Spring Arrived, and Passed By at Ghost Dog

FYI: This post was written back in March, but not published til now.  Sorry for the delay.

So far, this has been a quiet spring.  Winter was dry, little snow at the house and not much up in the mountains.  Everyone in town has an underlying tension about the possibility of flood, but the plants and animals continue on as always.  The sycamores and cottonwoods are greening up, the fruit trees are blooming (the first time all have bloomed).  The weeds are sprouting and the lizards are out basking.  I caught the first grasshopper of the year - a very nice specimen. My skills at keying out insects are rather poor, but I think this is a Red Shanked Grasshopper (Xanthippus corallipes).  According to my grasshopper books, these guys winter over as immature adults and are common in the spring.

This hopper was not happy with my attempts to open its wings and pose its legs at the same time. It is difficult to tell from the photo, but this fellow is very colorful.  The hind legs are a nice bright orange (easily seen), but the top of its abdomen and head are a rich marine blue (not so easily seen).  I know not many people like grasshoppers, but they are wonderful.

Images from Monstercam

Last year I installed a motion detecting camera outside the cabin.  The goal was to determine how much time the deer were spending in the orchard. The short answer turned out to be - A lot!  I also figured out they were pretty much living under one of the trees in the yard.  I know that the back fence had to go up (and it has since then), but I had no idea the ruminants spent so much time in my yard.

When I installed the camera, I was hoping for images of cougars, javalina and maybe a coyote or coati. Instead, the camera took hundreds of pictures of deer.  And one cow. By the front door.  I did get some fleeting night photos of the local javalina.  Cute little guys, although they did eat all my pumpkins two years ago.  Grrrrr.

The Tragic Cost of Mud Plaster In December

"Where oh where is my tail?"

Recently I plastered a portion of an adobe wall at the cabin.  I used a traditional recipe: dirt, water, horse manure.  A friend brought me a truckload of dirt from a particular locality that my father indicated was the appropriate mix of clay and sand for good earth plaster.  The dirt has been sitting in a squat pile in front of the cabin for two years, looking pretty much like a boring pile of dirt, just like so many others sitting in the front yards of NM homes.

Anyway, I was mixing mud a few weeks ago, at the beginning of December, an interesting time for most NM reptiles.  Nights are regularly freezing or below, but days are warm -into the 70's.  Most herps decide to find a cold, safe spot and hunker down for the next few months, but a few are still out.  They are taking advantage of those last good basking hours and hunting the diversity of insects following the same strategy.

I was also taking advantage of the bask worthy temperatures and so, there I was, digging into my pile of dirt, tossing it against a screen to get rid of rock and gravel.  Every so often, something would bounce off the screen rather than smack and slide down.   The bouncers were lizards - I have never seen so many in one place at one time.  After unearthing five and injuring two (so sorry!), I decided I would have to stop - no more plastering in December! 

Over my short lifetime, I've investigated many piles of rocks and found many lizards (and snakes).  I've never found lizards fully surrounded by dirt.  In the end, it's not unusual.  This was soft dirt, very diggable, and probably enticing as a quiet spot with stable temperatures.  Because of the fire this past spring and the giant cobble/boulder dike only 100 yards away, I would have guessed that a lot of the local reptiles would seek winter hibernacula there. 

Although I didn't do much plastering, and now have to do extra good deeds to make up for the lost tails, the big plus was finding three different kinds of lizards without much work: a juvenile Madrean alligator lizard (Elgaria kingii), Cnemidophorus flagellicaudus and C. uniparens.   I took photos of everyone and will post some info about these guys in a few weeks. 

Stay tuned for this year's herpetological version of meet the locals...

Meet the Locals: Summer 2011

aka Darkling Beetle

Tenebrionid Beetle

Ahhhh, the ubiquitous NM stink bug.... these guys are truly everywhere, and yes, I know they are not bugs.  Darkling Beetles (their real name) have a distinctive gait, tromping purposefully from place to place with legs akimbo. When disturbed, they do a headstand and puff out a blast of stinkiness - I'm one of the few who can't smell it, so I pick them up all the time. Even though they are small, they are strong!  It's difficult to hold them because they push back firmly and it's like holding a bundle of wire. 

Gibbifer californiatus

I know how Pleasing Fungus Beetles got their name; I'm always highly pleased when I find one trekking through the yard.  These are handsome beetles and, for such an obvious insect, they are quite common.  They are found throughout the southwest, but I've only every seen them in NM, lots here in the Gila and quite a few up north in the mountains around Santa Fe.  They emerge during summer and plink around looking for fungus to eat; there must be plenty of it because there are a lot of these beetles around.  The intensity of blue on the elytra varies from locale to locale, but all are strikingly visible from the natural tones of vegetation and soil. 

unidentified sphingidae

This is a sphinx moth caterpillar chomping away on one of the native nightshades in the yard.  If this individual resembles the nasty tomato hornworm you know and probably don't love, it's because it is a relative (the nightshade is related to your tomato as well).  When this caterpillar emerges as a moth, it will be large and probably very beautiful.  Hawkmoths, Hummingbird Moths, and Sphinx Moths are gorgeous and appreciated so much more than their younger selves. My favorites are the Hummingbird Moths which from a short distance are indistinguishable from the eponymous birds.

Agrius cingulata (?)

When harvesting aged wood from my mom's house, I found this Hawkmoth lounging on a fencepost.  It's difficult to tell from the photo, but there is a lot of pink on this individual - I think it is a Pink Spotted Hawkmoth.  These moths are in the same family as the caterpillar above.

Myrmelo sp.

New Mexico has been given two great gifts - dust in a mind-boggling array of varieties and a similarly stunning diversity of ants.  Antlions take advantage of these plentiful resources and can be found just about anywhere ants and dust are found.  The larva sits at the bottom of of the pit and flings sand up to catch an ant.  As the larva grows, so does the pit.  The adults are pale green, delicate and quite lovely.  They flutter around lights at night, vaguely resembling damselflies

Pogonomyrmex rugosus

Seed harvester ants are literally the queens of the desert. Colonies can live for decades and have a profound influence on everything around them.  This colony is new in the yard, and I'm happy to see it thriving, even though it in the middle of a path (why do they always do that?).  The property has been without a colony for a few years and I've been a bit sad about it.  The previous colony was well over 35 years (I remember playing with it as a little girl) and had multiple exits covering an acre or so. Even after five years, the gravel clearing is still there and will probably remain for a few more years.

Argemone sp.

The pricklepoppy has a lovely flower, but the rest of the plant is not as nice.  Lots of spines, toxic leaves, and when the plant dies and desiccates, it sticks to you like glue.  Still, the flowers are nice and the bees love them, so I let them bloom, then cut the whole thing down.  These flowers are seen everywhere in arid, mountainous areas, but not as much in full blown dessert.  One of the few flowers that will bloom in drought conditions.

Meet the Locals: Spring Surprise

scorpian - unknown spp



 The first trip of the season was wonderful.  After a hard day's work toting rocks from here to there in the yard (subject of upcoming posts), I was reclining in an old chair, crocheting a summer top and listening to an audiobook.  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something.  Just over my shoulder, a little (~1") scorpian was wending his way up the wall.  Hmmmmm.  I took a photo (forgive me for not including a finger for scale) and put him in a jar.  I set him on the front stoop to consider his predicament and went back into the house.

Not too much later, another, larger scorpian caught my eye traipsing along the floor/wall margin.  Another jar, another trip to the stoop.   DARN!  I sleep on the floor on an air mattress and don't like the idea of having "friends" with me. 

I know that there are all kinds of invertebrates around (I've seen them), but the house has been sealed up fairly well for about a year.  However, where there's a will, there's a way.  This was March and during the changing of the seasons, there is a lot of flux in the invertebrate populations.  The scorps were waking up and looking for new, interesting places.  Because the house is adobe, the walls are considerably warmer than the yard at night, and scorpians are drawn to warmth.

I am happy to report that, even though I caught a few more scorps in the house, I didn't have any negative interactions with them when the lights went out. 

The Locals: And the Fauna

 

Mr. Handsome!

I love toads!  Look at that face, so much personality there!  The cabin is near a creek and the general area is in a riparian zone - good toad habitat.  At the right times, toads can be seen hopping around, but you do have to know where to look.  There are a variety of species here; this guy is a Great Plains Toad (Bufo cognatus).  Because I haven't had a dedicated garden area for very long, I don't have a house toad yet.  I'm hopeful with the vegetable garden and it's rock borders, I'll have someone move in next year.  You can't beat a toad for pest control and entertainment value.

Abedus herberti - another handsome guy

I am a big fan of water bugs (Belostomatidae), and this guy I found in the river nearby is typical of males found late spring through summer (with eggs glued to his back).  There are a number of mainly tropical genera found worldwide, but the most common in SW streams and rivers are Abedus and Belostoma.  The insects (true bugs, actually) are voracious predators and if you're not careful handling them, they can deliver a painful "bite".  The bugs capture their prey, jab their hollow mouthparts into it, inject saliva containing digestive enzymes, then suck out the liquefied remains.  Because the proteins in the saliva can break down muscle tissue and the mouthparts are about 1/4" long, if you get jabbed, you can be left with some nasty scars. 

Native bees tucked in for the night.

Because of the wet summer, we had an abundance of thistles growing in the yard this year.  Most were non-natives, but I like thistles, so I let most of them do their thing.  My husband noticed that every evening, each thistle flower had 2-5 bees tucked down in, butts up and sleeping deeply.  It was difficult to rouse them and they tucked back in as soon as they could.  There were a variety of species, all natives, not domesticated honeybees.  Everyone was dusted with pollen and gone the next morning. 

A chubby fence lizard (Sceloporus undulatus) 

New Mexico is lizard central and one thing I miss terribly living out of state is the abundance of reptiles.  At the cabin, lizards and skinks are everywhere.  This cutie met me inside the door when I arrived last August.  He was cool (no place to warm up in the house) so he was easy to catch - still feisty, though.  After a few minutes of close examination, I let him go on the doorstep and he skittered off into the woodpile. 

A land snail; unknown genus

One morning while preparing to prune the apples, I noticed snail trails here and there.  It was a dewy morning, so the little guys were still out in the sun.  During the day, you won't find them anywhere (they hunker down to preserve moisture), but I know they are abundant, due to the large number of shells (left by birds) under trees.  Most of the time, the aridity of the yard prevents their movements and concomitant damage.

I will end with an invertebrate mystery.  Behind the cabin is an old oak with nearly horizontal limbs.  The underside of the largest limb is covered with the empty exoskeletons of an unknown insect.  I never see them "full" or alive (and I check every time I'm there), and yet every year there are more and more exoskeletons under that branch.  Usually I'm pretty good at identifying insects and this one has me stumped.

The Locals: The Flora

We're in the thick of winter and thinking of green things and flowers.  I am desperately missing the heat of summer (I love it).  To warm up my thoughts, I've selected a few photos of flowers from the house taken this past summer.  It was a very wet year, so plants that normally don't survive had a chance to flourish.  Enjoy the pictures.

Sweet Four O'clock (Mirabilis longiflora)

This is one of my favorite wildflowers at the house.  It grows under the junipers in two separate areas of the property, both quite shady.  The plants are a bit lanky, and the branches snap at the slightest touch, but these traits are easy to forget in the evenings when the lovely flowers open.  If you are familiar with garden four o'clocks, these are similar, but imagine the petals (which are fused) being a degree more translucent and the throat extended in an almost hallicinatory manner.  I don't understand how the flowers manage to avoid floppiness, but they are held upright and glow all night.  As with other four o'clocks, the first frost causes the

Sweet Four o'clock (Mirabilis longiflora) to collapse into a pile of sticks.

My sister and I have gentle arguments about this flower. She loves it - I'm not so sure. It is quite common and can form generous colonies in a short time.  When the flowers are open, your mood is quickly brightened by the happy surrounded by yellow daisy-like flowers.  But then, summer advances, water evaporates and the plants quickly finish their life cycle.  You can see one of the cute little puffs of seeds below the full blown flower above.  Those puffs look soft, downy,.... friendly.  Don't be fooled!  The seeds work their way into every stitch of your clothing starting at ankle level (where the majority of the puffs are found).  With amazing, quiet and efficient skills, the seeds find their way into every cloth item you own - even inside the house!  The simple task of walking across the yard becomes similar to assessing a land-mine field. The short happy daisy season seems years away.  It is at this time that I decide no more daisies! - next year weed barrior for sure.

Globe Mallow (Sphaeralcea munroana)

Globe mallow is one of my favorite NM wildflowers.  It was widespread where I grew up and a pink form was common at our house.  This plant looks good all the time with zero care.  Because of this, and it's nearly constant flowers, I'm pretty lenient about letting it grow wherever it wants to.  My big mistake this year was to let a volunteer grow in the interstices of rocks bordering the vegetable garden.  Normally, the plants max out at about three feet.  With the addional water from the drip system, the volunteer grew over five feet tall and was about three feet wide - a very healthy individual.  I'll never get rid of it because they have extremely deep tap roots. 

Wild Morning Glory (Evolvulus arizonicus)

Many people think morning glories are pests because when they have enough water they become lush vines that can choke out other plants.  I don't water them, so I just come across a pretty flower here and there among the other forbes.  A nice effect.

Mexican Hat (Ratbidia columnifera)

Mexican Hat is becoming more popular with gardeners because it's pretty tough, flowers alot and is good for birds.  The form seem in catalogs and nurseries has brick red petals, sometimes with a yellow edge.  You know you have the Gila form if the petals are all yellow; it's only found in NM.  This plant was a volunteer that grew next to one of the apple trees.  It's lucky - when I lay down the weedcloth this spring, this guy will be within the uncovered zone.  I'll get to enjoy it for a few more years.

Bird of Paradise (Poinciana gilliessii)

If you travel through Phoenix or Tucson in the summer/fall, you'll can't help but notice a shrub with brilliant orange flowers -its become ubiquitous because it requires zero care once established.  It is the Sonoran form of Bird of Paradise and can be found throughout its eponymous Desert.  The Chihuahuan form is yellow with red stamens.  It will grow in Albuquerque, but is happier in warmer climes, so it's more common south of Socorro.  It's still pretty flashy, but this shrub never seems to look quite as lush as it's relative.  A nice shrub and a good hummingbird plant.  We have tons of these at the house and they flowered well during the wet year.

Red Spiderling (Boerhaavia coccinea)

It's easy to miss red spiderling, there just isn't much to this plant.  Low to the ground, threadlike stems and leaves, but brilliant fushia flowers.  They are a joy.  Some consider this plant to be a pest, but it never grows in anything resembling abundance, so I leave it alone.


Buffalo Bur (Solanum rostratum)


I will end with buffalo bur, a plant that made it's first appearance at the cabin this year. It's a member of the Solanacea; pretty clear from the flowers. The rest of the plant is just amazing. "Spines" emerging from the undersides of each leaf, gazillions of spines on the stems and seed pods. It was dangerously beautiful. The intriguing aspect of this plant (besides that I had never seen it before) was that it (and nothing else on the property) was covered with potato beetle larvae of various stages. I've never seen so many and it gives me pause about growing potatoes in the garden.

For more info about native plants of the region, try the website Vascular Plants of the Gila Wilderness compiled by the Western NM University Department of Natural Sciences and Herbarium.  It helps to have a general knowledge of botany, but it is a very thorough site.