change

 The trees are definitely changing colors. The elms are dropping all their leaves now, but the cottonwoods seem to be a lot more individual.

we often see migrating birds forming these swirling circles before heading off in a certain direction. I have seen geese, cranes, ravens, seagulls and these vultures doing this behaviour. It's probably some sort of navigating. The hummingbirds are almost gone now.

out on the mesa, the roadkill is attracting ravens. The increasing number of buildings is attracting other birds; this is a regurgitated pellet from an owl at the UNM west building.

the low ditch water levels is not all sad, the water level is removing many invasive species, such as these golden clams.

this red swamp crayfish is a prolific predator because they are adaptable. This juvenile did not dig a burrow and perished

not all is death and destruction; the newly exposed mud is perfect for these milfoil plants, which admittedly will grow to become pretty prolific, without controls.

These flickers are very noisy and have very distinctive red tails and wings

A classic alarmed roadrunner upright poise

The great herons are definitely attracted to the small pools of fish that are left. My dog found a large fish head that had fallen from the sky into our yard. It happens. in the irrigation ditches, the fine clay sediment also traps water as it recedes, allowing animals time to gorge on trapped animals before the water dries up.

These tracks are likely from a large snapping turtle, burying into the mud and pond weed for the winter.

meadows

Scuzzy ditch has many different niches where live thrives, but all those areas are very low in water right now. The water comes up from clear ditch, like an estuary, but also up from below in the water table. The water up the estuary has stopped, but the water table still keeps some pools open. These pools continue to support life, even as the fish in them suffocate and die.

The classic buzzard actually probably does not benefit much from these die-offs. They are traveling south for the winter months to spend time in Costa Rica, among other places. Their niche is mammals dead in thick woods. Ravens move to eating more road kill during the winter months.

Herons, small mammals and snakes feast on the small pools left in the ditch. The mud is surprisingly deep and not compacted, coming up to the knees of the kids who waded out into this fish pool. Looking closely, you can see tracks from heron, squirrel, raccoon, ducks, and of course, kids.

The edges of the pools are now safe for small frogs, who dive for the deeper water at the first sign of trouble. Bullfrogs thrive in disturbed habitat, but if the edges were grassy, the leopard frogs would have the survival edge. Now the biggest bullfrog has left the pool, these guys are (almost) the top predator. Before, they were lunch for everything, now they wait for moths attracted to the reflection of the moon on the water's edge.

There is abundant water sources and the bird prey for this hawk are widely scattered. The woods in the evening are filled with the sounds of raptor calls, including owls.

Plants are changing in the Bosque right now. The prickly pears are ripening and there are no more showy cactus flowers for the last few bees

The plants that take the most advantage of fall could be the grasses. Their seeds are ripening and being eaten by everything from birds, to people, and even ants.

Most people don't realize that those lush green cultivated gardens in people's backyards are a using a  specialized marsh plant, which is why they need so much watering!

higher up the ditch, the water table has dropped low enough to allow salt tolerant plants to grow. Amoung the first are tiny shoots of papyrus plants and grasses. They take advantage of the shade and trapped sediment offered by the towering rushes.

Datura is dropping it's flowers and putting out these spiky seed balls too.

while a swamp is a lot of black, stinky mud, there is a lot of contrasts. Here are the uncovered roots of the rushes, full of starch and sugary juices. It is startling white and smooth against the oozing mud.

The days are still hot, but the very cool nights are exposing many big insects to predations. Turkeys are gorging on grasshoppers in the. Fields each morning.

The colonies of bumblebees are also expelling many members to save food during the coming winter

snakes

 This is a picture a friend took (Thanks Kate!), but is included because it is such an awesome picture of a lesser known snake species.

The head looks all large and rattlesnake like, but it was small and has no rattle, SO this is a hognose snake, an amphibian eating specialist that can eat the otherwise poisonous toads while they are hiding in their small burrows. The ribs behind the head flare out exactly like a cobra, but this guy's only defense against being picked up is a stinky smell (which is actually pretty effective.....the SECOND time you meet one).

Another friend passed on to me a spadefoot toad that was found in Rio Rancho. To be clear, I do NOT need more pets. I also think wild animals are best kept in the wild, BUT I also love these guys. They make horrible pets because most of the year they just hide in the dirt and do nothing, but they are also very photogenic and pretty low maintainace. All frog needs in captivity are different, but this guy just needs a small and clean warm, damp space with some good heat (60's). He is a big fan of a low roof to his burrow. I feed them moths, but with over feeding their enclosures need pretty regular cleaning and because of that you disrupt their hibernation, so you have to keep them at least for the whole winter. They actually do not like swimming, this picture shows him getting his once a year bath in tepid water for identification purposes.

wild animals have to find their own food. The take advantage of changing environments. Here, a raccoon print shows where it stuck it's snout into a crayfish burrow, likely looking for a hiding juvenile frog. The scuzzy is dry now and those juvenile bullfrogs have to move out temporarily. The ditch is now a damp meadow, a very rare type of environment indeed.

this story of tracks shows a squirrel coming down to the waters edge for a drink. The soft clay shows a retreating edge of still, silty waters and the burrows of a worm species as they seek the oxygen of surface water. The squirrel clearly wasn't expecting the mud to be so soft!

the turkeys are moving in to the fields to feed. They will soon be joined by cranes.

cool

 

 

Moisture in the air helps life thrive in the cooler nights.

One of the most annoying things for a blog is trying to talk about something I've seen without a picture to show it. A couple of examples this week include a giant sphinx moth feeding on datura flowers in the evening and migratory shore birds hunting along the wet mud in the ditch.

The different birds all use different habitat to feed in the same area. Geese like short grass. Small birds like dense cover, like trees or tall gras, sandhill cranes prefer recently knocked over corn stalks.

Suddenly the ditch has baby frogs in it! Lots of them. The tadpoles co-ordinate their change into frogs with a dropping of the water table. I think this is likely to avoid predators rather than to avoid tadpole dessication.

That activity attracts many other visitors, which is why the frogs have to vamoose .Not having feet is a big advantage in mud. Small bullsnakes, like this 4 footer, need young frogs to eat until they develop enough hunting skills to tackle rattlesnakes and rodents.

Many small perch use perch hunting to dart out from small perches to grab insects that have newly emerged from the mud. Here is a phoebe.

this is a Wilson's warbler.

thunderbird

With this storm and cold winds there should be sightings of sandhill cranes in the skies soon. We think we can hear the deeper cries of cranes in the mornings now but we haven't gotten a picture yet. the far more common geese have started to return and migrate from the river to the fields daily to feed and rest.

for those who want to know; pigweed on the left with light green, straight branches.Tumbleweed on the right with spiky, dark green, curved branches.

Very few insects out on this cold and rainy night. Apart from this grass spider.

definitely more spider activity. The dew settles on grass spider webs the lower night temperatures let it.

dew is an important source of water for desert plants. Many of the silvery ones have small spikes that trap moist air from their respiration close to the holes on the undersides of the leaves.

A clear sign of autumn, tarantulas crossing the road on the mesa. these males are migrating, looking for female burrows under rocks or patches of grasses.

Migration is very important for most animals, not just the birds. Amphibians and reptiles can be very conspicuous as they try to maximize the heat of the day for hunting, or to warm up, which is crucial for their digestion too. There is an early morning woodhouse's toad, being a rock. You are welcome.

mountain

how acequias start in a ranch on the Sangre de Christo mountains. A scratch along the contour of a hill is used to irrigate a meadow for grazing. The acequias in Corrales probably started the same way.

on the Vallejos ranch near Mora I had a blast looking for, and photographing leopard frogs, one of my enduring passions. They supposedly live in Corrales too, but I have never seen one. They thrive best in clear, clean water's with few predators.

the sunset was very red due to heavy smoke drifting down from Colorado wildfires.

There are beaver in the Rio Grande river, but this far down they prefer to dig holes in the banks. Up in Coyote Creek campground near Mora they still build the traditional stick structures. Beaver dams are traditionally a problem for river management, although many of them form meadows and habitat for many types of animals.

The high winds have put a lot of debris into the ditch, which someone will have to clean out eventually. These tumbleweeds actually came to America from Russia and use the wind to dispense the seeds.

this Russian olive is now blocking a public access. Olive trees don't usually get blown over, but there seems to have been a lot lately.

yellow

Not everything that buzzes and has yellow striped will sting, or (even can sting). Yellow stripy flying things come in a huge of sizes, shapes and temperaments.

I have been stung by a bumble bee, but mostly they only care about the flowers.

this little bee can't even sting people.

this nest of paper wasps has been slowly growing and needs some caution. (Don't hit their babies with a stick). I leave them alone, and they leave me alone.

There is no more caterpillar frass dropping from the trees now. All those caterpillars are pulpating now the leaves are dried up (instead of eating them, they now hide behind them)

my three hummingbird feeders are being filled daily as these hyperactive Napoleons battle over who gets to sit where.

datura flowers open at night. Bizarrely, you can see the shadows of trapped bees inside. Prevailing wisdom is the honeysuckle scent attracts sphinx moths, but these domestic bees were pretty excited to get to the blooms too, and there was lots of them.

this morning a bird hit our front window and is sitting stunned outside. Best to leave it alone it is hard to not try to help but the experts say they recover best if left quiet and calm.