Good morning and happy #MotivationMonday ☀️
Fall is in full effect and the golden trees are a reminder of just how beautiful change can be. Even if the process is uncomfortable or difficult, the growth that you see will be all worth it in the end!
Have a great week y’all!!
Valle de Oro NWR Virtual Star Party
Cross-Continental Connections: Arctic NWR and Valle de Oro NWR
Nate's Coyotes
#RefugeManaJenn here for your dose of #MeonMonday. I asked #Natrodamus to share something to let you all know more about his job today and here is what he sent. What a lucky guy to be a Bio Tech and get to spend time watching all the widlife at Valle de Oro! Thanks #Natrodamus!
Cottonwood leaves
Hello everyone,
Cherry again with a #WildlifeWednesday.
We see them all the time; they give some of us allergies; they grow big and tall near the Rio Grande. Yup, I was thinking of our wonderful Cottonwood trees! Native to New Mexico and in other riparian zones in the Southwest of North America. Cottonwood trees are one of the fastest growing trees in North America. A young tree can add a couple inches to 6 feet in height each year. They can propagate a new sapling from the wind and river traveling broken branches along the bosque. Fun facts for the day! Enjoy your week,
#BeeeCherry
Valle de Oro NWR Transformation Tour May 2020
We had hoped to have an on site tour of the visitor center construction today but instead we hope you will appreciate this video from Refuge Manager Jennifer featuring a time lapse of the building construction.
#BaclonyRefuge
Hi all, this is #BackyardAni hosting today’s #MeonMonday. I’ve just begun my one-year environmental education internship with both Valle de Oro NWR and Friends of Valle de Oro NWR. One of my main tasks involves supporting the ABQ Backyard Refuge Program and encouraging folks to transform their outdoor spaces into habitat gardens that support pollinators and other wildlife. What makes this such an amazing opportunity for me is that one of my primary joys in life is gardening! Recently I moved into an apartment downtown and have no yard for the first time in forever. So, I’ve begun a container garden to get my 4th-floor balcony certified as wildlife habitat with the ABQ Backyard Refuge Program. And, of course, I’m also hoping to grow enough chilis and tomatoes for some fresh pico de gallo!
Rio Grande Phenology Trail
Happy #PhenologyFriday! Check out this video about the Rio Grande Phenology Trail, a partnership between Valle de Oro NWR, the Bosque Ecosystem Monitoring Program, and many other organizations around the state that are working together to study seasonal changes of plants and animals. We use the program Nature’s Notebook, which is free to download and use in your own backyard or neighborhood.
Also, check out http://bemp.org/education-resources/
for a seasonal scavenger hunt activity that all ages can do from home! A huge thank you to Crockett Howard, Nature’s Notebook volunteer and Bernalillo County Master Naturalist, for creating this wonderful video!
Welcome to this week’s #TransformationThursday, your weekly opportunity to learn about all the exciting projects happening on and around YOUR Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge.
The big news this week in the visitor center construction is the pouring of the foundation for the main part of the visitor center. Check out this cool time lapse video of all the work that goes into this phase of the construction. We can't wait to watch this place start to build vertically now!
To finish, here’s your weekly tip from the Mountain View Emergency Preparedness team. This group is a part of our Mountain View Neighborhood Association and Mountain View Community Action and is working hard to keep our host neighborhood and neighbors informed and prepared in case of an emergency.
As we move into spring and the windy season, it is important to start to think about wildfire preparedness around our homes. Here are some important tips to prepare:
- Learn about your wildfire risk from your local fire or forestry department (or National Wildlife Refuge)
- Clear area near your home of leaves, dead vegetation & other combustible materials to reduce sources of fuel
- Prepare for a wildfire by maintaining your lawn and removing combustible debris from around your home.
- THREE: The number of zones of defensible space @NFPA suggests creating around your home or business.
- Be prepared to evacuate in the event of a wildfire by knowing your family’s evacuation plan.
- Before a wildfire place critical documents in a fire safe.
- Even if wildfire doesn’t reach your home, you may lose power, water, & be unable to leave for several days. Plan Today!
- Use fire resistant materials for building construction, renovation, & landscaping to help protect property from a wildfire.
- Most wildfires are set by humans and can happen any time. Always be prepared.
- If you see a wildfire, call 911. You may be the first person to have spotted it!
- Make plans today for how to stay in touch with loved
It’s #WildlifeWednesday and there are sooooo many blackbirds on the refuge!! #aebiologist
Video credit to A. Elliott/USFWS
Snapshot of Valle de Oro NWR Playa Life
Happy #WildlifeWednesday. Though access to the playa is limited, here is a sneak peek into daily activity of the playa. Sorry for the angle. Wildlife likes to perch on poles regardless of what's on said pole. #aebiologist
Please make sure to stay on trails and follow all signage on the refuge when headed to the playa/the refuge.
[Description: This is a trail camera video that is slightly diagonal due to wind or birds knocking the camera over. The video is a time lapse over a day featuring the playa wetland at Valle de Oro NWR. The video starts out before early morning then brightens as the sun rises. Birds and other wildlife are shown flying over a wetland/water body and are swimming while loafing and eating in the playa throughout the day. Video has no sound.]
Baby skunks showing off how they intimidate predators
Happy #StarlightSunday. Today we will be highlighting one of the most recognizable nocturnal mammals out there; the skunk! Skunks generally have a bad reputation because most people think they are quite stinky. However, skunks only give off a foul odor when they are terrified for their lives. Skunks can only spray a few times before they need to recharge. If they use up all their ammo before it can refuel, they are basically defenseless. Most people assume that this odor is a gas, and some kids giggle about how skunks “fart”, but the odor is actually caused by a liquid. Before they spray, skunks will give warnings ranging from foot-stomping to intimidating handstands.
Skunks are impressive for much more than just their spray. They are opportunistic omnivores and get rid of many pest species such as mice, cockroaches, wasps, and others. They are essential to a well-functioning ecosystem keeping insect and rodent populations in check.
Striped skunks (the most well-known species of skunk) are about the size of an average house cat, ranging from about 7 to 14 pounds. A mama skunk can have a litter of anywhere between 2 and 10 babies! Sometimes the mamas have litters late in the year, some may be raising young right now. So if you find a skunk check to see if she has babies with her before you consider moving her to a new location; if you don’t want one of these guys in your yard that is. The refuge has seen a few striped skunks around and we love them! In New Mexico, we also have spotted skunks, hog-nosed skunks, and hooded skunks!
#GoosePerry
Graphics Credit: Hannah Perry
Happy #StewardshipSaturday! We want to thank all the volunteers, event support, and partners that made last weekend's Build Your Refuge Day a success. We had a great time and we got a lot done!
Rocky Mountain Youth Corps - New Mexico's Crew 6 has been hard at work prepping the playa wetland for next Saturday's Build Your Refuge Day. Great work crew!
To learn more about Build Your Refuge Day click the link below. Hope to see you all there next #StewardshipSaturday!
https://www.facebook.com/events/2379703462085101/
#TotallyTobes
Happy #WildlifeWednesday and #NationalWildlifeDay. Hope you’re enjoying your day as much as this wiggling egret is!
Video credit to H. Redwood/USFWS.
It’s #WildlifeWednesday! With the recent rains, #spadefoot toad #tadpoles have been popping up wherever there’s water, especially in tire rut puddles. We transported these little ones from that quickly disappearing puddle into a bigger “puddle” near the playa. #aebiologist
Video credit to A. Elliott/USFWS.
Happy #WildlifeWednesday. Phone and internet are still down, so we went outside! And we didn't have to go far to come across this beautiful and curious visitor at our offices. We sure were thankful for the visit of this greater roadrunner. #aebiologist
Video credit to A. Elliott/USFWS
Not Your Typical Wildlife Refuge: The Valle de Oro Story
Happy #RefugeWeek everyone! In celebration, we're happy to launch our new video telling the Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge story. It's been months in the making, and we're so thrilled to see it come together.
As the Southwest's first national urban wildlife refuge, Valle de Oro is deeply rooted in our South Valley neighborhood. See how our community is coming together to build the Refuge from the ground up. Enjoy and tell a friend about Valle de Oro NWR!
#RefugeManaJenn
Good morning from Valle de Oro. It looks like the colder weather has brought with it migrating swallows. #ConstructionKate
It's #WildlifeWednesday! Our Biologist and their group for macroinvertbrates with Nex+Gen Academy have been finding some cool things from dragonfly larvae (this video) to caddisfly larvae to mussels in the Rio Grande!
Video credit: A. Elliott, USFWS
#aebiologist #macroinvertebrates #riogrande #albuquerque #valledeoronwr
It's #WildlifeWednesday! Today we got great video of a thread-waisted wasp building a burrow. This wasp is digging a burrow for her young. She will dig a burrow, cover it, then go hunting for a caterpillar, which she will paralyze and put in the burrow then lay her eggs. Afterwards, she will cover the burrow to allow her young to overwinter, feeding off the paralyzed caterpillar until they emerge in the spring as adults. #aebiologists #wasps #insects #valledeoronwr
Video credit to: A. Elliott/USFWS
It's #WildlifeWednesday! Today we got great video of a thread-waisted wasp building a burrow. This wasp is digging a burrow for her young. She will dig a burrow, cover it, then go hunting for a caterpillar, which she will paralyze and put in the burrow then lay her eggs. Afterwards, she will cover the burrow to allow her young to overwinter, feeding off the paralyzed caterpillar until they emerge in the spring as adults. #aebiologist #wasps #insects #valledeoronwr
Video credit: A. Elliott/USFWS
Skink Release!
It's #WildlifeWednesday. Sometimes wildlife finds it way into our buildings, and then we capture and release them back into their wild spaces, safe from people. Yesterday's wildlife inside was a Great Plains Skink! #aebiologist #skinks #lizards
Video taken by A. Elliott/USFWS
It’s #WildlifeWednesday! Can you name the toads in this video taken around our playa? Hint: there are three species calling! Answers will be posted tomorrow. 🐸🐸🐸 #aebiologist #toads #wegottoads
Video credit to K. McVey/USFWS.
Ballet Folklorico Santa Fe!!