The Salinas Valley was home to multiple, thriving communities over 350
years ago. Pueblo Indians
forged a stable agricultural society whose members lived
in apartment-like complexes and participated, through rule and ritual, in the cycles
of nature. Two ancient southwestern cultural traditions,
the Ancestral Puebloans and Mogollon, overlapped in the Salinas Valley to
produce the later societies at Abó, Gran Quivira, and Quarai.
A permanent Spanish settlement was established in 1598
near what is now Española,
New Mexico. By the late 1620s, Franciscan
priests had made their way down to the Salinas Valley, where
they established missions at the largest pueblos. These
missions were only active for about 50 years. They were
abandoned in the early 1670s due to a combination of
factors that included drought, famine, disease and raiding.
After the Pueblo Indians left the area in the 1670s,
the villages and associated seventeenth-century
Franciscan Spanish mission churches fell into disrepair.
Over time, the wildlife moved into the remaining structures and started
building burrows and establishing nests. Today, Abó,
Gran Quivira, and Quarai are home to a myriad of plants and animals.
Follow us along the trail into the ruins, and let's see who we can spot!
Wildlife can be easily startled by loud noises, so we'll keep
our voices low and mainly use our senses of sight
and hearing. Ooh -- do you see what I see? Look at that sandstone
wall -- there's a bird sitting on it, bending its legs and looking like it's taking
a bow. Upon closer inspection, we can see that the bird is sandy-colored
with faint stripes on its tail and a long, slender bill. This bill
is useful for eating insects. Rock wrens are identifiable by their frequent
bowing or bobbing their long legs and are often found on the walls of the ruins.
Whoops! While we were focused on the Rock wren,
we almost stepped on a small reptile darting along the path.
This medium-size lizard is mostly black with white stripes along the length
of its body, spots in between the stripes, and a long tail.
Chihuahuan spotted whiptails are among the most
common lizards here at Salinas. Oh, we're in luck today. Not far from the
Chihuahuan spotted whiptail is another, much larger
lizard. This lizard is yellowish-green with a black and white
collar around its neck and spots all along its back.
Collared lizards like this one are able to bask in the
sun even during the heat of the day, because they sit on the heels of their
feet, thereby minimizing contact with hot surfaces.
Birds are in the midst of fall migration, which means you never
know who you might see flying or perched in the trees.
As we walk around a bend in the trail this
morning, there's a large bird sitting on the ruins.
It looks like it's eating something -- I wonder what this hawk caught? This
hawk, who is likely a juvenile Red-tailed hawk, is mostly dark
brown with white patches on its head and back. Recently, it has been
visiting the Abó picnic area, which often is a good place to look
for wildlife. While we were admiring the hawk, a black beetle quickly
walked towards us and lifted its hindquarters. Time to move away quickly before
it sprays of foul-smelling acid at us. The scent emitted by Darkling
ground beetles acts as a natural defense against potential predators.
Another good defense against predators is camouflage.
While walking the trails it's easy to miss a Horned lizard.
Horned lizards are often very similar in color to the trails and soils
at Abó, and since they often move relatively slowly, they're easy to miss.
Some predators use camouflage, too. Western diamondback
rattlesnakes are easily spotted against the red trail,
but they can be difficult to spot in the grass.
Western diamondbacks can be recognized by
their black and white-striped tails and diamond-shaped heads,
although it's not advisable to get close enough to tell the head has a diamond shape.
Recently, we've been spotting Monarch butterflies at
Abó and Quarai. The Monarch butterfly uses the milkweed plant
as its only nursery. Monarchs lay their eggs on the underside of
milkweed leaves; when the larvae hatch, the caterpillars eat the leaves.
The milkweed plant is mildly toxic; by eating this plant, the caterpillars
become toxic themselves, which deters predators.
At Salinas, we're currently in the process of putting in
pollinator gardens; these gardens will be
used to attract more butterflies and other pollinators to the sites.
Although not frequently seen at Salinas, Greater roadrunners occasionally
stop by. Roadrunners can reach speeds of up to 26
miles per hour while pursuing prey. Typically, the diet
of roadrunners includes insects and lizards, although they can also kill
and eat rattlesnakes. Phylogenetic research has shown that roadrunners
are type of cuckoo bird.
Yikes! A Tarantula hawk wasp just buzzed by us.
Although the shiny, blue-bodied Tarantula
hawk wasps with orange wings usually aren't a threat to
humans, when they do sting, it packs a strong punch.
Tarantula hawk wasps
engage tarantulas in a fight to the death. Should the tarantula lose, the Tarantula
hawk wasp will paralyze it and inject its eggs into the tarantula.
When the eggs hatch, the larvae will eat the tarantula from the inside out.
This summer, the mission church at Abó was home to a family of Barn owls. Barn owls usually
nest in either man-made structures or natural openings.
They don't build traditional nests; instead, over time they
trample down owl pellets, which form a nest for their young. Finding owl pellets
or small bones on the ground is a good indication that
owls are or have been nearby.
We keep talking about owl pellets, but what exactly are they?
When owls eat small rodents, birds, or
reptiles, they can't digest the fur, feathers, or bones.
Instead, they regurgitate these indigestible materials, which
resemble small, furry, feathery eggs. If you dissect an owl
pellet, you can determine what it has been eating. We
have found the remains of lizards, kangaroo
rats, and bats in the owl pellets at Abó.
Our 3 Barn owlets have now fledged, but hopefully, our
Barn owls will return to Abó. We didn't have enough time to talk
about all of the wildlife you could encounter at Salinas. During your
visit, keep an eye out for other birds,
lizards, and reptiles, such as the ones being shown now.