Poop

 People and nature have a very misunderstood relationship with each other. It doesn't help that there are so many conflicting land use pressures placed on the land by many different groups. The same tree is a branch-crashing menace to one viewer, and a miracle of nature to another. A shade tree to one person is an insect pest producer to another.

The "devil's trumpet"; or the Sacred Datura, same plant. Has beautiful blooms and scary looking seed pods, impressive pollinators and a shady history of misuse by people. But, basically, it's just a plant. Enjoy.

The cactus flowers continue to flaunt it around the state. They are honestly much more beautiful than roses.

It is strange to see the oranges and reds replace the yellows and purples of early spring out in the arroyos on the edge of town. All the flowers are switching color tactics as the monsoon brings changes.

The bumblebees and furrow bees seem to live in such different worlds. This huge bumblebee is delicately sipping from these tiny flower funnels in a calm field.

While this tiny  bee is having to clean itself off just to be able to fly while frantically fighting off all the other insects jostling inside. The same flower is usually visited by bees in the morning and evening, and by beetles and flies during the heat of the day.

 This water loving plant is the yerba mansa associated with curanderos in New Mexico. Most people, when seeing a plant, will usaully ask what it can be used for, and someone will always oblige with some words of wisdom, or a book recommendation. Personally, I think herbs are very misunderstood by humans. They aren't "for" anything, they are more than a bunch of chemicals, a herb is a whole structure of interconnected parts and purposes, just of of which is some fabled healing process.

The lizards will wait for the sun to be shining before they come out to forage. If there is any chance of rain, they are nowhere to be seen.

This very intimidating spider is a grass spider, not some monster death-widow-killer sounding spider. Still, pretty big, though.

This big old toad looks like she has seen a few things. She is enjoying the sunshine, but is not actually a big fan of getting into the fast moving arroyo water.

This mulberry tree, along with all the others in the bosque has started producing full fruit that is far too much for the local animals to eat. This strategy is called Mast seeding and is used by cottonwoods, elms and many other trees. The consequences of this strategy is very confusing for first year biology majors! because the effects change depending on circumstances.

 

 Coyotes and foxes are much more vegetarian that we would expect by their being a dog. This scat tells us this coyote is enjoying a summer diet high in mulberry seeds. Often in the summer the scat will be full of moth wings, or beetle bodies.

 

 Domestic dogs are not so much into vegetation. In the absence of roughage in their diet, like fur, they will often eat grasses that pass through undigested. Here the grass was twisted as it passed through the intestines and came out as some pretty icky diarrhea. Most smaller wild mammals eat more meat in the winter and mostly vegetation in the summer. The exception are cats that are exclusive meat eaters.

 

In a dry climate, manure will not compost. The runoff during the monsoons can also spread leachate into waterways, as well as parasitic eggs. Horse manure is a problem for Corrales, especially as it is very attractive to coyotes. Many insects, such as stable flies need it for their life cycle. Still, it could be worse. Many states store manure from commercial farming in huge lagoons of liquid waste!

The amount of dog waste around Corrales is pretty impressive. Once you start looking for it, you will find those piles everywhere. The human poop is hidden underground (except for the bits of old toilet paper near the Alameda access parking lot in the bushes.)

 

 Dog poop desiccates and become petrified quickly. This pile is a year old, and the rain is slowly washing it into the water. Domestic dog poop is very high in protein (at least the expensive stuff, not 'Ol Roy) and is impressively tenacious in the high desert environment, until eaten by coyotes, and rodents.

It is odd; why you would bag it and then throw it on the ground, though? This plastic covering means the poop should last indefinitely. The Corrales Bosque Advisory Commission provides dog poop bags at several high traffic locations around the river access areas.

 

The brilliant blues are from a fence lizard, killed by a domestic dog. The numbers of lizards killed by dogs and cats are so staggering no one is able to really understand the numbers. No one really knows how many die but we know it is more than 4 billion individuals in the US annually. An equal number of mosquitos would weigh the same as a large African bush elephant (10 tons), that is the smallest number estimated.