“The gentle rain, that falls unseen, Softens the earth where man has been.”
Byron
Corrales is a place with many strange colors, shapes and things to see. Most of these need a closer look to appreciate what they actually are. The wilderness off Corrales is actually a lot more artificial and managed than most people realize, but there is still a wild beauty all around us.
This beetle is one of the ladybug species. Usually these eat small aphid insects. It's full name is Harmonia axyridis. It has been introduced to the US from Asia to control scale and aphids. These beetles often hibernate in winter, but as their lie span is about a year, they usually hatch a new generation each spring.
This is likely a variegated meadow hawk dragonfly. These are more often found in tall vegetation and don't see to be dependent on open water areas like other larger species. You can see the wings are a bit dog eared and worn out with use. This adult will die as winter comes on, the next generation is probably already. Underwater nymphs that overwinter in pools of water with vegetation stems to rest on.
vegetation in Corrales gets quite dull in the autumn. Plants don't produce reproductive structures like flowers when there are fewer pollinators around. This is Oenothera flava, a short lived, short stemmed plant adapted to the cold and wet of Canada. This plant blooms at night and is used to indicate the health of moth pollinators.
The interior drain is a contentious issue in Corrales, but everyone can see the vegetation loves the increased humidity and lower summer temperatures in that trench. The increased mowing needed does expose the abundant mice that were once hidden to those predators; such as this great horned owl. This picture as taken in near darkness, but by the wonders of AI the image appears to be almost daylight.
Woodpeckers, flickers and sap suckers are related birds. This is a red shafted flicker, they appear to over winter in Corrales. They feed on beetles and ants, often being found on the ground more than other birds. Their triple call sounds a lot like a Cooper's hawk territorial call, but ornithologists are not sure if this is an example of deliberate mimicry or not.
While New Mexico snails are pretty rare, we do have some weird specialist desert snails. This, however is not one of those. It is actually a predatory snail, feeding on other snails and their eggs. It was imported into California for this purpose, but tends to cause declines in native species as well as pests. It is called the "beheading snail" because it purposely snaps off the pointed tip of the shell to help burrow into the soil during dry periods.
This is likely
Richia parentalis. These moths are hard to tell apart easily. Moths like this require leaf litter to protect them from freezing and desiccation while they overwinter in the larval stage. The adults are quite short lived but awesome to look at up close.
The weather is now perfect for seedlings, the morning dew helps keep humidity high and the temperatures are not too hot. There is also still plenty of light for growth, giving perfect growing conditions for those that can take advantage of it. The weeds are adapted to germinating quickly because of the human habit of destroying everything back to the bare earth. Most of these seedlings are Kochia, which ironically used to be a farmed crop, but is now a weed because it grows so well.
Coyotes have adapted very well to humans, especially as we removed their biggest predators, wolves and mountain lion. They live unmolested in the open spaces across the river, but are tempted into Corrales by mice, and apple orchards.
Orchards in Corrales are in decline, but the trees that are present are incredibly productive, often to the point of being a nuisance. From experience I can say each tree requires at least a 1/2 hour to pick. The variety of trees is huge. Although we see nothing like the diversity and abundance the trees once enjoyed throughout the US in their heyday. This was actually 1994, with 11.8 billion pounds of apples harvested in the US.
Mushrooms in the wild should never be eaten, it's just too easy to mistake them and the results range from upsetting to terminal. "All mushrooms can be eaten once, some can be eaten more than once"as the mushroom huntters like to quip. The gills release the spores that mushrooms use to reproduce instead of seeds. The actual methods of reproduction are mind boggling and vey complicated.
This mushroom looks more familiar, with the typical veil, marking it as an Agarcius species. Could be edible but I would never risk it. Look closely and you might see the small insects already moving in. Those are likely springtails and they have a whole ecology sprouting on this shiny white cap.
Corrales has enjoying a late Autumn rainy season that will be all too fleeting. But while it lasted, we can see a whole system of ecology around the extra moisture, from mushrooms and seedlings sprouting, to apples falling and those coyote visits. All these things should all be appreciated because they quickly will pass. They are all so fleeting and valuable.
