Oak – a curious nature

A Walk in the Park

Star Dust Skies — ABQ

October 11, 2026

“Time spent amongst trees is never wasted time” — Katrina Mayer

With nearly 300 public parks in Albuquerque (ABQ), it’s easy to find one beautifully landscaped with mature trees providing cool shade on a hot summer or fall day. The City’s Urban Forestry division manages roughly 25,000 trees within its parks, and when ‘in town,’ these parks feel like irresistible magnets reeling Luna and I in for an hour of discovery.

Star Dust Skies Park is one we’ve visited many times ….. as it’s just behind our dentist’s office. So on the morning of September 22nd, while Roy was “lounging” in a reclining chair discussing a tooth extraction with the Doc, Luna informed me the neighboring Park was calling.

Like many other City parks, the canopies of the abundance of mature trees seemed to touch, almost entirely eliminating the direct sunshine from penetrating the underlying lawn. Our walk-about was cool and refreshing as Luna sniffed every single tree trunk while I searched for seeds, seed pods and cones to draw.

As we moved from tree (trunk) to tree (trunk), I found myself wondering about the many non-native trees growing in the City. After all, ABQ is in the middle of a desert, in the middle of a drought (coincidentally, the 13 mile reach of the Rio Grande through town turned to sand from late May through mid-September 2026¹). Turns out the city has a water-wise urban forestry program; a permit must be obtained to plant a tree in a park, ensuring it is a drought-tolerant species. And growing trees in such an arid environment provides measurable annual benefits, like carbon sequestration, pollution reduction, and stormwater capture.

All of that (along with the other benefits of having established green spaces in the City) made me feel somewhat better about so many non-native trees in so many parks.

After an hour or so, it was time to head home. Both Luna and I were happy with our collections as we walked back to the dentist’s office ….. mine, a bag full of interesting and new-to-me seeds, seed pods and a few cones; Luna, a nose full of exquisite aromas describing the life and times of at least three dozen dogs who roamed Star Dust Skies Park this fine morning.

Where have you discovered Nature lately?

As always, thanks for stopping by!

¹ During 2026, major stretches of the Rio Grande through the Middle Rio Grande Valley (including 13 miles through central ABQ and southward) reached historic dryness levels, running dry for approximately three months; sections drying as early as late March and June. By late August, total dry river miles across the Middle Rio Grande Valley reached 112.4 miles (from Cochiti to Elephant Butte Reservoir), surpassing previous records.

On September 3rd, water temporarily returned to the Rio Grande in ABQ, after a 650-million-gallon release was ordered from the Abiquiú Reservoir for a brief three-day research and environmental rewetting period. But it wasn’t until September 18th, that consistent late-summer rains finally brought natural flows back to the river around ABQ.

Acorn or Gall?

An Albuquerque Park Mystery #26

September 6, 2026

The date: August 24, 2026

The time: 8:30 am.

The forecast: Severe clear; calm winds; 82^oF & climbing

The place: The Promenade in Albuquerque

The destination: el Oso Grande Park (“The Big Bear”)

After dropping Roy off for his annual eye exam, Luna and I decided to ‘sniff’ around the neighborhood on our way to nearby el Oso Grande Park. With the chance of rain being “zip,” I was confident walking east along a half-mile stretch of the large cement ditch used to drain storm water from Embudito Canyon. Other than creatively colorful graffiti, the ditch itself had nothing interesting to offer. The hot paved walkway, mostly lined by weedy species, provided perfect habitat for scattered bushy sacred datura plants in full bloom. The many city dwellers living ditch-side allowed landscaping plants to cascade over cinderblock privacy walls — the patches of shade – welcome; sprays of pale pink to magenta desert willow flowers – pretty and fragrant.

A sweaty 20 minutes later and the shady expanse of the Park was a welcome sight. Not one to waste time, Luna anxiously led me to tree trunk #1, circling and sniffing excitedly three times ‘round. Not being able to smell the wonderfully curious aromas capturing her full attention, I spent my time looking up into the leafy canopy of this full grown deciduous tree planted years ago in memory of a once local resident.

We moved on to tree #2, a robust conifer towering over the well-manicured green lawn, supported by another aromatic trunk recently ‘watered’ by a happy dog walking their human. Before we could check out tree #3, Luna claimed #2 by leaving her ‘calling card.’

And on and on we wandered and circled, until ….

…. I realized, based on our exam speed/tree (largely driven by Luna’s satisfaction meter), our Park tour of over 100 trees would take a month of Sundays! So we ramped up our pace, making decent progress to (hopefully) ensure our timely return to fetch Roy …. then tree #26 happened!

Oh! What was #26? Now it was my turn to encircle a tree, and I couldn’t stop. In addition to the puzzled look on Luna’s sweet face, several other things were certain: 1– this very large tree was a 2– deciduous 3– dicotyledonous member of the 4– oak genus Quercus. The deeply-lobed leaves were a giveaway, even though most of each leaf’s margins were dried and crinkly. But it wasn’t the leaves catching all of my attention — it was the 1-inch diameter shaggy pale green balls growing from the ends of many leafy branches. This certainly didn’t look like any acorn I’d ever seen before …. besides, right beside this scary-looking tentacled orb was a single mini-acorn that tried but never fully developed — only the dried, withered acorn cup had partially formed before rotting.

So what was it that sucked the life right out of that tiny failed acorn, and grew into something alien? If this was some kind of acorn that grows on a non-native oak tree I’ve never seen before, then I had to learn more! If this was a gall, an unusually grotesque, weird and exaggerated growth stimulated by a developing wasp grub living deep inside, then I really had to learn a lot more!

And then I collected and promptly zip-locked a specimen.

This became (and still is) An Albuquerque Park Mystery hanging like lime green ornaments all over, and also within reach from, tree #26!

P.S.

iNaturalist identified the tree as Gambel’s oak
Never have I ever seen a Gambel’s oak acorn look like that!
Still waiting for an oak expert to identify the tree leaves and/or acorn/gall-thing

P.S. P.S.

So many questions remain
Upon arriving home, no wildlife observed inside zip-locked bag
I dissected the growth, inside and out — found what looked like an acorn nut
No sign of a grub; no exit holes in the outer or inner shells

P.S. P.S. P.S.

Luna & I practically ran back to the eye doc’s office, arriving minutes before Roy’s exam concluded

……………………………………………………………………………………..

If you’ve seen anything growing on an oak that remotely resembles these mystery green goblins, please let me know what it may be, and what species of oak they come from!

As always, thanks for stopping by!

P.S. P.S. P.S. P.S.

When “An Albuquerque Park Mystery #26” is solved, you’ll be the first to know!

Fading Flowers Reveal Leafy Greens ….. Cedro Creek

July 14, 2023

Learning the deciduous Trees and Shrubs shading Cedro Creek Nature Trail ….. Grab n Go Nature Journaling

The timing and location of our daily hikes are being influenced by the extreme summer temperatures we’re experiencing throughout central New Mexico, and throughout the desert southwest. Whew! Even at 7300-8300’ elevation, 95-100F has become the norm, with no relief (or moisture) in sight. I don’t even want to think about Albuquerque temperatures; over 100F before noon, and soaring.

Because hiking in the Albuquerque foothills, at any time of the day, is out of the question, we’ve begun revisiting some our favorite mountain trails. But even tho these areas are higher in elevation, and shadier, it’s still plenty hot. That means if we set out between 7-8am, we can still manage a few miles before our water, like all the creeks, runs dry.

A few mornings ago, we decided to hike Cedro Creek Nature Trail, a rocky but easy dirt path under the shade of big cottonwoods. Expecting to find some water in the creek (there was none), I was hoping to find some interesting wildflowers (which had all withered and dried). The further along the trail we hiked, my focus quickly changed from wildflowers to other natural elements.

Geology is always interesting in these mountain drainages, and Cedro Creek is no exception. The overlying shales and limestones have long ago eroded to reveal large granite boulders that showed signs of erosion from long ago flowing water. That’s a nice thought!

And then there were so many varieties of deciduous trees and shrubs; their leafy greens not only provided relief from the heat, but became a visual treat as we explored the riparian areas alongside the dry creek bed.

As my curiosity about the diversity of tree and shrub species began to grow, so did the air temperature. Not wanting to become reduced to a sweaty puddle in the middle of the trail, and sensing a swarm of drooling, biting gnats and flies giving me a hungry eye, I resorted to collecting leaf and branch samples using a Grab n Go technique. By the time we got back to the car, I had 3 large ziplocks stuffed with over a dozen species of tree and shrub leaves and some fruits.

Back at home, in the comfort of my cool studio, I began my detailed study of these leaves (and the few bugs that managed to hitch a ride). Three days and several gallons of iced tea later, I had completed the 5 journal pages in this post.

That iced tea was deliciously cool, but not as cool as learning what’s growing overhead along Cedro Creek!

Until next time ……. be curious

A Festive Anniversary Week in the Sonoran Desert. Part 6: Mt. Lemmon – Tucson’s Majestic Backdrop and a Cool Summer Retreat

(December 11-17, 2022)

December 16, 2022

We totally get it! Why Mt. Lemmon is nicknamed “Tucson’s Great Escape.” Why the scenic highway is ”Cool!” From the Lower Sonoran Desert and the Tucson Valley (2,200 feet) to the upper reaches of a Spruce-Fir Forest (topping out at about 9,200 feet), the popular Scenic Highway up Mt. Lemmon offers breathtaking views, plants to discover, geology to learn, recreation opportunities, and temperatures often 30 degrees F lower than the desert below. That means a lot, especially when Tucson’s summer temps are in the triple digits!

But on the day of our driving adventure we found snow ….. on the highway, at scenic overlooks, and on walking trails. The storm hit 4 days earlier forcing closure of much of the highway. But on this day, most of the roads were clear and so was the sky.

So come along and learn what there’s to see along the Mt. Lemmon Scenic Highway.

Escapito #2b: Cuba Mesa, Santa Fe National Forest

We packed up camp at the Angel Peak campground early in the morning, and bounced back down 8 miles of washboard road towards the highway. Along the way we pulled into several picnic areas with scenic overlooks and ooohed and aaaaahed at the spectacular Kutz Canyon from many angles. Every stop was worth it..

But then a new destination was calling …… about 70 miles southeast ….. over the Continental Divide to Cuba Mesa.