Space

 We appreciate the rains in Corrales. We don't always see them. We appreciate the water in the ditches because we also don't always have it. Because we always have animals in Corrales it can often be difficult to realize that we don't always have them, either. It often seems like there is no one actively trying to protect what we find so unique about this village.

Many of the most stunning birds do not live here, but travel through on their way somewhere else. Being at the end of the rocky mountains means we are the jumping off spot for many birds that travel to the tropics, or to Alaska. So appreciate these flashes of color in the woods.

Fungi are completely not understood by many. Who is even their champions? When fungi and algae work together they are lichen. This is some sort of sunburst lichen that appears quickly after the rains and just as fast vanishes again. This branch of the tree of life is not studied much in the literature.

I still find it strange to see polyphores like this one. They don't have gills on their underside and often seem to be found in more arid areas.

Flame skimmer dragonflies are very common in the western US. They hunt by resting on a perch and darting out to catch mosquitos and other small insects.

These burly spiders hunt by sight during the day and are generically called jumping spiders. They have tons of personality and are often found on tictoc videos as pets.

For some reason, woodhouse toads are not kept much as pets, which is not a shame, as the pet industry is not very conducive to good environmental practices in oh so many ways.

The classic anvil clouds are forming still but the rain they are producing is sporadic as long as we don't have hurricanes in the gulf of Mexico that spin moisture up from the Baja peninsula in Mexico, bypassing the Sierra Madres mountains in California which block their way most of the year.

It is clear why this caterpillar is called a hornworm. These larvae put on weight very fast and they have to, as all manner of birds and wasps are out to catch them. Look closely and you can see the first three pairs of legs look very different than the rest.

This moth caterpillar is venomous and not easy to eat. It also is camouflaged to look a lot like wheat bristles.

This monstrosity is a beetle grub, often found in puddles after rain. It also has the classic six legs just below those venomous jaws, showing it is an insect.

These huge moths are usually sphinx moths and are impressive. The biggest moths live in Australia and are so large they actually cannot fly. These ones, however, pollinate the datura flowers in the moonlight. The honey bees often force their way past the closed petals in the early evening but stop once the darkness affects their ability to navigate. Because the datura wants a dedicated pollinator that only visits other datura, the flowers only unfurl in the evening and is designed to only be accessible to long tongued night insects.

There are many weird and strange critters hiding in the desert. Some are like this triops, they used to be kept as children's pets (see comment above about the pet industry). They are likely here because they travel well on truck tires. I always find them in truck wheel ruts when the puddles collect in the summer. In my experience, they are not easy to raise.

Life is odd, and amphibians are some of the oddest. This desert frog tadpole thrives away from fish and predators in the open desert of Rio Rancho city center. The numbers have been declining over the last five years of my surveillance and it is very unlikely anyone will even notice when they are gone because they are visible to humans only for two weeks of the year and even then only at night.

Nesting season continues and sometimes the odd eggshell half can be found on the trails. The clean shell is often a hallmark of a hatching. Hatching, of course, is only the beginning.

This is a juvenile robin found in a backyard. It was killed by a playful puppy that is very cute, but also a murderer. While the puppy and the bird are both juveniles, only the robin did not have enough time to learn about the world. Even fenced pets kill wildlife and the numbers would be staggering if anyone was actually watching. Who wants to learn that dogs and cats kill thousands of wild animals each year in Corrales? At the risk of being controversial, the converse numbers of pets killed by wildlife is clearly inflated by word of mouth and social media (though not zero).

Sunflowers and millet are spread by birds from birdfeeders and are a sign of late summer. Many animals use these tough plants to feed or hide. Figeaters can often be found with a brood of young beetles feeding and sucking juices from the stems.

After even a light sprinkling of rain, the ground often shows amphibians spreading out from their birth sites. It takes a while to learn how to handle animals properly, but really it should be minimized. Still, kids, especially connect very well with nature though these sorts of limited, but intense interactions.

A feature of much wetter forests in the concept of "nursery trees" where wet wood is the bed for plants to grow. Here a elm tree is growing through the crack in a soggy cottonwood. A very apt metaphor for the future of our bosque.

Ravanna grass is a new feature coming into Corrales. I can't see how it can be stopped, or even if it should be. Big changes in plant flora is definitely coming. Still, Corrales will try to protect the bosque. Keep an eye on the Corrales Comment for an announcement for new dates for community removal visits to the bosque for Ravenna removal. Community involvement is the only thing that allows people to keep those things in nature that they want. We all want Corrales to be unique. We need to participate in how that is going to happen, I look around and do not see anyone else doing it for us.