Clear

 

Ecosystems are defined by how stable they are. They are also identified according to what the story you are telling is. Wetland habitats are often variable. They change according to tides, human activities, or the climate. The wildlife that lives here (including humans) often have to balance conflicting demands and either be flexible, or be ingenious.

The interior drain of Corrales is a fascinating and valuable wetland. They have the phenomena of "inundation". This chocolate colored water has very profound implications for the wildlife here. This water is from runoff from the soil surface and is full of many things including insect eggs, seeds, bacteria, oxygen, and clay. It is "energetic" water.

A typical wetland from east of the Mississippi is more like tea. It is acidic, dark, cold, anoxic and clear. Nutrients are often locked away in the dark mud. The water in the clear ditch is usually filtered by at least 8 miles of cattails. This clarity allows sunlight to reach the ditch base. allowing extensive plant growth.

Siberian elm seedlings are prolific. The large leaves are very distinct from the "true" leaves that are just beginning to form and help get the growing process moving along quicker. This is important in the competitive quest for real estate.

amaranth seedlings are always eager to grow, but even more so this monsoon as the wet weather continues over the state. They prefer to grow along ditch banks but anywhere where moisture lingers will do.

Seeds have many tricks to get a head start over the competition. Mulberries are swallowed whole by coyotes (which are very fond of sugary treats). Because coyotes don't chew, the seeds come out whole in a pile of fertilizer, ready to grow. I have found grapes, apples, mulberries, beetles and tin foil in coyote scat. I entertain extreme doubts about their ferocity as savage killers of livestock and pets based on the evidence so far.

Now is the amphibian's time to shine. There are many tadpole species out there. This is one of my favorites, a desert tadpole of Spea multipicata; AKA New Mexico spadefoot.

There are ever weirder things out in the desert, like Triops longicaudatus. Look closely and you can see the three eyes and the long tail that give this crustacean it's name.

Wet weather and horses attract many types of flies. Some of these (like the biting deer flies) drive horses nuts with their persistence. The common house flies in this picture are harmless in the biting department and are more interested in producing the next generation.

Flies fill many niches in nature and this bright green one is a pollinator, but also a predator of pest insects. Condylostylus longicornis does not bite or transmit diseases. It can be very noticeable as it performs courtship dances on sunflower leaves now

This assassin bug is quite a little hunter, and also very handsome to look at. These bugs often coat their limbs in sticky plant resin and hunt bees visiting flowers. Officially, their name is Apiomerus spissipes

I write a lot about these beetles, but I find them quite interesting for their lifestyle as much as their looks. Chrysomela scripta Fabricus is found in forests, where they do little damage due to plant diversity, competition and predator insects. In a managed garden with only a few tree species and no checks on the population growth, they cause incredible damage quickly.

Silverleaf nightshade has always bugged gardeners because it just will not go away. The bugs, however, are found in the blooms all summer long.

hummingbirds are not visiting the feeder in our yard much this year. Hopefully that is because there is plenty for them to find in the wild. They are usually totally preoccupied with chasing each other and other bird species away from their favorite perches. Little chunky Napoleons who survey their kingdoms.

This strange bird is a cormorant. There are quite a few around right now on the river. I suspect they are after small catfish that hide in the sediment heavy water

Wetlands are famous for the variety of birds they protect. However, most wetland preserves are managed for the benefit of duck hunters. This is a sandpiper in a more remote section of the Bosque preserve Rio Rancho sewage outflow.

While the water is cleaned before returning to the river, the euphemistically  "reclaimed" water does contain problems, such as invasive plants like pond weeds. This one is a milfoil species. The clear, warm water allows many water plants to thrive in the nutrient rich soup from the outflow.

this ribbon weed is pretty rare in New Mexico waterways, but often found near outflows in urban areas. I'm not sure why its growing here. Maybe from hobbyist aquariums dumping old water. They do attract many duck species that graze on it.

The newly growing willows and cottonwoods growing in the Harvey Jones outflow already has many birds nearby that are excited to be colonizing new territory. This is a yellow breasted chat. This bird is usually hidden in thick brush, but the males need a exposed perch to advertise from.

Common snapping turtles have to risk everything to migrate to new locations for nesting. They often run afoul of pets, people and cars on their way. Not sure what happened to this one, but she was a old, mature female. The long, dragon like tail helps identify the species even though the head is gone.

The Rio grande is a very sediment rich river. Here you can see the "treated" effluent water from Rio Rancho flowing into the muddy river and the stark difference from the clear water. Water from dams or treated water is often sediment free. This encourages extensive plant growth, which comes with problems and benefits. The Harvey Jones wetlands has storm surface run-off and treated wastewater sections which both are completely different ecosystems. I'm willing to bet most people would not like the results of a chemical analysis of the water. Luckily no one is checking, other than Sandia pueblo and a few obscure government organizations. Hopefully, like this new delta, they can merge into a profitable whole for the benefit of the people, and the wildlife.

Drive

 

The wet season is the most wonderful for seeing strange and unusual animals in Corrales. Even the common animals can become amazing. Even the landscape improves; with harsh sun giving way to soft cloudy light. Shadows disappear and all life takes on a calmer aspect.

The amphibians are coming out. This spadefoot is hard to photograph as they are only around at night (two weeks out of the year!). The harsh LED light gives a fuzzy look and heavy shadows when using a smartphone camera. But look at those staring, bronze eyes and "eyebrows". Pretty intense, because this amphibian has a lot on it's mind.

In the summer, the bullfrogs are so colorful, especially against this lily flower. The huge ear and skin fold around it is distinctly bullfrog. The huge head makes the eyes seem much smaller.

While the large bullfrog tadpoles take 2 years to mature, this new, tiny spadefoot tadpole has to be out of the water before 2 weeks have finished, or it risks desiccation in the hot, dry desert air. This one already has the back legs forming. For these tadpoles, it pays to have parents that are prepared to travel  as soon as there is the promise of moisture in the air, and lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time.

These red weevils are collecting in groups for mating purposes. After egg laying, they quickly disperse back into the fast growing weeds, or sunflowers in this case

This root borer beetle is extending her ovipositor to lay the eggs deep beneath the ground's surface. I wonder where this structure is able to be stored when not in use. It takes several minutes for her to fully extend it for use

The hide beetles are usually found in areas of the desert where something recently died and was scavenged. The hide beetles arrive to the feast when almost everything possible has been eaten.

There will be many more of these cicada killers in the summer. Right now the females are creating burrows to fill with cicadas to feed their grubs.

The flame skimmer is a pretty common dragonfly in the western US. The vivid orange body and wings is very striking drifting over the pond plants.

This dragonfly is a common whitetail. Over 99% of the aquatic nymphs die before reaching maturity, and then the sexually mature adults live for only 2 weeks.

This large butterfly is a swallowtail. They are pretty common but can be devilish to photograph. This one was in the butterfly pavilion at the Biopark gardens.

Click beetles are usually very dispersed and hidden. The grubs, called wireworms, are very destructive because they begin to feed just as the new seedlings are putting out roots. Most of those monsoon weeds will not survive to adulthood because of the combined activity of these grubs and decreasing moisture in the soil

Small mouth bass are introduced and have been around since the civil war, transported about the country by steam train in the early days to provide sport entertainment in the days before television. They are important predators of the larger wetland habitats.

Now that the water for Corrales irrigation is sourced from the Rio Grande river directly via diesel pumps, there will be many changes to the ditch ecosystem. This catfish is swimming downstream in very shallow water. A slippery, soft skin, strong dorsally flattened tail, and bony head help push it forward against all the odds. These fish have amazing luck, and an ability to thrive and reproduce.

Many birds have fledgling babies right now. While the mortality is still very high, paternal care push the odds in favor of survival. For ducks, the attentive mom is always close by to give an early warming of unrecognized danger.

Hummingbirds are lightening fast and unpredictable. They defend their nests against any and all interlopers, no matter the size. These birds are often why heavily treed areas near to water sources don't have even higher bird diversities.

This structure has me a little confused. It appears to be a gall on New Mexico Olive, but the biology information on this is pretty sparse. Galls are just the way certain organisms make their eggs; by using a host plant species to provide the building material for them by clever manipulation of plant growth hormones. Due to the wet soil, the chances are this is a fungal or bacterial species doing this. Maybe it's crown gall disease, but I don't know. It is more common when the temperatures are lower in the summer, which they have been this year.

Human made trails in the rain create particular problems, especially in the tropics, where soils are easily affected. But even in our bosque, the constant trampling of human feet produce these artificial puddles. They quickly become breeding ponds for mosquito and midges. Also, the mud puddles force humans in tennis shoes to walk around them, widening and damaging the surrounding soil and vegetation

Many areas of compacted soil actually benefits certain beetle grub species. An impermeable surface prevents water infiltration. This not only prevents the grubs from asphyxiating but also forces the tree roots to stay shallow. I have been told by urban foresters that tree roots rely on water evaporation just under the surfaces of roads and buildings in built up areas. This is partly the reason why we have weeds collecting along the edges of roads and in cracks in the asphalt. These holes in the picture are not from people's walking sticks, but are emergence holes, likely from cicadas. The new toadlets often use these to hide in during the day, and during dry periods.

Toads and ants actually have an antagonistic relationship, with young toads staying near standing water which ants cannot traverse to avoid being attacked. Ant burrowing activities dry out the topsoil with aeration. This prevents the colony becoming water logged, or their seed store germinating. The drier soil affects which plants will grow, favoring invasive shrubs with deep roots over native grasses.

This hole has been enlarged by something with feet. It could have been a lizard, but more like a toadlet looking for a place to hide. Holes and burrows are very important to creatures and are often enlarged rather than created from scratch, so to speak.

Ants, especially harvester ants, are much better gardeners than we give them credit for. The grainy appearance of this soil is because the mud is carried out, jawful by jawful from below the surface. Forager specialized ants drop cottonwood and elm seeds at the entrance for the nest maintenance ants to evaluate and bring back down into the nest. If they are interrupted by a couple of days rain, many of these seeds will begin to sprout and are then ignored by the ants. Cottonwood seeds, elms, amaranth, grass, or birdseed are all collected avidly when they are in season.

The soil has an interesting ability to regulate germination. Conditions appear to be ripe for a growth of morning glory seedlings. Confusingly, bindweed and morning glories are not the same plant, but often called the same thing and sort of closely related

Slime molds are a whole different animal, literally. This is the dog vomit slime mold. A slime mold is it's own animal, not a fungus, plant or animal. This collective group of cells often found where there is a lot of watering on bark mulch. Officially, it is an acellular ameboid. This is one of the weirder organisms in a world of weird critters.

Wet

 Corrales NM is a whole package. There are people who prefer landscapes, those who like insects. A few people like amphibians, and most people like birds. Some people like video, others prefer pictures. People like to read science, others prefer romance. There is room for everyone here. Indeed, this is essential for the world to work. We do not always remember this idea, and often focus just on that small part of the world that concerns us. This is a mistake.

Personally, I see the world better through a microscope. Others in my family are much better at taking a wider view. Sunsets in the southwest have insane sunset colors of orange, pink, blues, gold, and greys. These are very common, and I often forget to look at it while I hurry through yet another dog walk in the evening.

The mountains are almost never steeped in wispy clouds except during monsoon days (a few days a year) . This sight is much less common here in Corrales, especially this year. While I admire them, another memebr of my family was actually able to capture the "gestalt" of the view. Right now, the tops of the mountains resemble cloud forest from the tropics, with dripping moss and spongy wood. The western US lands in general believe in contrasts. Water here is treated very differently than water to the north, or the east edges of this continent.

 

 A new very small wetlands area is being formed now, today, at the Harvey Jones outflow channel in Corrales. Here, a white faced ibis and great egret are hunting the shallow mud flats for insects and amphibians.

The marshy areas will soon abound with small metamorph woodhouse toads. This one hatched about six weeks ago. The tall grasses will make sure at least a few of them will survive to adulthood.

For now the beetles are larger than the new toads, but this will change. The moisture triggers many burrowing beetles to begin mating. Many small, soft bodied insects that need hot and dry conditions are going to be replaced by the progeny of giant beetles; ten lined June beetles, darkling beetles (like this pair) and others, such as the metallic green June beetle. There is quite some confusion about the name "June bug" which seems to cover about 300 different species

 

These are also June bugs, and are only cousins to the other types. These formed a congregation on the leaves of some sort of legume (American licorice, I think), probably attracted to each other by the pheromones that hang around on damp, still air.

There is an almost infinite number of beetle species. Not all look like clowns. This very serious face is from a California root borer. Those large eyes give this species quite a serious, alien visage.

These two fledged owls have a long way to go until they can hunt on their own. During the summer, they will eat a lot of those big beetles, which are easy to hunt. By winter, however, only the small mammals will be left to hunt, and those are considerably harder to catch. Their mom is nearby, encouraging them with quiet screeches to hustle more, much like a soccer mom at Saturday practice.

This lesser goldfinch is offering a lesson in why weeds are not just messy. It is clearly eating the seeds of kochia and russian thistle. Those seeds grew last year and have been left behind as the plant died off. The current year's crop will not be ready until the fall so this seed bank is an important resource for many birds. A clean garden often cannot support migratory and native seed eating birds. In this sense, the idea of replacing those seeds with a bird feeder seems so redundant.

It can be sobering to think that we see a minute fraction of those creatures that we share a woodland walk with. This is a shy night heron. They winter in this area, this one did not get that memo. The even shyer green heron has only been seen in a few locations in Corrales, where the tree canopy is thickest over a ditch.

Many plants and animals are symbiotic. The blooms of the silverleaf nightshade are uniquely adapted in both shape and color for the large bumblebees. While bumblebees are in decline, the silverleaf is thriving on the strange gardening practices that the average urbanite practices in Corrales (clear cut everything to plant a lawn, then abandon it until sold to the next tenant)

There is so much we do not know about when it comes to biology. This is a flaxflowered ipomopsis it is a new plant to me and I know little about it. Like, why the Zuni used a poultice of this plant to remove the hair of youngsters. I have no idea why this is the only thing listed about his plant on Wikipedia. Other sources list the dried poultice as being a hair tonic, so I think someone got their wires crossed. The long tube hints that the pollinator is a night moth (hummingbird moth) which have 4 inch long proboscis to reach down into the flower. The mechanics of how the moth does this (in the link) still blows my mind. But the study of this, and many other phenomena helps humans to escape, temporarily, the "umwelt" that is the limits of human imagination and links us to the world that surrounds us.