Wonderland

 just before the snowfall, I was out along the clear ditch. It is pretty amazing how the behaviour of the birds change with the weather. There was a small kestrel was alarming and directing attention to a large red tailed hawk that was hanging out and watching the small ducks in the ditch

A big blue heron was sitting watching the fish below. There were small flocks of dove, flicker, thrush, and wood peckers sitting among the small branching waiting for the weather to change. Amazingly, they were all holding still for the camera. I chose to just watch them at rest, its so rare to actually get to observe them.

This is a picture of the same heron, in the same spot, but taken on a sunny day (the extra light gives better contrast for my dinky little point and shoot camera). Most of the pictures I take today will be rubbish because of the lower light.

The bird feeder was popular with small birds as the wild food sources become harder to reach in the snow. Birds face increased stress at feeders because of the general rowdiness of the regular visitors protecting "their" turf, but when the weather is cold, its more worth it to save time and effort on unpredictable foraging. Unlike most mammals and all reptiles, birds must either eat or migrate with unfavorable weather conditions. Its the same for humans, we do not hibernate in cold weather, even if we think we do. I'm guessing all water sources are freezing up too, as you can almost see the disappointed looks on their beaks as they sidle up to the frozen bird bath.

There are a lot more rabbits around as the young shoots of grass are now only found under fallen leaves and inside low growing bushes, like the russian thistle. To me, rabbits mean the predators are following them, there is not a lot that seems cool about a cottontail, they are just so prevalent. I have heard anecodotes that bobcats are being seen in the area, and am pretty sure this is why there is a rabbit's leg bone below a large tree bough in our neighbour's yard.

I see many rabbits around early in the morning, so I know many of them survived...

there are two other animals that are making themselves more noticeable, and are also on the Bobcat's menu. The first is the porcupine, which I usually see in this area around February. They start to leave their teeth marks on young trees, but only scar up the trunks and do not actually chew the heartwood. This tree stump is the work of the local beavers, who are very hard to see (for me)

A clear give away for beaver is the ends of branches chewed and stripped of small twigs. The discarded larder is usually seen underwater on the edge of a main river, scattered around in the mud. Beavers on the Rio Grande are plentiful but shy. They don't often make dams, but will dig holes in steep clay banks, so you have to look for their trails in the willows along the edges of the river. There will usually also be chewed young tree stumps around.

This tree should not really be growing in the bosque. It is a juniper (often called "cedar") I think it is a one seed juniper but I am not that into plants. The seeds are tasty to people (in moderation) but are very dry this time of year they are the seasoning added to alcohol to make gin. Coyotes love them, judging by the amount of seeds I see in their scat (poop). These trees, along with the pinon evergreens are usually found in higher elevation in drier conditions. Many of these seedlings are from trees planted by people, but the climate in the Southwest is definitely on a drying trend, and it's likely junipers are going to proliferate in the hotter, drier climate that is coming.