Shy

 How a creature interacts with its environment is fascinating, and shapes the behavior of the whole ecosystem. As thinking humans, we can be surprisingly thick headed when in a large group or society. We tend to follow prejudices and stereotypes simply as a short-cut to having to think on things.

 

 While malfeasance in coyotes is well known (especially to those who scroll the internet), it is less appreciated that we do not notice those coyotes that avoid being detected. It can be both an eerie, but also liberating feeling to turn around and see a tense canid hiding in the undergrowth, trying to be undetected. Just think of all those we don't see! This one was in the process of marking it's territory with scat.

Coyotes have adapted to living with humans and eat not only garbage, but apples, and mice that human houses attract in the winter. This one has just finished patrolling the trailhead for loose burrito ends, McDonald wrappers, and what-nots. Now it is watching the endless procession of dog-walkers headed into the bosque for their ritual morning walk. Even though it is out in the open, notice that it avoids casting a full silhouette against the skyline, just as any good hunter would do.

Wilson's snipe have long been hunted. Indeed their name was turned into the word "sniper" in India around the late 1770's. They have some of the largest pectoral wing muscles of any shore bird and can explode into fast erratic flight when flushed, making them very challenging to hunt. They don't breed this far south, preferring to return to the muddy north in the summer where there is more room, and less noise.

The ditches in Corrales are a lot more maintained and complex than their ragged and worn out appearance would suggest. The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD) is a bloated, bureaucratic mess, mostly because they have an impossible mission and a weird set of conflicting rules to follow. The number of stakeholders involved just in the six miles of river along the Corrales Preserve section is staggering.

The river does not meander and flood as it used to, but the banks do still move and there are mud flats and sand bars that recreate the all important backwaters where the magic of spring and summer can still happen for both plants, fish and amphibians.

The weather patterns have become more erratic as the Holocene epoch tails off, and the birds are animals most able to migrate to take advantage of these changes. Currently, the red tailed hawks are around in abundance, likely because they are following the mountain chain north as part of the spring migration.

In the bosque, voles and cottontails are their preferred food sources. They catch jackrabbits in the wide open mesas. They are often seen on favored perches watching the activities of their chosen mammal closely. This one is glaring at the photographer outside the village mercantile in Corrales. Recent gardening activity probably caused the voles to excavate new tunnels and eject bedding material.

 

 Birds of New Mexico do not usually include seagulls but the mud flats by the San Juan diversion are an irresistible shore line exploited by many shorebirds. When the diversion dam is up, the fish are bunched up in shallow water and easy to catch. The gull's food is also supplemented by the nearby landfill, which functions as a giant bird feeder for crows and gulls.

The sandhill cranes are far more sedate, as befits vegetarians. They use the still, shallow pools as a roosting site and social commune. They practice calm reflection, before flying out to a busy day out in the farm fields.

 

 I see herons hunting mostly in the ditch as dusk falls. Even though they look grumpy, they are still putting on their best feathery display and the bill is changing color to a brighter orange as breeding season begins.

The ducks prefer open ponds because those offer the best opportunities for feeding on things like duckweed. The females are in a big hurry to put on weight to be ready for egg laying, often followed by a babbling male trying to distract her.

Just like with humans, feeding and courtship behaviors are often interconnected, like candlelit dinners for Valentines Day. This pair of shoveller ducks are working together to swim in a tight circle both feeding and bonding using ritualized shared behaviours. This tight swimming pattern forms a vortex, bringing food in the mud at the bottom of the pond up to the surface.

Manipulating the environment to improve your circumstances is essential to all animals that live in the bosque. Porcupines are hard at work feeding on the fast growing elms. They are after the sugars that are just beginning to reach the branch tips as the buds feel the warmth of the afternoon sun. After a winter of feeding on bitter cambium, the sweetness is a vast improvement. Those of us who park under elms, will have noticed the sugary sap has already begun to rain down on vehicles, leaving dust spots on shiny paint work

 

 It takes a little practice to notice the porcupines high up in the mature trees where they nest each night. They mostly look like bunches of mistletoe, or bird nests. Most people are surprised to know they are in our bosque at all, but they have a profound effect on all the trees here.

  

In some parts of the bosque, the porcupines have been feeding on the cambium of young saplings. A tree can recover from damage like this, if it has not had the bark chewed from the full circumference.

When a tree is girdled like this one, the young tree will die. Because the porcupines prevent trees from growing if they are below a certain circumference, the rodents prevent a forest from having more trees, this can be a good thing to prevent unhealthy overcrowding. They also target elms more than cottonwoods, helping to balance the variety of trees that make up the bosque forest.

Near the south end of Corrales, there is a log that has had bread nailed to it by persons unknown. Maybe to attract birds? It is more likely to attract coyotes however, who will frequent the area more often, increasing human/wildlife interactions in an unhealthy way.Why someone would do this is quite unfathomable. Maybe there is a trail cam nearby?

This stake and chicken wire enclosure is a device for discouraging beavers from interest in newly planted trees. The problem is the tree projects never receive follow up, and the chicken wire is not biodegradable, requiring someone to remove the wire at a later date. At least half of saplings planted in the bosque do not survive the brutal process of transplanting, in part because bosque group projects are not often done to actually improve the health of the bosque, but is mostly a ritualized group activity done to promote teamwork among individuals usually in a teaching framework. This short lived thinking is surprising, considering the care, money, and attention put into landscaping projects done in a people's own backyards. Yet, the bosque continues to survive, in spite of our caring efforts.

 

Familiar

 There are many concepts we live with that are so familiar we do not think about them, like breathing. But focus on the familiar can open a whole new world, just as yoga practice does for that breathing. Another familiar concept is the idea of owning something, but ownership is a tricky thing. Like, who owns a picture on the internet?

The beauty of photography is that it presents a crystallized moment in time with a heightened clarity. Blue Heron are always present around our ditches, but we do not often have time to focus on their regal bearing.

The other common avian piscivore seen around the still waters are the belted kingfishers, which can never be still. They all have this awesome gestalt of energy, down to the ruff of disturbed head feathers. They are the definition of antisocial.

The more gregarious lesser goldfinch is clearly showing the short notched tail, stubby beak, white blaze along the wing, and muted colors of a female.These flocks stay in the area because of the bird feeders along lateral ditch, but also travel along dense brush feeding on seeds from trees and weeds.

 The duck variety around Corrales can be quite diverse at times. Some species are common and constant, like the mallards. Others are more noteworthy, such as this Ring necked duck. It is diving duck, unlike the dabbling ducks found in the shallower waters. By having different feeding areas, it allows more ducks to exist in a given location. The different types of feeding lead to many other specializations, such as the tracheal bulla that produce the distinctly ducky sounds of the different birds.

Porcupines have many habits that make it hard to spot them high in a tree. They are slow, stay high up, and break up their outline with those stiff hairs. Those in the north of the continental US spend more time resting in hollows, while in the warmer south, like Corrales, they have already begun to nibble mistletoe and elm tree buds. Even mustard plants have begun to produce small yellow flowers in the first signs of spring.

It is not easy to see the porcupines, but their scat is very evident below the tree they can be seen in, and these look exactly like pellets for a wood stove, which is basically what they are. The cambium layer of trees is not a great choice for porcupine food, but it is plentiful right now, so will do until more buds and other plants sugars become available. These mammals tend to move from old trees with deep forks for sleeping, into the thinner branches of younger trees where the buds have begun to form.

Buds on Cottonwoods, ornamental trees and elms have begun to bud as the daytime temperature increase. Cottonwoods are a type of popular and seem to have a very broad range of dormancy and growth strategies that help them cope with a wide variety of conditions. If the shed branches can fall into mud, they will sprout. This branch is out of luck.

The Joshua tree grows in California and relied on the giant ground sloth, now extinct, to spread its seeds. By being this specialized, this species of yucca is now limited to fewer areas and probably can't cope with the further changes coming in the climate of our future.

Many insects have managed to become specialized to different hosts, such as lice. There are lice found only on certain animals, like birds, or even very specialized walrus lice. These specimens are human body lice. Not only are they specialized to humans, but there are different species found on different hair types.

The Corrales bosque has many animals in it that remain hidden from view. Some are wild, like deer, others are feral like ducks, turkeys, and pigs. These tracks are actually cows from the Sandia pueblo that occasionally wander onto the west side of the river, attracted to open water sources and the attendant soft and young vegetation. Animal tracks are easy to follow but take a little practice to read the stories they convey. It is well worth the study, but not interesting to photograph, of course. Like reading a novel, instead of a comic book, tracking animal signs gives more nuance to the study of the animals that made them.

Soil compaction is a problem faced by modernfarmers, along with salination. Here is a picture of salt rising to the surface and interacting with ice crystals to fracture the ground. Typically called frost heave, this clay is brought in by engineers by the truckload because it is impermeable to water and forms the levees and canals we all walk along every day when walking our dogs. Unfortunately, dog urine, bird poop, and water evaporation all contain salts that makes the surface of dry clay brittle.

Waste water treatment is a thorny subject that does not get easier to understand by changing the words we use to describe bacterial pre-digested human poop pumped into our river. The water is "clean" as it is released into the newly created wetlands, but the water is very different that what is currently there naturally. It is warm, clear, acidic, and full of exotic material; from pharmaceuticals and aquarium plants, to salts from all the personal care products we use. A uniquely hybrid ecosystem is slowly developing in the area. So far, the ducks are loving the thick cover provided by the willow and sunflower stands.

At the outflow area of the effluent pipe, there are two types of soil found. Where there is no compaction from human feet or vehicles, the ground is soft and spongy, with ridged and hollows formed by ice. This ground is full of fungi and microbes that hold and also release water vapor. This transpiration humidifies the air just above the ground, creating a beneficial ecosystem for fragile seedlings.

Where the soil is exposed to human activity, it is a dry crust the consistency of concrete where no plants can grow. On the slopes, the soil is deeply carved by gullies, salt patches can be seen where the water is trying to reach the surface, but is evaporating into the dry air instead. Soil is something we all take for granted, even farmers and conservancies who should know better. We have a choice to manage our wetlands, but who is asking what type of soil is it that we want to nurture?

"We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect."

- Aldo Leopold

pinapple

 There is a comfort in the familiar. Then there is interest in the unfamiliar, as familiarity does often breed contempt. But what happens when the familiar is presented in unexpected variation, when there is discordance? This trick is often used in art, but also found in the study of nature. It is actually necessary because it sparks the imagination and brings questions. Questions that learned biologists would never think to ask and can't answer for you.

 

 In New Mexico, harbor seals are not common. Still, everyone knows what they are, how they act and where to find them. In Monterey they are not easy to see unless you know their hangouts. The process is called hauling out, but the factors behind this behavior are surprisingly detailed.

This sea lion has a more defined, articulated neck, external ears, and flippers that tuck under the body. It also appears malnourinshed for some reason, and is acting solitary. The backbone ridges can be seen. The weather is unusually cold and rainy due to the weather conditions which may be affecting the ability of this mammal to hunt for food.

Many of the differences noted between California and New Mexico are simply due to mountains and oceans. Oceans moderate the temperatures because water does not change temperature quickly. Coasts also just have more diversity because of the larger variety of biomes. California has done a good job of promoting the biology of its coasts and many people earn a living teaching tourists about the value of protecting them. This worthy cause has the unfortunate downside of convincing the general public that protection can be left to the professionals as long as the public uses paper bags and avoids plastic straws, which is only a tiny part of the truth.

While New Mexico only sees hummingbirds during the summer, California has them year round, but the Anna's hummingbird is special. This species of hummingbird has adapted well to bird feeders and cultivated flowers and has begun to move into central New Mexico in recent decades, spreading it's range inland and also south into Mexico. Anna's hummingbird eat more small insects than any other species of hummingbird which helps expand its food options in lean times.

 This Anna's hummingbird in a Californian garden of this restaurant was cold and miserable and was using cultivated cigar plant flowers to stay fueled up in the rain. There were no hummingbird feeders around, but these flowers need less maintenance than a feeder.

It is very unappreciated just how many types of wasps there are. 85 new wasp species have been identified to science this last year. That number can be added to the 30,000 odd species already known. We mostly notice the large yellow and black species like this Alaska yellow jacket queen. Wasps, especially paper wasps, have extended their range by adapting to living around people and their associated dry buildings.

800 species of wasp in North America are parasites of oak trees, creating these weird but benign tree growth on oaks in Monterey. They do not often need sexual reproduction, but create a generation through parthenogenesis before producing males again. The process is so remarkable, that in humans, a religion was founded around the concept. Gall wasps are usually not only working in concert with specific plants, but also need specific microbes and symbiotes to feed and breed inside the nutritive tissues of these plants.

The woolly leaf manzanita is endemic to the sandy soil on the slopes of the Del Monte forest mostly composed of Monterey pines. This genus is a remarkable plant in many ways but is mostly known simply for having red stems to most people.

The heavy rainfall and high average temperatures means that the Del Monte forest has very fast decomposition rates for fallen wood. These dampwood termites rely on water saturated wood structures to feed and breakdown wood. Their risk to treated wood is rather overblown. The tunnels the create are often used by other species such as beetles, spiders, and centipedes.

Constant moisture is very important to salamanders such as this ensatina because it breathes through the skin without a need for lungs. It can get away with this by being very small, not very active, and constantly moist.

Jelly fungus are not found much in the arid southwest. They avoid the attention of mushroom hunters not because they are poisonous, but because the vast majority of the species taste of dirt. This pictured species is known as an orange jelly spot which has a flavor listed dryly as "not distinctive".

This snail is the predatory California Lancetooth. Molluscs in general are little known and almost alien in their morphology and behaviors. This one can scrape food from surfaces like most snails, but it also can scrape flesh from other snails using its modified toothed tongue as a harpoon. Other snails use a harpoon called as "love dart" as a mating organ

California has its own share of invasive species. While we have Russian thistles and Ravenna grass, the coastlines have ice plants and gorse, like this specimen. It seems to be viewed the same as Russian thistle, being flammable, spiky, and fast growing.

While hard to see, this picture is showing the turkey vultures like those that visit New Mexico is the summer. Populations in California are a little trickier to follow, as some populations migrate and other might not. Their numbers have rebounded since they crashed in the 1970's for several reasons, all involving humans.

False widow spiders are very beautiful and engaging spiders that are not as dangerous as their relations. Like all widows they are shy and retiring, unfortunately also easy to spot because they are large, shiny, and sit near large webs.

Mule deer are found all over the coast, but are fairly shy and retiring during good dog walking weather. They are usually out foraging after sunset, or in wet weather. This one was being less cautious feeding as it was in a large marshy area where humans would never walk their dogs.

The coastal marshes and wetlands are not much to look at, but house some of the most complex, valuable and variable ecosystems on earth. Their productivity is truly mind boggling. However the California Government now has to manage them to mimic the conditions that used to exist before the coastal rivers became channelized and dammed.

Birds such as this pelican are able to adapted to local conditions by migrating widely up and down the coast following the shoals of fish and weather conditions.

 

Egrets take advantage of many different environments, but hunt in marshes easiest. The grasses also provide them shelter from predators. They can frequently be seen in Corrales in the summer.

This Ross's goose winters on golf courses in Central California before migrating back to northern Canada for breeding in the summer tundra and wetlands. Their short neck and stout legs are well designed for grazing on short grass.

Coots are an adaptable species, but these ones seems to look and act very differently than the secretive species we find in New Mexico in the summer. These ones are much bigger, bolder, and are grazing on grass in large flocks.

 

With only 2,500 birds in the wild, and numbers continuing to dwindle, the future does not look bright for these shy birds. The snowy plovers at Carmel river state beach hunt flies in the sands and use human footprints to hide in like little soldiers hunkered down in foxholes. With their bright white breasts hidden, they blend in perfectly with the sandy shadows from the setting sun.

The receding tide exposes the intertidal zone to seagulls who seem to prefer hunting for the easy to pick up sea urchins. The large number of mussel shells among the rocks require an impressive amount of tugging to dislodge, but the sea urchins are easy to snag and carry to a place out of the rough waves.

Almost all crabs near Pacific grove are small, camouflaged and hidden under rocks. However, they do not seem hard to find or catch if you can pick up a rock, which most birds can't do well.

Sea urchins use their mobile spines to ward off star fish, which are specialists at eating bivalves, but also eat sea urchins. Both genus have specialist pincers on their skin for grasping, except for the bat stars species like this sea star. These stars are vegetarian and mostly scavengers.

Chitons are fascinating molluscs. This is a mossy chiton. It has eight overlapping plates and a broad "mossy" mantle. Often found in the inter-tidal zone, it's plates allow it to conform to uneven surfaces as well as roll into a ball if it becomes detached from the rock.

Sea anemones exist in huge number on the rocks at Pacific grove. A testament to the huge amount of food floating by from the land run-off into the ocean, as well as the coastal upwelling from the 2 mile deep trench just off shore.

Once, this sea urchin species was set to wipe out the protective kelp forests found along the coast. Now that the sea otters are protected, the sea urchins are also fed on by Sheeps-head fish, sunflower stars, sea gulls, humans, as well as the otters. The protect themselves by forming large groups to reduce the chance of them all being eaten. While most people can recognize a general sea urchin, the subtleties of red versus purple species, their use as a water quality indicator, or how populations are skewed by climate change is not knowledge that should only be left to marine biologists, knowledge of these things affect us all.