Flight

 This by far the biggest moth I have ever seen, ever. I watched numerous bats try to wrestle with this behemoth in the air,,,and fail in a cloud of falling scales. It took a while for this guy to even take off. It had to warm up its flight muscles, like a jumbo jet.

There are many migrations going on right now; from birds to bats, moths and butterflies. Of course, the monarchs are one of the most famous, by dint of a massive PR campaign. These migrations affect so much of the Earth's ecosystems.

The mud in the ditches now tell interesting stories about the animals that use them for hunting. there are tracks from raccoons, looking for small crayfish, and herons looking for stranded mosquito fish.

 This flower is from a desert willow tree found in the dry fringes of people's yards. The blossoms seem to support many wasps and bees by day, and also feed the huge migrating moths at might, which in tern attracts many bats into the evening. The bats also come out right after the gentle monsoon rains we are having right now (read - not enough rain). While the flying mammals do their part, we a re likely to start seeing mosquitoes soon.

The warm weather is slight moisture is helping to produce astoundingly large specimens of grasshoppers. While New Mexico does not see locust swarms like other countries, they did used to exist here, but not since the late 1800's. The pigweed seems to be a favorite resting area for these critters, which are fun to study, but not many people take the time.

 Water in the wrong place seems to confuse a lot of reptiles, making them easy to watch and/or study. Most lizards slow down in cold rain and become easy to catch. The whip tails rely on speed to outrun predators, so when the rain robs them of hiding holes, they are exposed in the open and tire quickly. The fence lizards usually rely on holding still, and when the cold water hits them, they just tend to hold still even more, until you can get close to boop them on their snout, They become amazingly docile. teh reptile in the middle is not a picture of mine, but was taken by a Facebook friend and is a rarely seen snake that looks like an earthworm, and only lives underground unless it is raining. Absolutely harmless with a tiny mouth for eating very small insects; a rare find.

 The rain brings out many of the these toads, but I have not seen as many this year in my area as last year. This hefty specimen was also very docile. I moved her out of the road to avoid car or dog encounters.

There are many seed bugs out right now. The bright colors and leathery looking shells mean many animals know they are not worth a meal