Chain

 When you study the world around us, it seems obvious that our nature determines our behavior. As humans, we like to think we behave rationally, even though we know others do not. This folly is not a problem if it is never challenged. However, diversity has a way of forcing humans to face the contradictions in our thinking.

"History shows again and again
How nature points out the folly of men"

"Godzilla" by Blue Oyster Cult

 Coyotes are a prey species, not an apex predator. They compete for resources with wolves when these species co-existed, often ending up as dinner items. They are much more general in their diets because they can specialize in scavenging, not pack hunting.

 

 Coyotes specialize in being stealthy and opportunistic, they don't hunt so much as wait for good things to happen. This one was near a well known den near to a field of Canada geese and Sandhill cranes. It was waiting for a feeding bird to show signs of avian influenza. While we walked past it watched us, but was never going to come close.

 

 Those birds eat young grass shoots, which are abundant right now along with dandelion leaves and London rocket. Many young plants cannot grow if the air temperature is above 70 degrees or the soil temperature is below 50 degrees. Right now,it is perfect growing conditions for the lawns and the weeds that coexist with them.

 

 Lush lawns attract many animals besides geese and cranes. Rabbits come out to feed just before dawn. However, many lawns in Corrales are located right beside a road, and vehicles kills huge numbers of animals each year. A coyote would never be able to surprise and catch a rabbit normally, but scavenging roadkill in the early morning when there is a low likelihood of being hit by another car is an acceptable risk for an inexperienced coyote.

 Coyotes poop on trails to signpost their activities to each other as they travel long distances. This makes it very easy for humans to study what they eat. Until recently, the coyotes were feasting on orchard windfall apples almost exclusively, (they have quite a sweet tooth). This animal has been eating Russian olive fruits, something with small seeds like mulberries, and some sort of thin liquid soaking into the sand (it ate the sand as well)

This particular coyote was also carrying bobcat scat, which it dropped. Cats have scat that looks very different because it is exclusively meat because they are hypercarnivores. the hair are all twisted by the gut and give it a "rope" or "sausage string" appearance, plus there is a twist of hair at each end. The black appearance is from blood in the meal. Coyotes also eat poop from horses, dogs, as well as from the occasional human runner who gets caught away from the commode. Humans poop in the bosque far more than it is reported, and it all is removed by coyotes within a day or so, thankfully.

 Human activities affect many wild animals, but not always in a bad way. Crows feed in open farm fields especially after they have been mowed or plowed. The birds pick up cold stunned insects, or destroyed mouse nests, and they prefer to be in large groups because they are more vulnerable while on the ground. They tend to feed on landfills and roadkill in the summer, but congregate in the bosque during the fall, forming huge flocks as they try to keep warm.

 

This rather random stand of cattails was mechanically removed and the resident ducks and heron quickly moved into the disturbed site to scavenge roots and look for exposed prey animals

 

 While great blue herons do eat fish, they have better success catching small hibernating bullfrogs that are slower. This is probably a female due to its slightly smaller size, but otherwise the genders are identical.

  

 This individual is displaying the breeding plumage of a mature bird. This one is preening using special powder feathers to begin organizing itself into a presentable display for the season.

The large drainage ditches in Corrales usually have some water in them year-round, but the smaller irrigation channels are usually dry most of the year. Being open, it means they need a lot of general maintenance, but it is relatively easy to do.

Many plants have adapted to human activity by growing faster when pruned. Here, the older elm and cottonwood trees were cut. This allowed the younger, more vigorous elms to re sprout in the newly opened canopy. The elms crowd out the slower growing cottonwood saplings that will have more trouble getting established again.

Not all plants grow in soil. Mistletoe appears as the trees shed their leaves and other sources of green is leached out of the landscape. These plants constantly shed leaves during the year and help redistribute essential nutrients back to the soil during the winter when the trees have locked up those valuable sugars.

The majestic canopy of cottonwoods is a blaze of golden color in the fall. The leaves detach over a wide range of time allowing the trees to cope better with unpredictable weather patterns.

Leaves on the ground do far more than just turn into mulch. Many insects rely on their shelter to survive. Here is a large wheel-bug found in a leaf pile that had gathered around a parked vehicle.

The afternoons in Corrales are still quite warm in the sun. The thin atmosphere allows the sun to warm the air relatively quickly. There are many butterflies and dragonflies that can still be seen near water sources where the daily temperatures fluctuate less. This checkered butterfly is probably collecting salts from the bank where the river water has evaporated.

Cellar spiders often move indoors during winter, following the small flies they prey on. The flies are able to stay more active in the artificially warm temperatures of people's houses. These spiders have a bite that has no noticeable effect on humans even though they hunt and kill other venomous spiders.

Soil temperature is affected by many things, but mostly the air above it and the air within it. This light spray of snow on vegetation stayed colder because of the insulating air beneath it that kept it away from the heat stored within the compacted soil. This layer of vegetation slows down snow-melt, allowing the soil to absorb the snow's moisture more slowly. Bare soil drys out very fast in the southwest.

Beavers are quite common along this section of the Rio Grande. This olive tree shows the classic shape of beaver chewing that cut it down to reach the smaller twigs in the canopy. This wood also shows rot about to set into the heartwood from damage that was done and that it was trying to heal from during the summer.

Here is a classic problem known though out New Mexico. Parallel parking is not a skill mostly rural states have much experience with. One third of the US states do not even require it in driving tests. In this case a driver elected to park "serial", like in a grocery parking lot. This caused a problem for the equestrians who came through the crossing next to the gate. While the horses were able to pass, the verbal interaction between the actors was loud and unpleasant. Diverse elements compressed into small spaces lead to new opportunities, or lead to explosions. While cars and horses will act according to their nature, it is how humans control these resources that will define whether the cars are seen as food producers for crows and coyotes, or the horses....