road. Along Big Creek, they are all headed east up School Hill. I experimented with releasing the newts in various orientations. If I faced them to the hill, the took off. If I picked them up and faced them to the creek, or up or down the road, they twisted around and almost before I could get the camera focused and ready, they were headed for the hill again. They only like to move in low light; so the close up shows the rear leg as a blur- at a 15th of a second exposure. Anyway, they keep on chugging along- an inch a second? Persistent little guys. I suppose this means winter rains are over.