After breakfast for the group (not Chris – I get the feeling he is not a morning person… very odd for a birder) we went to Los Poblanos Open Space. It is beside a slew and has farming plots that are open to the community. It was a sparkling clear day and we had lots of flybys. Only one new life bird, a Great-tailed Grackle, but it was beautiful.
Great-tailed Grackle
A bunch of up-close and personal moments with Sandhill Cranes that were all over the place.
Sandhill Cranes
What we really came for was the Greater Roadrunner that Wendy told us had been seen there. I ran into a birder/photographer who used to live in Connecticut. When I told him we had seen a bunch of American Goldfinch, he scoffed and said if we get one a year, that’s a lot. I walked over to the Chris and told him about the encounter and he pointed at the tree and said – there are sixty of them in that tree. I shrugged and said – forewarned is forearmed. The guy walked up to Chris and said you didn’t see an American Goldfinch. Chris responded by pointing to the tree and said – there are about 60 in that tree over there… The guy started snapping away and kept saying – I can’t believe it.
American Goldfinch
There was also a nice assortment of American & Lesser Goldfinch, Dark-eyed Junco, Pine Siskin & Say’s Phoebe
Lesser Goldfinch & American Goldfinch
American Goldfinch & Pine Siskin
Dark-eyed Junco
Say's Phoebe
Next we went back to Cibola National Forest, this time at the foot of the mountains – Embudito Canyon. We drove up through a lovely neighborhood where we got a first look at the Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay and a bunch of Bushtits in a tree.
Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay
Mule Deer
The trail yielded a Crissal Thrasher, bunch of Canyon Towhee and more Scrub-Jays. The rest of the crew went further up the mountain again in search of the Greater Roadrunner – no luck! Still a beautiful morning in some nice desert flora.
Canyon Towhee
Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay
Rock Formations
Flora
Darrell trying to get burrs off his pants.
We returned to the Airport Best Western to check out. As we pulled into the parking lot, we got a hotel bird – Greater Roadrunner. Another life bird and the best hotel bird I’ve ever had.
Greater Roadrunner
A quick stop at the grocery store to get lunch and we were on our way to another Wendy recommendation – Bernardo Wildlife Management Area. Chris had never been there before – but he had heard that it might be better for Sandhill Cranes than our final destination Bosque del Apache.
When we first pulled in, we saw a number of Snow Geese, but hear a large flock of Sandhill Cranes in the distance. When we arrived at the first bird blind (there were three) we were greeted by several thousand Sandhill Cranes feeding in the fields in front of us.
Sandhill Cranes
At the beginning of the report on this trip, I said this trip was not about finding new life birds, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t read my list of Target birds to Chris at the beginning of the trip. I was waiting for the bathroom and Chris came running over to tell me he had a Ferruginous Hawk – one of my targets. I saw it, although only through the scope, but it was very beautiful.
At the next bird blind we have several thousand more Sandhill Cranes and two species of Meadowlarks that were new for me – Western & Chihuahuan. I am including the photo, but it is lousy – too far away, but had a better look through the scope.
Sandhill Cranes
Western, Chihuahuan, Western Meadowlark
At the end of the drive we had a good number of Snow Geese, including some Blue Morphs and quite a number of Ross’ Goose too.
Snow Geese & Sandhill Cranes
Snow Goose
Ross's Goose & Snow Goose
Snow Goose
Blue Morph - Snow Goose
Snow Goose, Ross' Goose
Ross' Goose
A diversion from the original plan – thanks Wendy – well worth it.
We got back on the road and my sister asked if there was a bathroom in our near future. Chris stopped at the next “rest stop” which actually had a raised bird blind, part of the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge and our most productive life bird stop. Again, Chris came running to get me because he had a Verdin… but that was just the beginning.
Verdin
After the Verdin and Curved-billed Thrasher showed up, the group had seen this bird earlier in the day, but I missed it. After that we had a flock of Sagebrush Sparrow show up. I’ve never been so happy about a tiny bladder.
Curve-billed Thrasher
Canyon Towhee
Chihuahuan Raven
Sagebrush Sparrow
The view
We arrived in Socorro, our home base for the next two nights and went directly to the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology – it has what I would call a duck pond. Nothing really new in the pond, but a very odd Mallard that I think might have a tumor. In a nearby tree I saw my first Audubon’s Yellow Rumped Warbler (they have a yellow throat where the ones we have here have a white throat (Myrtle). We also had a bunch Eurasian Collared & White-winged Doves & a Peregrine Falcon.
Duck with weird haircut
American Wigeon, Ring-billed Duck
A quick dinner and an early night for an early start in the morning.
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