Words

Adjective:

noun

Grammar

plural noun: adjectives

a word or phrase naming an attribute, added to or grammatically related to a noun to modify or describe it.

 

I have often noticed that adjectives used to describe animals and nature say less about the animals, and a lot more about the attitudes of the speaker. Unfortunately, this means many speakers keep their mouths closed instead of speaking and being thought of as a fool (to paraphrase Mark Twain). This lack of communication in areas of doubt and uncertainty leads to society as a whole suffering from inflated ignorance and a lack of interest in new things. Individuals learn by making mistakes, but urban societies tend to be risk adverse in competitive environments. When that happens, weird ideas and a trend towards myopia flourishes. Expanding the mind is about more than just gaining knowledge, it helps people think about thinking...

Is this a famous monarch butterfly, or one of the many near mimics? This actually IS a monarch and this year they are doing well, but are declining in the long term. The monarch story is so well known that many myths are taken as fact. This butterfly is sipping from a sunflower (actually a capitulum) for a quick energy boost. They need "lebensraum" (Friedrich Ratzler, 1904; NOT Adolph Hitler) as well as milkweed to survive.

While there are many moths out right now, there are not many of these owlet genus. That beautiful snow white shawl on the shoulders helps the insect keep the flight muscles warm at night.

Ring necked pheasants were released as a hunting bird in the Rio grande valley sometime in the 1880's. They have spread slowly northwards into Corrales. They are incredibly shy and hard to capture on camera because they are always close to dense vegetation to hide in. This one was confused by the chicken wire and stopped just long enough to pose. It is odd such a colorful bird can be so hard to see.

 

 White winged doves are a common sight in the bosque all year. The white band along the wing edge gives them their name. They are strong fliers and are usually on the look out for predators. New Mexico has seven dove species and most are very common. However, the band tailed pigeon migrates intot eh area in the autumn. They are federally protected, so hunters have to be very careful in their bird identifications to avoid huge fines.

I think this is a juvenile red tailed hawk. Many raptors do not always have the proper colored feathers, especially if they are young, which makes bird identification really difficult occoasionally. Many of these birds are trying to figure out how to hunt the new migratory bird species coming into Corrales, with varying levels of success.

Butterflies should be very easy to see, but this cabbage white butterfly but has a faint green tinge to the wings that makes it invisible in the grass, unless it has just landed.

Other butterflies are very small even thought they are common, like this pygmy blue. It isn't dead, just cold in morning air. It came to life very quickly from the heat of my hands.

Plain yellow butterflies have a lot of markings on their wings that help identification. They also look exactly the same as insect holes in an old leaf. This is a common species - Clouded sulphur.

The fritillary butterflies have just about vanished now. Unlike other butterflies, this group has weak front legs that do not have claws. They are named for the chequered pattern of their wings.

Now irrigation season has ended, the water is drying up fast in the ditches. The orange, clay sediment is still being stirred up by the myriads of fish that are being trapped in the retreating waters. This is preventing the water weeds from growing and the resulting eutrophication is causing increased fish panic as bacteria uses up dissolved oxygen to breakdown the plant material.

The mallards and wood ducks are dropping by, but they are not staying this year due to lack of permanent water sources. They eat aquatic insects and pond weed. More importantly, the permanent water supply is protective from raptors (who can't swim) and land predators (that can't ambush in water).

Many aquatic insects do not need much water to flourish, like this Large red damselfly. These insects feast on midges and mosquitoes while they are around.

 

 Many insects have an unfair reputation for being fierce. This insect is nicknamed the "cow-killer" due to the alleged painful sting. Spend five minutes watching one and see if it pays humans even the slightest amount of attention.

Spiders do actually kill six people a year on average. However, dogs kill about ten times more people each year in the US and they are seen as cuddly. This spider is chowing down on a much more likely victim; a leafhopper.

The yellow fever mosquito is a recent visitor to the US, relatively speaking. Global warming means this species is likely to spread, and has been identified in Corrales (this picture is in my house). The last major outbreak of yellow fever in the US was 1905 in New Orleans, but it really is just a matter of time...

There are many black beetles in the bosque, and almost all are harmless. This beetle is also harmless to humans, but is a burning blister beetle. Horses occasionally die from the effects of the vesiccant they release when handled roughly (or eaten in quantity). This beetle preys on grasshopper eggs.

This female is showing off her classic red hourglass abdomen. These spiders grow to a large size and are very dramatic. While 4-8 people do die each year in the US from Black widow bites, there are 2,500 reported bites to American Poison control centers each year, so they are nowhere near as deadly as portrayed.

This beautiful arachnid is only distantly related to spiders. Arizona bark scorpions could, in theory, kill a small person. Still, the statistics show only 4 people have died in the US from scorpion bites in the last 11 years. This one has been identified as a Baja bark scorpion, which is not considered a threat to humans, but there is a lot we don't know about this species.

The white lined sphinx moth is a very arresting moth mostly due to its large size. Apparently the hornworm caterpillars were once eaten during feasts. They have huge population surges like many moths and then vanish quickly.

Purple bindweed is a beautiful but noxious weed that causes intestinal stasis in horses, which can be lethal. So whether this plant is beautiful, or noxious depends of whether or not the speaker owns horses. Domestic hoofstock cannot digest a wide range of plants in the wild because the diet of a modern horse is very regulated and they are not tolerant ruminants, like goats. The roots of this plant go very deep and they can only thrive where the plants around them are thick, and tall. They are pollinated in particular by one species of hawk moth.

Cicadas are famous for their population explosion at predictable cycles. They primarily live their lives underground, only emerging to breed. Unlike butterflies they are not going to win any beauty contests. Their calls in late summer are quite deafening.

Eusocial insects like honeybees and ants can tolerate massive die-offs provided the reproductive queens are protected year round. The hives shrink drastically to save resources in the winter as the older workers die off (worked to death). Bees that are weakened by mites or other parasites are also culled, and this winter cleaning helps improve the colony's health. 

    Humans tend to forget that making mistakes is only dangerous for the individual. Society as a whole relies on individuals taking risks, and sometimes failing, so that a path of learning can develop to help all people learn, Some will thrive, and then educate each other for the betterment of all. Sometimes a terrible historical lesson is learned, but this suffering does have a purpose, at least in nature.