legacy

Several years ago I showed the location of triops near a busy road to the whole world, or at least,those whose use the Inaturalist app.

Today, 3 years later, I met a person likely using that data to find the same creatures that I found years ago. Luckily, triops are not in danger of extinction. Also, the stagnant water in muddy tire ruts on the side of the road do not count as a secret, protected location. Still, it kind of feels like I let out a big secret that can't be untold.

A new big secret on this blog now, is that the spadefoot tadpoles have finally hatched. They never stop moving, so pictures are still hard to come by. Of course, lots more pictures to come.

The flowers

After the rains, the hot sun seems to get the yellow flowers blooming. I like the cactus flower photo, because it shows the bud and the bloom together.

Sunflower picture shows a beetle on it in the shadow.I'm not too sure what this beetle is yet, but I have found many hiding in the floss of the flower buds.

I noticed these sunflowers on the ditch are not aphid infested yet. I wonder if this is because of all the beetles. It could just be they haven't found this stand of plants yet. I'll be keeping a close eye over the next week or two.

I notice the clear ditch is having large hatching of water striders. These weird Insects live on the surface of the water, and can change the size of the wings of their prodeny; depending on changing needs.

Aspects of Bank

 Steep bank sides are not found much in nature and this picture shows an unusual side effect of this. The sides act like hills and now have "aspect" or how the sun heats and lights them. south and east sides get more sun than north and west sides. The two sides of this ditch have one side with heavy growth, and one side with lighter growth. Trees and grasses use the different conditions on each side differently, which changes how animals and things like erosion are also affected. I notice almost all fishermen prefer to use the sparsely vegetated side!

Russian olive

 There are more fruits coming out in the bosque, both in the feral trees and on the farms and orchards. The russian olive is considered invasive, but its fruits are edible by people and birds.

I'm still examining the picture, but some apps call this common burr producing plant American licorice. Many plants are edible, but the work involved is not usually worth it, and the safety issues means no-one who is smart is going to recommend chomping on wild plants. Licorice candy is flavored with a plant not native to north america.

Crows in bosque for fruits

More birds are coming back into the bosque. You can see crows and rock pigeons and others (not the morning doves) moving back into the bosque to take advantage of early ripening fruits. The hummingbirds, of course are furious and dive bomb all big birds constantly.