poke

Politics is a mugs game, but this week with mayoral elections in Corrales it is hard to feel the typical unity of the village that is usually split 50/50 on everything. Everyone loves the bosque the way it is, yet everyone is also laboring hard to change it. In times like these it helps to focus on what unites us. The first, is everyone is annoyed by politicians. The second things is everyone likes Corrales wild spaces, the trees especially.

Obviously, the primary feature of the bosque is the wood, and there is a lot of it lying around. The dead wood is an important natural resource, however this porcupine is relying on the living wood and the associated elm buds to get it thought the nights.

A bird feeding site. These holes are very common in the bosque right now. Many birds, like cranes, pheasants, , turkeys and flickers all drive their beaks into the dirt looking for food. The location and pattern of these excavations on the site of an old ant mound beside a walking trail means this is likely the feeding location of  a flicker; the only ant feeding woodpecker I know of.

Nearby, this hole in the wood indicates the likely site for some kind of carpenter bee. The first time I saw a bumble emerge from one of these holes I was totally unprepared, unfortunately I have not see it happen since. The neatly scalloped edges suggest that a woodpecker enlarged the hole for better access. These holes in the old wood are often reused by many animal species as they are made bigger over time. This one is better suited to a mouse, being so close to the ground. The size and location of the hole is very important to the smaller, delicate birds that are not adapted to wood pecking. Many animals which are out and beginning their nest scouting trips now.

many people do not know that coyotes regularly enter the human inhabited parts of Corrales, or that their preferred source sources right now are fruit (according to the scat). This youngster is watching a pair of giant Irish wolfhounds out for a walk (on leashes). The older members of the pack are more photogenic, but also much more shy.

The interior drain and the clear ditch are one of the only areas of permanent wetlands in Corrales. Even thought they are much less than 1% of the surface area, just about every animal depends directly or indirectly on them. This makes the plans for both mayoral candidates for Corrales to develop them into buried sewer lines, pressurized hydrants, or paved parking lots for recreational fishing pretty alarming. What grows in the shallow water varies depending on water depth, movement, and whether the ducks are muddying the waters, which limits the light young underwater plants need to grow during the early spring.

The harassment of the bigger raptors are becoming more pronounced as nesting season begins. Red tailed hawks like this one do look tough. Still, once their prey is alerted to their presence by dive bombing, twittering, bird parents, the hawks will need to move on if they are going to be successful in ambush hunting.

Wood ducks are very small and shy compared to mallards, and always alert to danger. They do spend more time roosting in trees and are less likely to be in flocks. The males are some of the most colorful ducks around.

This is some sort of wren. many birds keep specific territories that they use to communicate possession to others of their species. Certain areas of the bosque reliably have certain bird species, sometimes even single, rare individuals. This bird seems to prefer this single Russian olive bush. his neighbor is a scrub jay, which is a common bird, but not often found in the bosque. Because those two birds occupy very different ecological niches, they do not compete for any resources.

The common robin are everywhere again. This communal bird becomes very territorial during the early spring. They are well adapted to taking advantage of humans bird feeders.

Mallards are the wild ancestors of domestic ducks and tolerate humans well. This bird is a keystone species of wetlands in urban areas like Corrales. Its constant foraging along the edges of the drainage canals in the winter controls what plants grow where and in what abundance.

Here is a great picture of the red feathers that give the red shafted flicker it's species name. There actually is plenty of argument about whether the yellow shafted flicker is a different species, or not. They certainly hybridize.

This is an eastern bluebird because it has a brown chest up to the neck. It should be a western bluebird, but there you go. It didn't read the manual. The western bluebirds certainly exist and are more often in the northern section of Corrales. Those birds are more often found on open fields and look sleeker.

Unlike the boisterous youngsters, this mature female is much more cautious. Even though I am a good 800 yards away, she is watching me very closely. This group crosses the open ditch area one at a time and are on constant alert. Those suspicious eyes are incredibly beautiful though. As the coyotes change their habits into more stealthy infiltration of human habitat, their evening howls and yips have faded away. Even in the dense dead leaves inside the bosque, the pack makes no sound while traveling.

The waters are ice free during the night now, allowing these mergansers to swim below the water surface in search of hibernating frogs. I have heard, but not yet seen the machine gun rattling call of the belted kingfishers.

There is a huge number of great grey herons around right now, they are also fishing long into the day. The rippling water of the spawning mosquito fish is certainly attracting their attention, but I suspect there are also other things getting their attention.

High flying crows are a lot harder to photograph that I would have thought. The sheer number involved is staggering. They look like a black river flowing from the west side garbage dumps into the bosque. They also come into Corrales from the city to the south. The amount of phosphorus brought into the forest by all these different bird migrations must be enormous, but I can't find any data.

The gradually warming trend this week is going to bring out a lot of different insects, and it's nice to have a change from all these birds! This little one looks like a leafhopper but turns out to be a psyllid. As usual, all the available info online is only how to eradicate them. Interestingly, shaving the tops of the trees like everyone does, encourages new growth, and attracts psyllids. They are almost never a pest species anyway except to citrus plants.

Tree management is a VERY controversial topic, especially when municipal authorities have the resources, but private groups have a vested interest. Just like the US constitution, the peace is preserved by a negotiated peace and a delicate system of checks and balances that is always on the edge of disaster. The bosque does have to be managed heavily to remain the "natural" way that is is currently. The pressures on the riparian habitat are immense from users who love it to death, to haters who cause huge damage that can last generations. it is always important to note that the same humans that cause the problems must also be a part of the equation for bringing about improvement. I guess that also sums up politics.