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 The insects are definitely getting bigger as the heat and humidity rises. They are also dying, exhausted as their various life tasks are completed.

 

 Hornets have a reputation for protecting nests, and a large insect with this armament would seem to support our biases. But this organ has many purposes, and the cicada killer does not have a large nest to defend. The venom is used to paralyze a large adult cicada which the wasp then carries to a underground nesting chamber and will lay an egg inside the body of the paralyzed insect. The cicada is twice the wasp's weight, so the work is arduous.

We watched this male June bug circle around waving it's huge antlers in the air as it flew. Then it landed and dragged a female out of the soil with amazing accuracy. The non flying female releases pheromones that the male was able to detect through several inches of soil

This snapping turtle was laying eggs in a drying ditch. Unfortunately the ditch filled up with irrigation water shortly after, and the eggs would not have survived.

This longhorn beetle lives and feeds on globe mallow plants. It takes a pretty sharp eye to see a orange beetle hiding in a leaf with orange blossoms.

The thunderheads are not producing as much rain as we would like, but they still give a good lightening show some evenings

The lichen is colonizing the old, dead trees with bright splashes of green, oranges, and yellows. Old trees provide an ideal nesting environment for many species. Old growth forest usually have dense leaf litter on the ground, holes high up, many insects and seclusion. They are always highly diverse.

 

Without old, large trees, this woodpecker would have to move on to a new location. As those locations become fewer, the numbers of woodpeckers any one state can support decreases until it is below carrying capacity. Then the birds just vanish, forever.

 

 The river floodplains have good visibility for safety and the low water levels make catching food easy for this large blue heron. Heron do not tolerate humans and their associated noise very well, so the birds need a lot of space. This is partly why there are never very many in one area.

Coyotes stand out very well on a river floodplain, so many large birds feel safe roosting on the river at night, this is more noticable in the fall and winter. The coyotes adapt by scavenging for sick and weakened birds instead of ambushing.

As nesting season continues, the numbers of singing birds seems to have decreased a lot. Fledglings are weak and are learning life skills so bird parents do not want to draw attention to themselves as their charges are learning to fly and forage for food.
 

 

 The bosque is far richer in wildlife than people would think. While no one sees many large mammals out during the day, their sign is everywhere. This is a track from a mule deer, using a human path late at night after the rains.

This webbed hind foot is a beaver track, they are very shy, especially near places with high human densities.

 

  The clear ditch water on the left carries a lot less sediment than the cloudy waters from Scuzzy ditch on the the right. Scuzzy is an estuary, the level of the water in it depends totally on the lateral irrigation ditch being full, and the dam effect from the sediment built up further down the clear ditch. The irrigation water backs up, and then moves into Scuzzy, allowing life to thrive.

 

Life is hard for the largest insects like this longhorn beetle, the only advantage is the improved competition for scarce resources they have over similar beetles. So, in crowded places, animals get bigger. This often happens on islands. As the "resource" vanishes (like food) then the whole population of species becomes smaller. and extinctions begin.

A pondhawk dragonfly. The meadowhawks are yellow, there are also blue skimmers and flamer sepcies of dragonfly. The colors are dazzling. The architecture of the body designs are also awe inspiring. Look closer at the elaborate veins and hinges of the large wings.

Eggs of all types are being laid right now, this unknown insect chose a cottonwood tree. Most eggs are laid on the underside of leaves to better avoid desiccation and predation.

This is some sort of scarab beetle. Beetles often have population explosions and cause local defoliation. The are often very specific on the species of plant they feed on. The congregate in one area and leave behind a denuded plant and many eggs.

Not all wasps are the same. This is a mud dauber wasp. An insect predator and more aggressive on protecting its nest than other species. Wasps are like hummingbirds and are attracted to sugar, but also eat insects and pollen. this insect you should avoid.

Unlike the mud dauber above, this big wasp is harmless and a pollinator. The black tip on the abdomen shows that it does not defend communal nests or exhibit aggressive behavior. Unfortunately, they look a lot like the Eurpoean hornet (but have very different behaviors), which is not a friendly insect.

Looking like a stick is very beneficial right now with all the predatory wasps, birds and parasites around. This camouflage would be very effective if this caterpillar was around other sticks. This insect has no other defense against attack, so it does not move much, and freezes when alarmed

This caterpillar was flushed out of hiding by the rain. It at least has a tougher coating, with armored segments. It seems to be some sort of mealworm, when it is alarmed it thrashes around wildly.

The familiar bagworm uses camoflage as well as armor to protect itself, spinning a tough silk coating and sticking dead leaves into the material to hide. When threatened, it retreats into the bag and closes the opening.

Winged insects like this dragonfly are ambush hunters and dart out to catch small prey. The move fast, but often have to rest.

most beetles use a more plodding approach, constantly moving as they hunt for mates, food, or shelter. Their antennae are usually very sensitive to touch and smells, but their eyesight is usually poor.

A paintbrush plant, these plants are usually found in alkaline areas with low plant acids from decaying leaves. I have not seen them in the bosque before, but they are very common further north.

 

 I wait all year for the brief appearance of these desert amphibians. This is a spadefoot toad (it's a frog, don't ask) they live under the desert for most of the year until its time to come out and mate. This was the only one in the pool formed in a parking lot after rain.

The next day, there were these tiny tadpoles all over, so there must have been more than one adult in that pool. They have to grow very quickly to escape the pool before it dries up. This maximum zoom picture shows a tadpole that was about 2mm long.

Another species of desert frog, this bigger one is a couch's spadefoot. Usually much harder to find, but it does like hanging out on warm asphalt in the evenings to stay warm.

Unfortunately, there seems to be no stopping the relentless human drive to remove trees from the bosque and replace them with wooden boxes (houses) and steel boxes (cars). Wildness cannot survive when people remove animal hiding spaces, bring in predators (dogs and cats), and trap and poison anything that lives. The wilderness can always survive, but species that do survive are small trees (elms), invasive plants (goatheads), cockroaches, ants, rodents, and flies. This replacement ecosystem is supported by nutrients such as animal waste (feces) and human waste (trash). Its hard to understand why people would choose this as a community.