refugia

 

Crows and ravens are certainly noticeable every evening as dusk falls. they travel up and down the bosque during the day, but roost in large noisy groups, especially near sources of heat or food.

I usually have problems telling the difference between crows and ravens. I notice the big guys (ravens) prefer open fields and the crows are often watching from the trees. Corrales has the odd pecan tree and those seem to attract the ravens.

 

With the colder temperatures it's easy to forget that the landscape mostly belongs to the insects. Even the big insects, like this cricket, and darkling beetle are often out and about in the sun. Our altitude in New Mexico gives us a thin atmosphere that warms up the ground quickly when the sun gets out. The bosque is an important insect hatchery. These insects migrate out to the higher desert during the summer to mate and feed. But in the piles of fallen cottonwood leaves and under fallen tree trunks, the next generation of "bugs" is kept moist and warm.

The bosque is also a thriving nursery for seedlings too. Here are young water cress plants(I think) on the left, and on the right, the next generation of desert cottonwoods. The moving water of the Rio Grande prevents ice from forming and allows many plants to grow in a protected nursery just under the surface of the clear water's surface, where the temperatures are more stable.

New Mexico is having a crisis of cottonwoods not being replaced. The seeds sprout easily enough on the river banks, but most trees around Corrales are easily 40 years old and all the saplings die before they can develop a trunk thicker than the width of an arm. The old trees last a while, but they are falling to the tree masticators much quicker than they can be replaced by nature.

This outlet drain is into the Rio grande. No idea wher it starts, but it seems to be purified and is likely effluent because it is warm. The thick plants clustered around the base of the grate are tropical aquarium species. The outflow is clean, and the heat seems to be a refugia for summer species of plants like duckweed. Duckweed presence suggests the water is clearly warm, and full of nitrogen. Duckweed sinks to the bottom in cold water, this outflow water pool abounds with small fish and grasses. There is a lot more to explore here.

The new dam at the end of Siphon road, or the North Beach, as it used to be called is controversial and is designed to reduce erosion. We shall see the changes unfold over the next few years. Still water is not something the rio grande has much of. Watch for the bullfrogs to colonize this area by April 2021. The feature is trying to protect the source of all the irrigation ditches in Corrales, the "Corrales Siphon"