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