migrations

The rains are a confusing time for the new lizards that are growing fast. They are easy to spot as they try to navigate terrain that is suddenly wet, and different than it was one day ago.

Crayfish migration

Walking along, we ran into this crayfish. He sort of advertised his presence by rearing up suddenly from the undergrowth. He is hard to miss with his threat display and bright red color. He is a horribly invasive species with an insatiable appetite and the ability to travel anywhere (where it's raining). These guys do actually breath water, but they keep their gills under the hard carapace of their back, and can stay out of water for a considerable amount of time.

Snail and ant wars

    Ants do not like water and avoid the rain. Land snails do not even come out unless there is a lot of rain around. Normally these two tribes do not meet...except just after a night monsoon. We got to see a snail bubbling copious slime onto a nest of angry biting ants. The ants are fast and bite, but the bigger snail has thick, confusing slime. It seemed like a stalemate, but I suspect the odds were on the side of the ant.

Fine clay particles

    The irrigation ditches were full of water that was warm, and loaded with a fine, cloudy sediment. This water had run off the sandy hills in the heavy rain. it is very different from the water that normally was piped from rivers and reservoirs from the north during the drought. In standing water, the finest clay particles settle out last. As the water evaporates, the slick, soft, alkaline clay is the perfect medium for seedlings like cottonwoods to grow in. Especially with a ll the dog fecal material that is washed off too...

Squashed frogs

    Migrations of insects, crustaceans and amphibians are going on all around us in the rain right now. This has many consequences; both good and bad. I think about this as I see yet another squashed toad on the road. Usually drivers are not out in the middle of the night when these guys travel most, but we live in a 24/7, fast paced culture. Roads and pets are a high lethal forms of wild animal control.

farming

Blackberries and other crops are a unique habitat for animals.

Wild seedlings abound in the shade of the cut grasses, as the rains start a new cycle of plant growth.

In the shade of the tall crops, fungi fruit grows too.

Corn borer moths are constantly kept at bay with poisons. These ones were collected from private plot of corn. Because they are insects, they actually only have six legs, the other appendenges are called "prolegs" and have no joints. The green caterpillar is a younger form of the corn borer.

    The produce from farms now is nothing compared to what it will be by the Fall, but there is still a lot of food coming out of the fields around Corrales. Picking corn early helps to keep pests out of those perfect ears of corn the public expects from farm produce stands.

Caterpillar frass

this caterpillar is using his true legs to manipulate the climbing thread it is using to reach the ground. The thread is amazingly tough silk, and very versatile

A young caterpillar and a current sized bagmoth/bagworm same scale.

    The strangest stories come out of paying attention to those things that make no sense. The stories that tell themselves through observation and unfold over time are the best. The bag worms are now huge and the frass, or caterpillar excrement they throw out is prodigious. These guys hatched into little guys the size of millimetre or so. Now, they are about 2 inches long. I have talked about their behaviors before. I have found out there is an amazing little amount of scientific study about their habits.

So, here is what I know; Their poop is collected during the day of eating into the bottom their little silken sleeping bags. They release it about once a day or so. It is ejected as pellets and is very dry and solid. The frazz size grows as the caterpillar grows. the interesting thing is what happens when it is soaked in standing water.

These pictures show a time sequence as water is absorbed into the mass. It separates into a proteinaceous clear jelly, and bite sized chunks of black, presumably leaf bits. Note the wings of an ant drone being caught in the drying jelly.