Travel

 Often I thought I would like to explore the city, if, like a lot of wild hills and valleys, it was cleared of inhabitants." - John Muir

Washington is not a city that is easy to like. It is hot, in a steamy type of way. It is chaotic, with far too many people in it. The granite and marble franco-roman mausoleums are rather too ostentatious and there are far too many tourists looking for history. It is also empty of it's purpose, all of congress is out of town and in their home constituencies until Sept.

John Muir typifies many things that are biologist stereotypes, and the dislike of cities and people is a common one. Nevertheless, innovation comes from diversity and industry and we need those same hordes of people to find solutions for the many problems that face us and nature. The problem contains its own solution, to paraphrase Norman Vincent Pearle.

The American Art Gallery has a painting in it of one of my personal heroes. This picture is of the naturalist Samuel Washington Woodhouse. He was America's answer to Charles Darwin. He named the Woodhouse toad after himself which is fascinating. Someone else named a sparrow after him in tribute which seems rather random. Parts of his collection is in the US botanical Garden down the street from that building.

 

 This is John Muir, a Scotsman who brought the concept of "nature" to a wider, mostly urban audience. Through lobbying politicians, advocating for natural spaces above development, and publishing, he brought a wider public awareness of Yellowstone specifically. Especially after Congress passed acts based on his articles.

Looking down into the overcrowded foyer of the Smithsonian natural history museum certainy makes me appreciate the ironies of that quote from John Muir that began this blog. The issue of accessibility versus preservation is one with which he was intimately familiar.

Also ironic is that the most famous of Woodhouse's activities for nature was the 1851 expedition led by Captain Lorenzo Sitgreaves that started at the Zuni Pueblo and explored the navigability of the Colorado and Zuni rivers. While collecting utilitarian pots are not usually an issue, communal Zuni religious items such as the two Ahayu:da is an altogether different legal matter. Still, it is a good question as to why the Smithsonian has 10,000 Zuni specific items in its collection.

The national Mall in Washington is not usually seen as a interesting place to explore nature. However, the squirrels there are basically amazing. It is odd to see the different reactions people have on seeing a personable squirrel, when compared to the furtive sightings of the equally common, but more elusive rat.

 

 On a bollard near the congress building I found this classic shaped ambush predator. A pretty large green crab spider. Which is harmless, yet looking pretty scary.

A drinking fountain near the World war memorial had a fascinating jumping spider that had a busy morning catching small flies.

The original site of the US botanical garden was a steamy swamp. It is interesting to see the city now trying to recreate that original ecosystem at the interesting of a busy motorway in the heart of a city. They actually did  good job. There are still a few native fireflies on the congress lawn in the early evening, but you have to look to find signs of nature.

Few wasps in New Mexico are dangerous. Because that category of dangerous needs a wasp appearing insect that is capable of stinging, and also likely to use the stinger offensively. This bald faced hornet in Washington is certainly in the dangerous category. Luckily, this one is more interested in collecting wood fibers to build a nest than to attack interested onlookers.

There are still amphibians in Washington. The grey tree frog is found in the National Mall, but still need semi-permanent water sources to be able to breed, luckily a recreated stream used in landscaping helps fill this role.

The false milkweed bug is not toxic like the true milkweed bug, but it uses the same coloring to reduce predation risk. There is not much vegetation in Washington DC away from the mall, but where it is found, it is utilized.

The US Botanical Garden is an often overlooked public park with an amazing and fascinating amount of special plants laid out in a compact but effective system of greenhouses and open spaces. Well worth a visit. Some of Samuel Washington Woodhouse's original collections are housed here.

The native eastern cottontails appreciate this short young grass on the outside walkways. The tall plants also provide perfect cover for them in between feedings.

The brown headed cowbird is a less common visitor that the usual starlings, sparrows and pigeons. It is a brood parasite that uses other species to raise it's own young so cannot exist in one place in very high numbers.

 

Whether fungi are parasites or not depends on the species, but also your point of view. Ecologists tend to be more accommodating than gardeners, but that view is starting to change. This fungi was growing in an area of red oak trees.

 

 This impressive looking mushroom is some type of boleta. Its important to remember mushrooms are not for eating, but there is no reason you can't appreciate them for the fascinating organisms that they are.

Plum season is right on time back in New Mexico. These are the red varieties, most of the crop is lost to insects such as plume moths and sawfly, unless basic control methods are used such as insecticides and removing the fallen fruit.

 

 The most common variety of plum is the purple, because it is the sweetest with the thinnest skin. You can often find a sapling growing along the verges of popular walking spots.

Apples have a long and astounding history in the United States. An apple off the tree is still far tastier than those that are store bought, its the taste of freedom.

 

 Corrales still (barely) supports it's farming roots and the network of acequias is needed to keep orchards like the apple trees supplied with reliable water. The siphon that supplies this to the village is a weak spot in the supply chain and I fear it is likely to be many years before it will be functional again without federal assistance.

 Many insects like this butterfly are attracted to the mud for its salts and nutrients, this is why the water levels need to be varied. It allows a much more diverse variety of life to thrive.

This garter snake is looking at a bonanza of fish fry and tadpoles that are trapped in the disappearing mud pools. This allows breeding opportunities for the reptiles during the summer.

Catfish are often caught in puddles as the water level is lowered and die, but the species as a whole will usually have spawned the next generation by now, as these fish can tolerate very high temperatures and low oxygen levels. Many other animals benefit from their death, such as racoon and coyote. A similar ecosystem as the salmon migrations on the west coast, if much less famous and more...icky.

The woodhouse toads are very common and often found where there is gardening activities that disturb the soil. They feed on gardening insects and seem better adapted to human environments than most amphibians.

Catfish fry are impressively hardy and can often burrow into the soft mud waiting for a brief rain burst to make it to more water, they have adapted well to acequais and the irrigation schedules of farmers.

 

 Opportunistic predators like coyotes can occasionally catch a poorly protected chicken, but they are far more likely to be attracted to fallen fruits, or stranded fish. They can even survive by eating the large numbers of beetles that are around right now.

The next generation of reptiles are thriving also. The whiptails have hatched and the small young of the year are learning to make their way in the wide world. The adults are more likely to be killed by domestic animals, but the juveniles are at high risk of dying from everything until they have learnt about their environment. This one is not doing a good job of hiding in the grasses

Vehicles continue to be the cause of a huge number of casualties of animals. This one was crushed by the wheels of a Conservancy district vehicle as it patrolled the lateral ditch.

Everyone should probably spend more time learning about beetles, because they are not only endlessly fascinating, but they also can teach us about the complexity of life. This one is a predator beetle usually found on the ground.

The tortoise beetle is often found on datura, where they can damage many leaves without causing much damage to the plant other than less flowers being produced. The beetles seem to prefer the more shaded plants.

This scolid wasp looks a lot like the velvet ants except for the membranous wings this one appears to have lost a fight over an egg laying territory, probably a group found a June beetle emerging and fought over who would parasitize it..

 

 The bagworm is beginning the assault on tree leaves right now and seem to directly convert leaves into soil pellets as they grow. Right now they are middling size, after beginning life from the size of a comma.

Tomato broom rape has caused devastation for the gardeners of the local volunteer co-operative. It's presence means the whole crop needs to be torn up and the soil treated, just as the tomatoes were beginning to ripen. There is no green chlorophyll, because this plant uses haustoria to leach nutrients from the host plant. The broomrape seeds are tiny and lay dormant in huge numbers in the seed bank before they are seen in large numbers. By that time, it is too late to salvage the crop because it takes several annual cycles to be noticed.

Worst of all, there is not a good treatment for this parasite, if the farmer is subsistence or a hobbyist. The best treatment is to rotate the crop and change to an incompatible host plant, but this is a problem for a small farmer with not much land. The crop is ruined either way and the field has to be cleared of all plants and sterilized if it is to be put back into production again. This means all inhabitants from the toads, to the insects, and all other organisms.