water

 We certainly are having a lot of  bird changing going on in the Bosque right now. In addition to the rising temperatures, the water levels are up and that is changing the whole place. While the cranes are gone, a whole host of new big birds are here for our viewing pleasure.

 

The local crowd pleaser is the roosting pair of great horned owls. This is the female, still sitting on her eggs in the same nesting site they have used for several years

 

A domstic animal that is no longer kept by anyone is called feral. There are small flocks of domsestic ducks, turkeys, and peacocks in the area. They are fed by people, but breed and roam in the wild.

these are the tracks of the local seven turkeys that usually keep well hidden. But now the insects seems to have brought them out.

These tracks are from a ring necked pheasant, a slightly smaller game bird that has been introduced for hunting and seems to have been steady moving northwards. They seem to prefer to hide in the willows by the river edge and are REALLY hard to photgraph, especially walking with dogs (on leash)

These are the classic footprints of a desert cottontail rabbit. The two front marks are the big back feet coming forward of the front feet to allow for the huge strides

There are many drag marks like this in sandy areas which are signs of beaver dragging that big oar-like tail behind them.

The water level of the Rio Grande is rising, as more water is released from Cochiti to support farm irrigation in the valley. We are in a long term drought, but it is still worse that "usual"

These large gulls are in much smaller flocks than they used to be during the winter. They are basically ravens, who sleep on flooded sand bars instead of on streetlamps.

The lateral ditch is being charged right now, and all the winter debris is being cleared out at the gates. The foam is accumulated proteins, mostly insect. The silt is carried by the water and is a vital growing site for seeds from the elms and cottonwoods

these tracks are from the early morning activities of the ditch diggers as they pull out blockages to the water flow at the gates along the ditch.

The flower variety is slowly expanding. The early flowers are garden varieties, but the dandelions thrive in the company of humans, who helpfully eliminate all competition to these tenacious plants.

There is an explosion of color as these very small flowers have begun to compete with the yellow mustard grasses

these cross flowers are very small and colored to attract daytime pollinators, there are often flea beetles climbing around the leaves

the varieties of butterfly is slowly rising too. the usual cabbage whites and mourning cloak are being supplemented by others

A heck of a lot goes on during the half of the day that happens to be in darkness. The windy days give us these gorgeous sunsets.

Right now the gnats have free rein at sunset, but the numbers of bats is soon going to begin to put a dent in those numbers. Right now, this large fellow is on his own,

Most people think of the night insects like ants, spiders and moths, but there is a large number of the wasps out at night. I tried to get a scary picture of this one, but he STILL just looks like a baby yoda.

While to most people, a moth is a moth, there is a crazy number of species out there right now, and this isn't even the most diverse period. All sorts of creatures eat moths, from bats, up to bears.

most moths have a layer of slippery scales that help to slide out from the clutching teeth of a bat, the camouflage helps during the day when sharp eyed birds are hunting for them in the leaf litter , or among the cracks in the bark

many moths also exude a noxious chemical to try and deter the snout of a lizard that is digging for them. The final thing to save them is the crazy number of eggs that they lay