beaks

there are a lot of shy birds on the clear ditch. Not only shy, but very few of each type. Occasionally, the pioneers will bring their family. This wilson's snipe has now been joined by at least three others. The virginia rail has not been seen lately (by me anyways). The cinnamon teal is now a pair, so they might stick around. The shoveller is gone and the green winged teals are much rarer than they were. (I still haven't found the American woodcock)

this duckweed is red as it is rapidly dividing and growing. The color is the only thing that links it to the toxic red tides of newsworthy fame. It uses the still water under the grasses as a nursery to keep the plants close together. Many aquatic insects grow protected by the small roots the bi-lobed plants put out. Soon, however, the mosquito fish move in and eat the insects, plants and anything else around (and the kingfisher collects a few of the most unwary fish). Usually by then, the number of plants has grown and the emerald green have begun to spread out into the open waters.

the duckweed is a true plant, unlike this bracket fungus. The part we see is the "fruit" almost all of the working parts of a fungus are hidden from view in small white threads. Fungus are actually hard to describe and are very unlike plants that most people would lump them in with. The diversity is immense, and yet examples like this type is pretty rare (at least in the deserts of the Southwest). The pacific northwest teems with strange moulds that can travel, and fungus fruits everywhere (mushrooms) that are closely associated with different plants, and animals.

Other plants are putting down roots and getting ready to explode. Pretty soon, this spring plant, London rocket, is going be THE dominant species in the valley. Right now though, the low leaves are busy slowing building sugars that they will use to explode in growth before the other plants have even put their shoes on. These young plants are actually pretty tasty. The young flowers taste just like mustard, which is not too surprising as they are in the mustard family. Mustards used to dominate the ice age lanscape just before the grasses rose to dominance and nutritionally are much more dense and cold tolerant too. We know this because the stomaches of mammoth and wooly rhinocerous are filled with these related species.

Other plants use different growth strategy. Nuts grow with a story of energy collected from the tree the year before. Here, one of the first of the next year's pecan crop is peeking out after overwintering in a bed of moss.

apparently this is a fungus gnat. One of the first insects out other than flies that use warm human houses to hibernate and can bask to activate flight muscles before most other insects.

The first lizard of the year for me. A common Fence lizard, but very exciting to see. They are hoping to have just a bit more speed that the flies that are still in a torpor from the cold. Usually fence lizards are basking to raise their internal temperatures, but this one was in a hurry to eat. He would usually be easy to catch out in the open like this, but I left him alone. The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese, as they say. This guy has enought to worry about.

the Corrales fire department is out and about in the Bosque. They appear to be patrolling with an ATV and doing some sort of brush clearing According to village of Corrales, they are the only ones who are supposed to be clearing brush in the Bosque.