Mud

Seeing value in the land can take many different forms for different groups. For most, the land is a place to put a house, a commodity to buy and sell. But others use land to grow produce, maybe even for their own consumption. People don't forage anymore, but many animals also use the land to meet their own  needs. In many cases animals are in the bosque to make a living, usually from the mud.

The sandhill cranes love the cold mornings and there is a lot of activity as the sun's rays start to warm up the land. These big birds like the clear water and fields around Corrales. They are never found in the irrigation ditches, however. I think it's because they prefer to be able to see around them. It's odd, because the similar sized herons have no problem fishing from the ditches in the morning

The nightly freezing temperatures combined with the very dry air to make remarkable patterns in the mud. Corrales has has permanent agriculture for longer than other parts of America (11,000 years). Notice how the stones in the above picture are being slowly lifted by the freeze/thaw cycles of the soil. Often small objects like pottery shards, arrowheads, and small metallic objects will appear in the cultivated fields on spring days.

The interior ditches are not needed anymore for draining the marshy land, but they are still ready to carry off excess moisture during extreme floods (which the western US is known for). The cattails heads are slowly releasing their seeds on the winds, and the dark black mud is slowly coming to life. In the bosque del apache reserve, the cattails have to be cut then burned. In corrales we are not quite sure what to do with them. other than remove the water.

This Oily sheen is slowly turning to rust as it is exposed to the air. Many swampy areas have this rainbow in the water where bacteria is digesting manganese oxide back into iron and manganese. The raw metal is literally deposited as a thin metal film on the water surface.

Right now, the gardeners are preparing for the spring planting of "winter annuals", which is one of those quasi real terms that garden suppliers use to control their clients spending habits. It's worth bearing in mind the average gardener household spends >500 dollars a year on supplies. There are >43 million gardening households in the US....do the math.

All those new plants coming into New Mexico dropped off a few hitchhikers, like this slug I found. Likely a juvenile grey slug, as those stay active in the winter.

The slugs are sought out by the sandhill cranes in the wet meadows during their migration. In Corrales, those birds will substitute farmed fields and eat roots, dropped corn, and various insects. In this picture I also found a beetle larva(?). Underneath wet logs is a very protected habitat and a perfect nursery for all sorts of delicate organisms.

The bosque is heavily used by Canada geese, who travel every day to find gardens of short, manicured grasses. The actual river gives the geese protection from ambush predators during the evenings, but the birds cannot eat there.

Cranes are much more generalist and seem to be able to consume just about anything you can imagine. They also like to use the river channel for protection in the evenings just like the geese. They are very immobile until the flock takes off in the mornings after the sunrise. They seem to leave after the more excitable canada geese have moved on to the feeding fields.

This untidy pile of sticks is probably a crow's nest, based on the fact that this section of the middle ditch often has a small flock nearby. I think they are attracted by the nearby pecan orchard in the area. The numbers of crows and raven that flock in to the bosque each sunset are pretty impressive, but the mated pairs prefer to be away from the raucous rabble.

This large lumps looked like another nest, but was something altogether different. When a tree suffers an injury, it often responds by creating a scar. Known as a "burl". Normal wood has directionality that gives it strength in one direction. Usually this is laterally and circumstantially, but not radially. In a diseased section of a tree, the wood grain is all over the place. This gives the wood increased strength in ALL directions. This makes burls very sought after by wood workers carving bowls and spoons that won't split. This is a much more specialized market than it used to be.

Annuals sprout from seed and usually have to grow fast. They start early, grow fast, and drop their seeds before most of the bosque even has greenery. This London rocket is taking advantage of moisture found under some cottonwood leaves by the trail in a warm, sunny spot. The young leaves have a very nice, peppery flavor.

The herbaceous brassica species will be long gone by the time the pigweeds and Russian thistles have turned green again. I'm not sure what this mower is trying to control on the levee. But humans have a long history of doing things that seem contrary. Quite likely they are simply contracted to keep mowing until the bird nesting season prevents further work. Not quite "in tune with nature" but it provides a livelihood.