high

 The human brain is an amazing organ. In Buddhism they have a concept of "six senses" unlike the more usual five. The extra sense is the sense of understanding. What the brain comprehends when it takes in the world around it. A picture shows different things to different people. How can a person truly see a picture. This is why humans have the non scientific world of story-telling.

 

This bullfrog has amazing senses very unlike ours. These guardian gnomes of the waterways watch the people going by with a very judgmental look, or a hint of a smile. Best as I can tell, their ancestors escaped from food farms in the flood of 1943, This is from stories of those farmer's children, who live and work in Rio Rancho today.

This is some sort of rubyspot, of the copper form. Damselflies like this one fold their wings back along the abdomen when resting.

This crazy caterpillar looks just like a foxtail, or other grass seed. But it picked a green stem to rest on instead of a straw colored one, which kind of made it easy to spot. It is some sort of tiger moth species. The adults sure look like they would be colorful. We are in for a very full insect season with this rain , heat, and plant growth.

Very soon the sunflowers will explode into color and the stalks will be attacked by families of these chafers. I think this is an Japanese beetle. While they are a plant pest, they are also beautiful. In biology things frequently have more than just one role.

orb weavers love the deep green vegetation. Their preferred method of hunting; by net, is best where the insect population is high and not very varied.

This tiny moth is a pygmy blue. Its weird to see so many colored moths out during the day. Although I think this is a butterfly.

The snails take advantage of the cool, misty mornings to forage and find mates. Gastropods have insane ways of living and reproducing. It is worth remembering that but for an extinction event, the world might never have had room for stiff backed vertebrates, such as our family gene pool.

The cicadas are still around. The moist air has allowed most of the stragglers to emerge from their exoskeletons and prepare for the next life cycle. If you look close you can see the scythe-like digging arms that the underground stages use to emerge from underground. The back also shows the nascent wings that are such a big part of an adult cicada's life.

The growth of the pigweeds herald the start of the new stage in the seasons of the ditches. The leafy plants feed and protect the grasshoppers.

Grasshoppers are a crazy mismash of parts that shouldn't work as well as they do. The wings work, sort of. They incorporate dazzle camouflage as well. Those hopping legs don't work well in dense foliage, but they also kick lizards and are used to make mating calls. Those strong jaws sometimes eat smaller grasshoppers, but mostly chomp on stringy, but also juicy plants. The front four legs are climbing legs. Grasshoppers can do way more and are far, far more complex that I know. I'm sure I will have some time over August to explain all their other cool tricks; regurgitation, how they breath through spiracules, locust morphs and behavior, etc, etc.

Unlike grasshoppers, there are many, many people who study butterflies; lepidopterists. However, we still do not invest the people resources needed for proper study. The USA Lepidopterist society points out most people interested are amateur naturalists, like you and me.

However, while the best local resource I could find is pretty low key, she is at least a professional with the ABQ Biopark society. This picture is a Sulphur butterfly species

Not all insects like the wetter weather. This bagworm carries a pile of silk and dead leaves on it's back. That is not a burden an insect wants to get wet. This one is back to eating as soon as the rain has stopped. Time is getting short.

Inside their tough, fibrous cases these caterpillars are preparing for the final stage. Either they will form into a winged male, or an egg laying female.

The bag is likely pretty waterproof, especially under a leaf. But they need to return to the ground for unknown reasons several times a day. Rot is probably a big deal for these caterpillars.

The native cottonwood leaves are decidedly more resistant that invasive species like elms and sycamores to insect attack. That alone makes me wince when I see the humans spraying insecticide on their garden trees.

We live in a desert and normally cope with low moisture. It defines us. When I read about "dewdrops glistening in the sun" in books from more northern latitudes, I have very little concept of what that means. But this tree has literal rainbows dancing from it, as the droplets cast flashes of light in all directions. It was pretty breathtaking.

Right now the mornings have all the beauty of an Oregan forest, without any ticks or mold. The moisture will disappear soon enough. The beauty we can see outside our front door is ephemeral, and damn beautiful. Get out there, you are missing it.

Another popular term in nature novels: "smoke rising from the forest floor curled up into the canopy" That's what this is, but the picture does not do it justice. It was jaw droppingly beautiful and rare for New Mexico. Just the right mix of slanted, hot sun and moist shade. The mosquitos will come, but right now there is little downside to this sylvatic paradise.

Even this mud is great. It deters everything except horseriders. Humans will pound this in to a thick porridge within a few hours. Eventually the mix of mud, and mosquitos might allow this tree tunnel to keep at least most people at bay until it dries out.

Here is the mist rising off the ground in the open. It looked just like smoke and steam and was gone within an hour.

Any small purple flower is being mobbed by honey and bumblebees right now. But that still doesn't explain how this odd plant smells EXACTLY like fresh open jar of raw honey.The moist warm air we have right now definitely helps scents travel, but this flower's scent was...arresting.

My identification app lists that plant as an indigo bush. I hope a botanist would help me out here. So many mysteries to study out there in the woods...

 

 A long distance shot of a great blue heron flying past. I had to use the radio tower in the background as a marker to try and catch a picture as it flew past unhurriedly.

I suspect these noisy crows are refugees from the cell phone tower refit in Corrales village at the police station. They have fledged offspring and are often seen dumpster diving at village pizza. They were very vocal but I could see nothing that was affecting them. The youngster is being driven out by the parents, it seems to me.

This coyote pup was being escorted around the bosque by its mom. The area is covered in desert cottontail right now and that is definitely attracting coyote families. This little guy has some growing up to do, but sure looks cute.

I used to wonder why there were so many tent pegs lying on the trail into the bosque. I still don't know really, but I have noticed there is a definite correlation with Summer, and the travel of homeless populations through the wooded areas. These tent pegs have something to do with people living in the Bosque overnight.

These needles have followed me from Albuquerque, where they thrive. It is very sad to see them appear in the Bosque, because I have watched syringes proliferate, and destroy the city parks of Albuquerque. They are in the arroyos at all edges of the city. Their presence just makes people abandon putting down communal roots. Eventually the presence of syringes can remove the whole community and replace it just people who live in an area. The spread can be slowed, but I have seen dedicated people fail to stop these drugs from destroying a population's future. This syringe was at Bosque beach today.