value

 

 Objects have more value when they are rarer, according to the economists. But bringing back value to something that has become rare is very difficult, and never appreciated at the time. The emergence of insects in the spring is a common event, but for a while, these insects obtain special rarity status as the sun's heat re-asserts itself on the world.

 

This false spring in New Mexico is slowly bringing out more insects. The variety of insects is truly mind blowing, and a beautiful picture can bring this out their beauty more. But even the most plain creature can be priceless. Unfortunately that usually only happens once it is gone forever. Or maybe not; everyone knows about the dodo, but has anyone heard of the solitaire? Looking closely at this plain moth shows beautiful patterning, and also gold filigree on the trailing edges.

 

 Likewise, everyone has heard of parasites, and predators, but often the relationship is far deeper than that. This is a gall midge, it manipulates plant hormones to create eggs for the larva to grow inside. But really, the lines will blur from the nice neat high school examples of biology. Even at the college level, closer examination often makes things more complicated, for example, a fungus is implicated in the ability of the insect to produce galls, and must work with the midge is as yet unknown ways to acheive a common goal.

As a side note, see those tiny clubs that are sticking out from the side and look like missing legs? Those are halteres and are advanced flight stabilizers found on helicopters.

 

 With plant eating insects around it is inevitable that there would be insect eating insects following them. While the familiar lacewing is green, there are many other insects out there that are not farmed for controlling aphids on people's roses. This brown lacewing species might even be more closely related to a mantidfly, which looks exactly like it sounds that it would.

If you don't know what you are looking at, this spider can seem terrifying. It has long fangs, is bright red and a bulbous, shiny looking body. If fact, the harmless woodlouse spider uses those long slim fangs to reach around and pierce the woodlouse in their vulnerable underbelly. These spiders have a very mellow personality and are highly predictable and slow, just like their prey.

 

 This is an amazing insect. That long curved hook, or rostrum shows this fierce predator is also an insect eater. This genus is often called the assassin bugs, and has a much meaner reputation that the "delicate" lacewings. Underserved, I think. While some species are scary, the genus is remarkably unexciting.

 

 This insect also has a sharp, stabbing beak. But because it is a leafhopper, we are not afraid of them. Most leafhoppers look alike, but again, they are usually green, so this one sticks out a little. All the insects I have found so far this spring have very muted colors, but I am not an insect specialist. It could just be the indoor lights I am photographing with.

The mayflies have begun to hatch. This stage is not the full adult, and is known as a "dun" for those who fish for trout. The appearance of these insects, with their large, red eyes, is a sign that the fishing is going to be easy for a couple of days. The excited fish become a lot less discriminating in their hunting.

  

This phoebe is definitely an insect specialist. They sit on a branch over water and literally fly out to catch insects one, by one. They never seem to sit still. Their numbers are going to gradually increase along with the insects they chase. Think about this bird next time you or someone else is reaching for the insect spray for your garden. They feed on the insects those product are trying to poison. Worse, the permanent residue washes into the waterways and affects the aquatic world the fish live in.

Almost all bird behaviors serve more than one purpose, as does almost everything else in biology. Everything is interconnected in life. Many people comment on woodpeckers hammering on the ends of telephone poles. People wonder at why a bird brain would be looking for bugs in treated wood. The answer, of course, is that there actually are some insects in treated wood, but mostly they are using the long pole to resonate a "flexing" call (mating or territorial depending in who's listening) to all other woodpeckers in the nearby area. By audio advertising, the birds can spread out territory without too much physical fighting.

 

 The purpose for all this bird activity is the nesting season. Ducks are the best nesting experts in many ways. These feathers are likely from a nearby duck that is using the small breast feathers to line the nest. The duck herself is safely hidden in the nearby cattails and densest Russian olive and invisible unless she moves.

 

 This prominent nest on the ditch has been used by several bird species over the years. These is a nesting bird there right now, but I can wait it to make an appearance later in the year. Nests should always be strictly left alone during their vulnerable incubation time. Many birds get stressed even if people stop near them for too long. Nest protection also applies to strict leash control on dogs that like to swim in the ditches and often chase off nesting ducks. There is not enough wetlands for the ducks to hide when compared to the numbers of dogs that are literally bred with the behaviors to flush them out of hiding.

 This crow was raising a huge ruckus in the bosque and it took a while to figure out what the issue was. Crows are very intelligent and this one was calling up other members of the "crow militia" to come and mob a nearby predator. When no-one else answered it's alarm call, it gave up and flew on, after a few dive bombs.

 

 It took a while to figure out the target of the crow's ire. I found the target quickly enough, but it was not the Cooper's hawk I thought it was. Turns out, it was actually a sharp-shinned hawk. It was forced to perch and wait out the crow's aerial assault before it could continue to hunt in the tree tops. These birds are sparrow specialists, but all raptors seem to annoy the nesting crows right now.

 

The bosque is full of the sounds of dove wooing calls right now. With perseverance,  the call can be copied close enough by people to start the preening and courtship strutting the doves engage in once a pair find each other. It's not that the birds are dumb, just that they are under a big time crunch to get mating going.

 

 Skunks, raccoons and porcupines also have begun traveling the dusty roadways looking for food, territory and mates. This track shows the heel of the subject's foot, called "plantigrade" meaning this animal walks on its heels, this track is probably a skunk. They can travel great distances poking their noses into the leaf litter as they go.

Other mammals in the bosque don't travel nearly as far. Most squirrels seem to stay near to the territories they have already established in the fall. Beavers, of course, build lodges and dams along the river. In areas with flooding, like the Rio Grande, they often will just burrow into the high river banks instead. In Corrales, they can be an occasional nuisance by blocking the clear ditch water flow. This actually helps ditch maintenance in many ways by altering the water levels and controlling sediment loads and vegetation. Guess it depends on what the goal of the ditch actually is, and whether different goals can be overlapping.

This plant is called a donkey tail and is a hardy ornamental plant in the spurge family. This one is in the bosque near River's edge III after it became an feral species. The sap is toxic to bare skin and the plant is insanely hardy and difficult to remove. It is classified as a noxious weed in some places. By the time we find out if this plant is a threat to other species, it will be too difficult to eradicate

At the other end of the plant spectrum is this dock, a Rumex species. This helpful species grow where the ground is very damp and are part of the normal succession of ditches as they revert back into the grassy meadows that used to exist here. That is a gross simplification of the process, obviously.

This is a link to a PDF document with a more detailed description of wetlands in New Mexico to get a syllabus of what is basically a blueprint for rewilding of the bosque.

Plants are hard to identify early the growing season, these green shoots are identified by an app as a Psilostrophe species. They are common in the Sandia foothills. These were growing on gravelly soil underneath a dry culvert. Some sort of grass seed seems to have also become entangled in the clumps, brought in by the winds. Eventually these plants with form a community of interdependent plants in a tiny, specialized community.

Communities of organisms is literally what biology is. The details get very nuanced, sometimes unnecessarily so. The studies of relationships, and of competition are also shaped by biology. This bracket fungus grows in the dead wood of a tree. Removing the fungus does not help the tree much, but that is arguable. No matter what, all the wood of this tree will eventually be turned into soil by the action of fungus on dead wood.

This mistletoe is very similar to the fungus, but thought of very differently. A parasitic plant that grows on a living tree is seen as a disease and needs to be eradicated. It is been this way since before Louis Pasteur allowed germ theory to defeat the competition. Parasites like this plant fundamentally allow ecosystems to cycle nutrients, enriching everything that relies on those nutrients (see previous blog...erhh, blogs).

Science communication is vital for people to understand why they should care about mistletoe and bugs. The tools used are varied. Beautiful photography is an important part of this story and can express a great concept in a way thousands of words cannot. This (bad artistry) picture shows an artificially irrigated field being used by wildlife. The problem is a good photograph also will have selection bias, and suggests that the subject of the picture is commonplace. In this picture this is definitely not the case. Land use is subject to the whims of a society that may, or may not place value on all wildlife equally. The sad fact is that without the photogenic sandhill cranes, the common ducks would not have access to this rich habitat. Also, there is far too few locations where wetlands, and all the species richness that go with them can be found in Corrales, or along the Rio Grande river flood plain. Rareness is valued, but conversely, wetlands have become rare because they are not valued. Economics cannot be separated from biology, either.