Lizards in the Morning

Even though I've been walking the bosque for years, recently I've been seeing with fresh eyes. Having two young curious dogs will do that, especially when they've missed their daily bosque walk for two days in a row (rain two nights ago and birthday party festivities last night).

This morning we changed up our routine and walked on a different path (south instead of north) and later than usual. There are no toads out at this time since they prefer the darkness of dusk, but many Albuquerque denizens prefer bright daylight. We saw walkers, bicyclists, and lots of dogs walking their humans.

Despite the lack of toads, our dogs found plenty of lizards to keep them amused. No snake sightings, though I was hoping for one. Last time out I missed the snake, who was spooked into the brush by Haru, our intrepid hunter.

This morning I counted 3 rufous hummingbirds, one heron in flight, and zillions of dragonflies.

The river was higher than it has been these past few days - likely due to runoff from the storm. The bosque was lush and green and quiet. Once we got off the main trail we only saw two other hikers.

All in all, a very nice way to start off the morning, even if it did mean that I missed the Grower's Market.

Toads in the Bosque

There's a stretch of the bosque that I know as well as I do the faded keys on my laptop. I've been walking it for more than 13 years, and what I love about this transect is that the seasonal changes are never the same, especially as you get close to the river.

Tonight's walk with the dogs led us through the bosque past a few trees with burn marks on the base of their trunks, to a narrow opening through the brush opening up to the sandy riverbank, and walls of green shrubs towering 6-8 feet tall.

There were massive clusters of typha (cattails), and in the sand, there were moving rocks!

Actually, the moving rocks were toads, but it took me a minute to realize this.

The dogs were much faster at figuring this out, and I got quite an upper body workout restraining our Chesapeake Bay Retriever from retrieving a toad. (I'm certain it would not have tasted as good as duck, which is what he is bred to retrieve.) Someone needs to tell him this though - he was far more interested in the toads than the ducks and geese on the water.

Our German Shepherd cross (who is still unnamed) likes the toads too. Of course, she's still a puppy so she likes everything that moves - animate and inanimate. She thinks the garden house is a snake and positions herself in quite the defensive stance when it slithers past.