The ducks are settling in both mallards are wood duck pairs are well represented. Some belted kingfisher are still around. Many red tailed and Coopers hawks are hunting. The crows have left, but the turkey vultures are slowly dispersing after arriving in large groups from their winter grounds in Central America.
The low water table seems to be getting the big turtles on a migration, and they are suddenly much easier to see. Common snapping turtles are as shy as ever, and don't sun much. The sliders, on the other hand, haul out onto logs and are suddenly not shy at all about sunning themselves.
While in quarantine lockdown, I worried quite a bit about small crickets for my spadefoot aestivating quietly in the kitchen in a plant pot. I shouldn't have worried; a small swarm of march flies are mating and settling on the outside stucco walls and are easy to catch with a small vial in the chilly mornings when they are sluggish. It's hard to tell what my chonky boi thinks of this meal, but they do seem to disappear fast when put into his habitat.
The succulent mustard grass is quite the habitat for the many flies out right now. Some eat the nectar (pollinators), a lot of the mosquitoes are plant juice suckers (most suck animal blood only to produce egg casing). Look closely and you can see many mating beetles among the stems, most are tiny.
The leaf litter that is slightly damp collects around the roots of the weed patches and if you look closely, you can see many grubs and bugs hiding and munching away. Many species of moth are in the caterpillar stage in the damp, cool environment right now, trying to grow rapidly before the lizard army comes out in force with the oncoming warm nights.
My camera trap shows we were visited by a coyote at 3am early March. The area had been baited with a spoonful of peanut butter, but that had been months ago. A good reminder to not feed wild animals- they have long memories.
On a bike ride this morning I was able to see a large carp, scrambling to find deeper water among the reeds, the pond weed is making this difficult and there is a good chance he will become a raccoon's midnight snack, if he cannot hide in this ankle deep water. Ordinarily these powerful fish are invisible in the murky water. There are many other fish visible, but unfortunately I know little about the scaly troublemakers. The Mid Rio Grande Conservancy district is removing the old tree stumps on the clear ditch. Essential maintenance, of course in an area that uses working acequias to irrigate essentially flat land with a high water table. Unfortunately for sport fisherman, which abound in this area, this will mean the bass in the are will likely move on.
My backyard tank holds a large red eared slider, these escaped pets are usually hard to spot, let alone pick up, but this guy had been chased out of his watering hole by a bigger turtle, and had no where to go. I will let him go back in a week or so, but right now his name is Herbie.
I returned Phil, the bullfrog to the ditch, where he is going fine. Bullfrogs are a invasive species and the public is actually encouraged to remove them. I don't go in for this kind of thing, and find their froggie brains pretty fascinating. There is still so much to learn about these charismatic amphibians
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