Ecology- MMG

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mountainFrugal
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Re: Ecology- MMG

Post by mountainFrugal »

9 inches of new snow. The snow started falling on our warm car which caused it to melt and create a layer of ice. The next 6 inches were powdery. The final inch or so became condensed after sitting in the sunshine for a half an hour. Get ready for many snow observations on here because back country ski season has started and snow study is now a near daily thing.

mooretrees
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Re: Ecology- MMG

Post by mooretrees »

Fantastic! There’s so much variety in snow, I had no idea. Candy snow, wet snow, dry snow, powder…..

Went snowshoeing yesterday and identified hare tracks, primarily from the tail dragging in the snow. I am not 100% about the bunny tracks, but it seems likely.

Also saw a belted kingfisher on the way to snowshoeing. I scared my friend because I gasped out loud when I saw the kingfisher’s punk rock crest. First time seeing that bird so I was pretty excited. :lol:

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mountainFrugal
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Re: Ecology- MMG

Post by mountainFrugal »

Warming temps (especially overnight) consolidated the snow in town and made to slushy. Not good for skiing because it sticks to skis without a warmer wax, but will likely still be good further up in elevation.

Kingfishers area really cool. Their head seems out of proportion to their body.

shaz
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Re: Ecology- MMG

Post by shaz »

I found a pretty little piece of agate-y petrified wood while I was out walking today. I released it back into the wild after admiring it.

I used to find a lot of petrified wood around here but now it is a bit more picked over and I have to go almost a the way to the motherlode to find nice pieces. The motherlode is a large sandwash that has entire petrified trees eroding out of the cliffs. There is one tree that has a very pretty botryoidal chalcedony core that I check on after big rain. It's fun to see more and more of it being revealed.

rube
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Re: Ecology- MMG

Post by rube »

Yesterday we went to a small lake near the little pueblo we spend 2 nights.
Walking around the lake we saw a group of spider monkeys and a group of howler monkeys high in the trees above us. The howler monkees made lots of noises! The spider monkees were beautiful to see, going from tree to another, eating the fruits in the trees. Walking further DW noticed just in time the python of about 2 meter, right in front of her, so we all halted and watched how it went it's way into the jungle.
Before going two bed I had two anxious family members asking me to move two pretty large, but no dangerous type, spiders out of our cabins :P
It was very special for us to see and experience.

shaz
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Re: Ecology- MMG

Post by shaz »

@rube that sounds interesting. I would like to see the monkeys but not so sure about the python. O the monkeys react to the python? I think I recall hearing that monkeys don't like snakes.

rube
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Re: Ecology- MMG

Post by rube »

@shaz first I thought the monkeys reacted to us. But when we went further away they started to make lots of noises again, so I guess it wasn't us. And I doubt they saw the snake from their spot high upon the trees, but who knows, I am totally not an expert. It was a real nice experience.

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mountainFrugal
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Re: Ecology- MMG

Post by mountainFrugal »

Cool experiences @rube. Have you seen any leaf cutter ants? Those are my favorite creatures in the Central/South American jungles.

If monkeys see a python (or other predator) they might follow it around in the treetops while foraging for food. If they keep eyes on it it is less likely to ambush them. Hard to know in your example. Keep the observations from the jungle coming! Any cool plants/flowers?

A break in the snow with some sunshine. The current layers of snow are now consolidating and more snow is in the forecast. Early next week is going to be delicious.

Any other lurkers? What is going on outside today?

shaz
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Re: Ecology- MMG

Post by shaz »

@mountainFrugal are avalanches a possibility where you are?

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mountainFrugal
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Re: Ecology- MMG

Post by mountainFrugal »

Yes. Hence the vigilance in snow observations and science. We have a maritime snowpack (all of West Coast basically). It comes in warmer and wetter than continental snowpack like Utah or Colorado. Maritime snowpack consolidates relatively quickly meaning the new snow layers bond to the old snow layers. When there are wild fluctuations in temps snow/rain/mix during early season, there can be weak layers that become buried. The snow accumulates on top and is more likely to trigger an avalanche. If you know about the potential weak layers, you can follow them through the season, or determine when they have consolidated enough through testing. The continental snow pack is much dicier. As an example, clear windless nights (or Northern facing slopes) can create surface hoar (frost) on top of the snow. This is one of the many types of weak layers that is more common in the Rockies, but can also occur around here. https://avalanche.org/avalanche-encyclo ... face-hoar/ This is another reason why prime backcountry ski season (safety wise) is in the spring after all the layers are fully consolidated.

AxelHeyst
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Re: Ecology- MMG

Post by AxelHeyst »

Nights in the 20s. The weather moved off and it's clear, good for my solar panels and ailing batteries.
Two sightings of the red-tailed hawk now. Big fella. Most recent siting it was perched on top of a rock that tops our well hill, a rock I spend a lot of time on. Got out the binocs and watching it looking around. It took off and flew away from me.
Last week two quail flew into the main house window and broke their necks. We thanked the desert for them and had them for dinner with leftover Thanksgiving dressing.
The 'dew' point is (almost?) always below freezing here, so when it's cold like this we have morning frost. It's the only time there is condensation here. Sometimes just the tips of sand from footsteps will be frozen, and the rest will be non-frozen sand. I can tell how cold it's been overnight by how the ground feels at dawn.

rube
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Re: Ecology- MMG

Post by rube »

mountainFrugal wrote:
Wed Dec 07, 2022 5:04 pm
Cool experiences @rube. Have you seen any leaf cutter ants?
Lots of ants, even in our food :lol:
But no leaf cutter ants. I must admit, I was more focussed on the larger animals, not stepping on snakes or scorpions while keeping an eye on the family and the path to follow.
Keep the observations from the jungle coming! Any cool plants/flowers?
The usual jungle plants/flowers/trees I guess, all beautiful to me but nothing out of the ordinary. Or at least, for a jungle.

We are in a new location right now, still in/near jungle area. We were told there are toucans here. Hope to see them in the coming days. We already heard, while being inside our house, the howler monkees which are here also.

Birds we saw recently: while driving today to our new place I saw frequently vultures circling in the air. A few days ago, also while driving, we saw two flamingos. Unfortunately I couldn't stop there, so it was only a brief moment we saw them.
Over the last few weeks we saw at several times and locations lots of pelicans. They can fly beautifully in groups, sometimes just an inch or 2 above the water. Other times they dove almost vertically into the water to catch their meals.

I hope to update soon about new nice observations from the jungle.
Last edited by rube on Wed Dec 07, 2022 11:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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mountainFrugal
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Re: Ecology- MMG

Post by mountainFrugal »

rube wrote:
Wed Dec 07, 2022 9:54 pm
I hope to update soon about new nice observations from the jungle.
Ants are good protein. :). I look forward to more jungle observations. Find some leaf cutters! They are amazing to watch.

rube
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Re: Ecology- MMG

Post by rube »

mountainFrugal wrote:
Wed Dec 07, 2022 10:24 pm
Ants are good protein. :). I look forward to more jungle observations. Find some leaf cutters! They are amazing to watch.
Another visit today to some old Maya ruins and a hike through the jungle to a small waterfall and a largely hidden/covered Mayan temple.

The special things we encountered:
Yes, we did found the leaf cutter ants! We followed their long trail back to their holes in the ground. Funny to watch them carrying the small leaf parts.
Right outside our apartment we saw a scarlet macaw, very colorful and beautiful bird. On the way to the jungle there was another creature which we don't didn't know what it is, but after some research it looks like it was a Mexican Agouti.

Lots of other birds but, plants, flowers and trees as common in the jungle.

Regarding the protein of ants, DS and I tried the fried and seasoned grasshoppers a few weeks ago. A famous local dish. Lots of protein, even more than chicken according the restaurant owner (I didn't check). The taste, due to the seasoning, was quite okay. I am not sure I would try (on purpose) ants. Although I am sure I have had some unknowingly....

In the apartment we came early November there was a long trail of ants from the ceiling to the floor. At first we weren't aware so they came into our food that was stored along their way. They managed to even get into some sealed plastic bags.
We took a large bowl, put water in it and placed a smaller bowl/plate inside, to create a moat for the ants. This way we could place our food on the plate surrounded by the water and the ants didn't manage to get onto this food.
We learned this trick a long time ago when we were living in the tropics for some time. There we even placed the table on 4 small plates with water on it so we could keep the table free of ants. But once in a while the ants we're building ant-bridges, trying to get over the water!
This time I also took a garlic clove and where the trail of the ants was, I took the clove to "paint" a line of garlic of about 70 cm. Because "the Internet" told me ants don't like garlic. And indeed, the ants stopped exactly on the line made with the garlic clove! However, only to find soon thereafter that they went to the end of the line, went around and followed exactly the same trail below the line as they did before :lol:
After 4 weeks, the ants we're still following exactly the same trail! Anyway, they didn't bother us so we just left them.

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mountainFrugal
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Re: Ecology- MMG

Post by mountainFrugal »

If you encounter any more leaf cutters, put some small debris (leaves or sticks) in their trail. It will cause a flurry of activity to remove it to keep the highway clean. There are usually specialized members of the colony that only work on maintaining the highway for the foragers. The foragers will keep holding onto their leaves and wander around until it the debris is removed. This is especially true closer to the entrance to the nest.

WRT eating insects, my older road bike racing friend makes a killer cricket protein cracker. I have roasted grasshoppers before. You need to make sure they are cooked (like your experience) because Orthoptera (crickets and grasshoppers) contain intestinal parasites that can also infect humans. The large legs (femur and tibia) should be removed to make them go down easier because they are usually spiked. How were the ones that you tried spiced?

A lot of surface hoar (frost on snow surface) observations on our tour last night in the open areas AND in the trees because of the clear windless nights. Not great for this 0.5m+ snow that is dumping on top of it right now. It will create an instant weak layer. Knowing that it is there, I will look for it when isolating a snow column for an avalanche conditions test. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s9LND3-gho

Edits: updating for better and better videos showing slab avalanches on a weak layer that propagates laterally through the test column. Scary!

rube
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Re: Ecology- MMG

Post by rube »

I'll dot that next time I see those leaf cutters!
The grashoppers I had, had indeed their large legs removed. We had one version with lime and the other with chiles, what else can you expect here in Mexico!

avalok
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Re: Ecology- MMG

Post by avalok »

We've been blanketed in a very British coating of snow (not that much, but enough to grind everyone to a halt). Aside from the serenity snow creates, I have enjoyed watching birds picking red berries from an overhanging tree in our garden. We watched a female blackbird drop more than she ate earlier, I hope something else gets some food out of her clumsiness.

It is much easier for me to spot wildlife when the background is white, and when any movement in a shrub causes a tiny avalanche from its leaves. It makes me wonder if being a predator becomes easier in such an environment.

Another snow-related observation I will be making: how quickly does the snow thaw from neighbouring roofs in comparison to ours? In previous years the difference has been days, but European energy prices have turned down everyone's thermostats.

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mountainFrugal
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Re: Ecology- MMG

Post by mountainFrugal »

avalok wrote:
Sun Dec 11, 2022 9:43 am
It is much easier for me to spot wildlife when the background is white, and when any movement in a shrub causes a tiny avalanche from its leaves. It makes me wonder if being a predator becomes easier in such an environment.
It is certainly easier to track animals in the snow as a human that relies on visual cues more than others. Contrast of sight, movement, sound, smell etc. all contribute to predator prey relationships. The Peppered moth is an A+ example of evolution in action. The pre-industrial color was mostly white with black splotches. With all the coal being burned in Britain, the trees that the moths hung out on had soot all over them. The white moths were quickly picked off by predators. There was strong selection pressure for all moths to become darker to match the new environment. This happened in a relatively short amount of time. Once there was less pollution, the populations around industrial areas reverted back to mostly white. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peppered_moth_evolution

Heavy wet snow on top of surface hoar layer means a few days to settle. Interestingly, if the snow was lighter it would take longer to settle because there would be less bonding between the layers. The wetter snow melts some of the hoar layer as it is falling.

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grundomatic
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Re: Ecology- MMG

Post by grundomatic »

Yesterday in the wash between our house and the neighbor's, a coyote was laying down, relaxing. Picture didn't come out well, otherwise I'd post it. We were alerted by the neighbor's barking dog, but the coyote, about 20ft away from it, didn't seem to care at all. He kept laying there for a couple minutes, then stood up and walked off. Couple minutes later he came back, heading the other direction.

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mountainFrugal
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Re: Ecology- MMG

Post by mountainFrugal »

Cool. Did you check out their prints? Coyote prints look like a dog's, but have a distinct X between the pads. If you get a clean print it is easy to see. https://www.wildernesscollege.com/coyote-tracks.html

Snow settled down and consolidated over the past few days. We went out for a little flat land tour Sunday to check out snow conditions and to harvest a Christmas tree. We selected a small spruce next to much larger ponderosa pine. Reducing fire ladders to the crown. I skied out with the tree on my shoulder to the amazement of a teen near the trail head. Not too often I can legit impress a teen.

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