Air

 New Mexico is famous for its wild landscapes and scenery, even as many people fear its wildlife, wildfires and lawlessness. But everything has a balance and concepts such as right and wrong are purely human inventions.

 

 The burns from prior forest fires can still be clearly seen at Romero, as the brooding clouds threaten snow in the background. This area also has scars of its past use as a dump. Also, the scraggly, old trees show the effects of a rising soil overburden, which prevents new seedling from growing, dooming the cottonwood forest. The overall effect is ethereal, beautiful, and also poignant.

The sunsets are also famous, especially as the windy season begins. Pollutants, smoke from other states, and dust collect in the air above the central Rio Grande basin and swirl in basically a giant bowl, creating billowing skies of illusion, filled with imagined smoke and fire.

The Corrales Bosque seems to be a thick growth of trees, but is more like a patchwork of influences and history that can be seen it the plant growth. The plants have been cleared many times for many reason, and they grow back in unique ways. Here, the willows begin to replace bare earth as succession begins again. The patches of snow insulate and water the dirt below it, laying the foundations for the plants that follow.

In the Harvey Jones channel, a pipit begins catching the insects as they emerge from the mud. The soil here is laced with artificial sweetener from the effluent of over one hundred thousand people in Rio Rancho, as well as seeds and organisms brought from other landscape projects far away. The results are wild, and unpredictable. Fortuitous, or perilous in equal measure, the outcomes will not be seen by this, or even the next generation of humans who live here.

In any change, there are winners and losers. This is how most people also measure the effects of the passage of time. What is clear is that the crows are well along the way of understanding the effects of humans on their landscape and their numbers are thriving as they adapt to new food sources such as french fries, road kill, and landfill. The flocks are slowly moving north into Corrales as they forage in new areas each evening.

 

Grackles are usually seen in strip mall parking lots along Rio Rancho in the summer. Their range has expanded into the Southwest, since they days when they were introduced into Mexico by the Aztecs for their feathers. This flock is eating mistletoe, something I have never heard of before now. They feed in large numbers in agricultural fields, because they are usually ground foragers.

Bluebirds appear in New Mexico during the winter as they head south to feed on berries and the odd insect. Insects require a lot more effort to collect, but this activity makes it much easier to observe them. I used to see them under bird feeders, but I think they are after insects based on their behaviors.

Black flies and midges are not very exciting insects, but they herald the coming frenetic days of summer. They crawl from the damp. cold soil and begin breeding straight away.

In spite of all we know about ants and their crazy behaviors, there is still a lot for these eusocial insects to teach us, if we choose to look. I think these insects are out scouting for the first of the elm seeds to begin the process of rebuilding the colony. This is a very early scout.

Many birds are starting to move to locations for mating and nest building. The big raptors like the hawks and owls are already figuring out the territories. This one clearly prefers the edge of an overgrown field by Heidi's.

 

 The little kestrels still come and go seemingly at random as they hunt the smallest rodents. I have seen more nocturnal animals like raccoon and skunk, but they are very hard to capture on camera. The kestrels have amazing sight, but that's only useful during the day. Notice the cottonwood tree it is perched on has begun to bud.

The elms in the bosque are famous for their samaras, or seeds. Here is a picture of the flowers that form and are wind pollinated, just in time for the impressive winds of New Mexico spring this year. These flowers are edible, with a mild flavor that is pretty distinctive. Ants collect many of the mature seeds when they fall. The Siberian elms are invasive but were imported by ex-governor Clyde Tingley to reduce the wind and dust that early city dwellers found in Albuquerque. These trees have completely changed the look of the bosque, or maybe are a consequence of changes that time has done to the bosque. Further changes will follow, in time. For better or worse, or both, most likely.
 

Grow

 

 Spring is the season for growing, and while we are still in winter the groundwork for growing has begun. Fields are being plowed, the cold weather plants like mustard plants are already flowering. Insects are out in the middle of the day, and birds are moving to their breeding grounds. Some are leaving, like the geese and cranes, but others are moving in, and setting up territories.

 

Red tailed hawks are impressive birds up close. They are also smart and can hunt in packs out of the plains on New Mexico for rabbits. Mostly, they prefer to hunt from ambush from tree perches on the field edges, like this one does. They seem to follow the movements of voles and geese.

The problem with ambush hunting is that it doesn't work if you are spotted, so most red tailed hawks look grumpy when they are being photographed and singled out by people. This blur is a picture of a solitary crow harassing a hunting bald eagle. The crow is mostly drawing attention to the larger bird, and also reducing it's hunting success, which it will remember next time it comes over Corrales. There are huge numbers of crows right now along the east side of the river near Alameda each evening. Normally they try to never fly this high, where they could be vulnerable to ambush, especially when alone. They also seem to enjoy taunting the bigger. slower birds with their aerial antics.

Bluebirds do live here year round, eating small berries and seeds such as mistletoe and juniper. They are probably the ones who are responsible for planting the junipers that have begun to spread in the bosque. While they domform flocks, I usually see them individually around old barns

Great blue herons can be relied on to show up when the NM Game and Fish begin stocking trout in the clear ditch, mostly solitary and prefering to fish in low light. They don't often get into the deep water like this one.

Birds are not simple. This is apparently a robin, just a very dark colored one. Their Latin name is "Turdus" which apart from being hilarious, also puts them in the thrush family, a very versatile genus.

There are many types of duck other than mallards. This is a cinnamon teal, which I think is in the shoveller family, but I could be wrong. It is a much smaller duck than it seems, just that large bill making it look bigger.

This small brown duck has a small bill and seems as small as it is. The gadwall ducks are not often seen in Corrales, at least, over the last few years. They can be impressively cosmopolitan, however. Notice the huge bow wave thrown up by the breast of this duck. These diving ducks are not designed to float as high in the water as the dabbling ducks, and can feed in deeper water than most species by diving below the surface.

Fungus gnats and midges have begun laying eggs in the wet leaves. This one has a small red mite attached to its thorax that it picked up while lying eggs in the water. The ditches have a lot more water in them than it seems, because the water table is exposed at the interior drain up until East Ella road.

Acrobat ants have begun sending out scouts, who lay down scent trails as they scout for food sources. they are also called Valentine ants for their distinctively shaped thorax. They usually overwinter in cracks of houses.

Elms seed bugs are very impressively hardy, and can be found on house walls in just about all weather. Their numbers are annoying, but the color and patterns of their wing covers are quite beautiful, and warns predators of their foul taste. This one is not fully grown, and is still subdued.

Crickets are usually very quick to begin reclaiming the land from the grip of winter, and are successful as long as there is moisture and shelter. This is a nymph and will grow rapidly.

 

 Spiders tolerate quite cold temperatures. their webs are often seen in the fall, covered in ice. The thin atmosphere is New Mexico helps by heating up quickly during the day and allowing them the energy to hunt.

 

 There are many plants growing in the soil under the protection of wet leaves provided by trees. Some plants take things a step further by growing on the trees directly, such as this mistletoe growing from a desert locust at the parks and rec center in Corrales

 

Humans have a lot of trouble with the idea of things not being "good" or "bad". The winter has benefits, and problems for the ecosystem. How that affects animals is up to those organisms and how they adapt, but is always mysterious to scientists because the links are broad, but also deep. This dusting of snow will provide moisture to many seedlings through spring, but only if there is a thin covering of leaves, and a forest canopy to provide shade. Counter-intuitively, the snow also keeps the ground warm ,and insulated from water loss. This biological process is self sustaining and allows all the other animals to continue to grow. Maybe, humans can learn from nature, and grow as well. Learn how to grow and maybe we can be better at being human.