forest

 

New Mexico has many seasons. Apart from the traditional four, Corrales also has a false seasons. We are currently having a false autumn. If you look closely, you will see some cottonwood leaves beginning to change colors and the mornings are becoming crisper

There is a whole science around leaves changing colors and falling from the tree. Whole blogs about it, too. The yellow of leaves is the skeleton of lignin that is left behind once the proteins and green stuff has broken down and been reabsorbed by the tree.

The river level is decent right now and the bosque is damp and colder. High humidity is allowing mists to form above the water in the early mornings, as the temperatures trend downwards

Plants transpire large amounts of water and those mists can float between the trees. The low angle sunlight filters through the pigments and gives a definite green, spectral air to parts of the bosque forest floor on silent and windless mornings.

The variety of flowers and plants seems to increase as they grow in these perfect conditions. This is a type of nightshade that is different that the typical silver leaf nightshade. This one has several names but often is called glossy nightshade.

The rains have persisted and this gives the desert tadpoles enough time to fully transform into frogs. These tadpoles are big and round with plenty of time and food, they are grazing the algae like small cows.

Native bees have a hard time usually, but are thriving in the huge numbers of aster flowers that dots the carpets of green under the bosque trees

Bigger insects like this sleeping bumblebee have a harder time flying as the night temperatures start to drop. They can often be seen in the morning shaking their flight muscles into action. They are buzz pollen specialists and this method of warming comes easily to them.

This beautiful spider is an orb weaver. They produce huge, strong webs for snaring large prey but are absolutely harmless to humans.

Gardeners are trained to control weeds by constant mowing and herbicides. Grass grows well under such conditions because they adapted to constant grazing pressure. However, weeds are quickly adapting to the pressures those artificial gardens placed on their evolution. Amaranths, like this pigweed, drop their seeds as soon as possible to allow their next generation to be ready to exploit any opportunities that might come up, like an abandoned garden.

Invasive species, like this snail, exploit niches too. Wood louse and snails were imported into the US by Europeans and spread out across the US. Since then, apple snails in the aquarium industry, Chinese mystery snails, and giant African land snails have also become problems in different parts of  the US.

this honey bee is is pollinating ravanna grass flowers. While this is not a usual pollen source, a generalist pollinator like a honeybee will quickly take advantage of a newly dominant flower where it can.

paper wasps are some of the fastest growing species in terms of increased range. They take advantage of human structures to protect their flimsy nests. Here they are living in the end of a access gate. Bad news to anyone foolish enough to try to close it...

Many animals, of course do not do well around humans. The common snappers have had a bad year because so many prey species like crayfish were killed last year by the dry ditches. The average size of the turtles are smaller now as the biggest tried to move to new water sources and only found predators, walls, and roadways. Wildlife today lives in a fishbowl of safe areas surrounded on all sides by things they cannot adapt to. Goldfish bowls is the future of nature if we do not figure out how to share spaces with all animals. One day, we ourselves, will be the ones in a goldfish bowl looking out.