heat

They heat of the summer is definitely on us. This has many odd effects, such as "snow drifts" of cottonwood seeds piled up around plants and wet areas. Unless you are willing to get out into the world of desert reptiles, many animals will not be visible right now, but there are a few exceptions.

There are actually many types of hummingbirds visiting NM, but for some reason the black chinned ones like this guy are dominating right now. Those crazy eyes betray the weird, intense life these guys live defending their territory.

This female lizard is from Cochiti lake, an Eastern collared lizard. The muscular looking legs describe an active, desert dwelling, predator lizard. The large head shows off the powerful, lizard eating jaws of this species.

Insects and flowers have a very long, and jaw droppingly complicated relationship. The flowers of the desert southwest are far more difficult to understand during the brief time they exist. Some flowers only appear at night, some only during the day. Some hang around for a long time, some are just here for one night. There are many species of insects, like this native bee that thrive around these special flowers and have an intensely intimate relationship with the colorful blooms.

These are hide beetles, well known scavengers from the desert mesas. They look like they are made of cast iron. I have only seen them out at night. They indicate buried carcasses are nearby.

Wasps are very diverse as a species. This one was collected during a sampling of pollinating insects. That impressive looking stinger is really just an egg laying organ. Along with antlions, beetles, ants, bees, and moths, they make up a part of the pollinator species particularly active right now.

The last of the rain puddles are drying up.Many animals used the chance of water to reproduce and got caught by the false monsoon start. These tadpoles of the spadefoot toads came from along Paseo de Volcan road in Rio Rancho. They likely will not have enough time to grow before they dry out and die.

This is a clam shrimp found along Alameda. There are many specialist freshwater invertebrates around Bernalillo town especially. The precarious life they live in is actually ideal due to the specialist nature and low competition found in most freshwater, fish free environments.

I haven't found any triops yet, but these fairy shrimp are still waiting for the ideal moment to boil forth in the millions from eggs that have remained buried in dry sand for the last several years.