The Mid Rio Grande conservancy district has certainly been busy getting the ditches ready for spring. Which is good, but also a shame
A lot of critters lost cover during the shave, but likely just as many appreciated the new, open spaces. Of course, the shave happened right before the freeze and light snow fall that likely affected the new buds that were showing. personally, I don't think many were affected, but we might only now that in the fall when the cottonwoods blow less that we would expect...
After the light snow I noticed not many birds around, however. There some familiar and some not so familiar raptors around. Other new birds showed up and here is a weird one, a domestic peahen, joining a flock of feral turkey
I was pretty relieved to see the small hairy blue butterflies are still around, albeit in smaller that original numbers. Various caterpillars are beginning to travel about and the insects in general are getting bigger. This variable weather suits the mammals and birds the best, I hope the lizards and turtles are doing okay. It is strange to see the mustard grass vanishing now the heat is coming in. Saplings of olive, elms and salt cedar are more obvious as they grow taller and change colors.
There seem to be fewer vole activity, but the odd emergence hole is still popping up on the trails when a horse hoof busts through a tunnel roof. The clear ditch has a nice new coat of sand laid down, right now the water is shallow and crystal clear, a boon to all the fisherman who are jostling its banks.
Just before the moisture that blew in, the elms let go of a bunch of their seeds. It looks like there are still a few to go, but for an evening there it was snowing drifts of wind blown elm feathers.
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