Swarm

 Love is clearly in the air, literally in the case of most ground dwelling insects that swarm. The drones hatch with wings and fly off to search for new mates. The vast majority will sadly never survive the journey, but it seems like quite an adventure.

 

This is likely an arid subterranean termite drone (reproductive male). The best info online about these are from the pest control companies. I always found it an odd source of information, but people vote with their wallets. In about a month we will be seeing the pest control trucks wandering around Corrales, peddling their wares. They are in the business of selling hope, like most sales people. The biology of the environment is still in there, but it's pretty drowned out by the message of eradication.

 

these drones landed on the north side of east-west fences, which are still frozen because they receive the least total solar radiation. As small black insects, they cooled down quickly, and became torpid and immobile. They revive quickly when placed in the dry sun.

 

 these tracks in the snow show where small birds like sparrows and juncos have scouted around and scooped up these insect morsels. Small birds that perch don't have the leg muscles to walk. Their wings are placed far forwards. This gives them an unbalanced center of gravity so they hop, leaving parallel feet tracks. Birds also use a counter current to prevent their feet from freezing, or losing too much heat to the ice that they are walking on.

  

bluebirds normally have to catch insects on the wing, so snapping these clumsy insects flyers off the ground can be much quicker. The downside is that they have to stay alert for predators such as cats, this often means they do not stay in one location for very long.

 

the bushtits never seem to stop moving and are usually the first to spot the termites land. These birds are always found in small flocks, and are not usually far from thick cover.

The lack of leaves is allowing most people good views of the active porcupines. With daytime temps in the 60's, these mammals have also been moving around a lot more, making them easier than ever to spot.

Tree trimming seem difficult enough, but this team had to work around that porcupine. Successfully, it seems.

American widgeons is the second most common visitor to the clear ditch and is often found with mallards. They look a lot like green winged teals, but don't have any green on their wings.

It's rare to see a roosting duck with the bill hidden in the back feathers to keep warm. Just after this picture was taken there was an unknown rat sized rodent spotted running behind it, which might be why the eye is open. Those rodents form runs and tunnels in the long grass by the edge of the water and are usually of great interest to hunting coyotes early in the morning.

  

mergansers are an unusual visitor that seem to be migrating through the US right now. The narrow beak and fluffy hair are two obvious differences from a typical mallard. They, and others, are here for fish spawning season. The biggest freshwater fish are much less wary right now and easier to spot.

 

 This long distance shot shows a merganser struggling with a large, thin fish. It eventually swallowed it down. Then it went looking for the next one.

Trout and carp seem to be schooling in Corrales. The air temp is the warmest it has been all year and most water is ice free right now. Trout are cold water fish. They like clear, well oxygenated water and are carnivores. Conversely, the effluent pipe at the Harvey Jones outlet is seething with frenzied carp. Those fish prefer muddy, warm waters and are unfussy eaters. The warm waters there serve as a refugia. Because there is no retention pond to hold the warm water as it cools, many invasive species of fish, bivalves, and plants thrive and spread out in the warmer months. They retreat to the warm warms during the winter and avoid being extirpated locally.

Nuthatches specialize in insects found on trees, like caterpillar, ants and beetles. They are likely to be getting busy eating over the next few days, until the next cold front comes though. They like to pick at gnat and midge infestations that attack the local trees. This is one example of where parasites benefit ecosystems by making a food source available for another animal to exploit.

 

 Many insects are coming out that probably should stay tucked away for another month, in the normal scheme of things. There are actually many spiders that hunt other spiders, like this one, found in a bedroom.

This is a member of the wolf spiders, often found at the edge of shallow water as they chase insects. They can often be present in surprisingly large numbers. Plus, some of them can get pretty large. They are all completely harmless

Chequered white butterfly (female) is a common butterfly early in the season. they use nectar from mustard greens which are a common weed right now. The caterpillars are found soon on many early season vegetables.
 

The first of the ants have begun to arrive outdoors, these are acrobat ants and they prefer tree canopies. Their distinctive pointed thorax are often seen in large numbers by summer time. The are almost always only seen during daylight hours. They are likely are predated heavily on by flickers

At the Romero burn scar, there are many migrating bird species that like the large open perches available in the dead tree snags. Here are two species; Brewer's blackbird (preening) and a female red wing blackbird (brown) these mixed species flocks are very common near good food sources like open fields bordered by trees.

This American crow was sounding pretty chill as it advertised its presence in the area with soft grunts. That large gular throat pouch is inflated as a mating display for females. This guy was looking pretty shiny on his perch.

The Romero site is particularly favored by raptors like this red tailed hawk. It was actually chased off by the crow in the previous picture, so this site must be a high traffic area, or the crow just felt like flexing.

 

Raccoons are a secretive species and often only noticed by their distinctive footprints in the soft mud of ditches. They originally were mistaken for a porcupine. It took a while before I realized this was a coupling pair, a doubly rare picture.

A bird dropped this seed casing on some outdoors furniture at my house. I actually haven't been able to figure out the plant species yet....working on it still.

This is a species of dock plant, usually found in the sandy arroyos. The roots are high in astringent tannins and give it the common name of "tanner's dock". It doesn't look like a typical desert plant because of the broad green leaves. I have often seen other plant seedlings growing under the leaf cover. The plant dies off quickly before May after they have released their seeds so do not need the typical desert adaptations to a dry environment.

Mistletoe is a surprisingly convoluted topic. The plant interactions, life cycle and ecology is complex, and this topic is certainly emotive for gardeners. Most things about it are contentious, and there is certainly a lot of misunderstandings and myths. Birds certainly benefit from its presence. It has also be reported as a keystone species, which, when removed has a negative and cascading effect on many other species. Some people see it's presence as a symptom of a thriving ecosystem.