Let the Nesting Season Begin!

In my last update, I mentioned how a few of us had been searching old hawk nests recently looking for nesting Great Horned Owls, one of the earliest breeders every year, and described the one seen last Friday roosting in the Rt. 66 Open Space.  After seeing reports on ebird.org of nesting owls at both the Tingley Ponds and Rio Grande Nature Center, I was motivated to try tracking them down on Monday and can report great success in quickly finding them both!

The female owl at the Nature Center was taking a break perching just next to the nest when I first arrived, but resumed sitting on the nest a short time later.  We’d see her again with the Thursday Birder group later in the week, when everybody in the group got a nice look at her.

Great Horned Owl - Rio Grande Nature Center

The one at Tingley is in just about the only abandoned Cooper’s Hawk nest I’ve seen in that area, and both on Monday and on a return visit this weekend was awake but firmly nestled in her nest.

Great Horned Owl - Tingley Ponds

Great Horned Owls have nested in several other areas around town in recent years, so I’ll keep looking to see if I can find some more.

A week ago Saturday, Rebecca and I headed off to Galisteo and Cochiti Lake on a chill windy day unsuccessfully looking for the uncommon sparrows at Galisteo Creek and the Pacific Loon that had been reported at Cochiti.  We did, however, get great looks at flocks of Mountain Bluebirds, both on County Road 42 west of Galisteo and then again in Pena Blanca.

Mountain Bluebird

Birding was productive in Embudito Canyon this week, which I visited on Tuesday and after a substantial overnight snowfall again on Wednesday.  Among the birds seen there on Tuesday was a group of Black-throated Sparrows, one of whom posed nicely to have its picture taken.

Black-throated Sparrow

As usual, the Curve-billed Thrashers also insisted that their picture get taken too.

Curve-billed Thrasher

Another one, however, was being coy hiding out in a scrub oak and just chuckling away until finally letting itself be seen.

Curve-billed Thrasher

A male Ladder-backed Woodpecker also made an appearance that day.

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

On the way back to my car, a Cactus Wren popped up and noisily got my attention.  It may have been upset about something and seems a bit grouchy in this picture.

Cactus Wren

After almost five inches of snow that night, the next day turned out quite sunny and warm, and the birds seemed to enjoy perching in the sun to soak up the warmth as the snow quickly melted.

Canyon Towhee

Saturday, Rebecca joined me for another unsuccessful owl quest, where we checked out the Pueblo Montano Open Space and then North Corrales where Great Horned Owls have nested in the past.   We also made a couple of stops at the Alameda Open Space to scan the huge flock of Ring-billed Gulls for the presence of one of the other single individuals of other species that are being reported, including the Thayer’s I’d seen with Matt a few weeks ago, a Franklin’s which would be obvious with its black head and red bill, a California that had been reported two days earlier, and a Mew.  We’re pretty sure we did finally see the Mew Gull, having it in the scope for a couple of minutes to note its unmarked yellow bill and tan splotches on the back of its neck.

In the new wildlife ponds at Alameda, we were surprised to see such a large number of Wood Ducks.   They are usually pretty common at the Nature Center, but this year more are being seen at Alameda, which raises the question of whether or not they chose it themselves or were moved there by wildlife staff.

Wood Ducks

Rambling through the open space in North Corrales early in the afternoon was quite pleasant as the day warmed in the bright sun.  A new birding spot for me and one I’m sure to visit again soon.  A  highlight of the day was this active Ruby-crowned Kinglet that circled quite closely around us.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Good Little Birds and One Big Owl

This week included a good number of sightings of Bald Eagles and Red-tailed Hawks, such as this guy at Tingley Ponds on February 1,

Red-tailed Hawk

but most of the good pictures this week were of good little birds, mostly skulking around in the bushes.  Minutes after getting several shots of that hawk, I spied this little Bewick’s Wren chattering away at my presence.

Bewick's Wren

On Sunday, a short visit to Embudito Canyon  on a cool and windy afternoon lucked out with excellent views of the rather rare Green-tailed Towhee that had been reported there recently.

Green-tailed Towhee

The next day, I met Cheryl from Santa Fe to head back to Tingley to look for the Pacific Wren again.  With the recent flooding of the marshy area, the Rusty Blackbirds seem to have departed, and while we did see a Stub-tailed Wren, neither of us could be certain if it was a Pacific or a Winter Wren and we really didn’t get to see it all that well or that long.  On the way back, Cheryl spotted a Brown Creeper, and the next day Matt and I would see another; the third time I’ve seen them already this year; last year, I’d only seen it once.

Brown Creeper

Tuesday, Matt and I met at Alameda Open Space to look for a couple of unusual gulls that had been reported recently.  No luck on that score, but a Black Phoebe posed nicely for me in a colorful tree right next to the pedestrian bridge.

Black Phoebe

We noted there seemed to be even more Black-crowned Night Herons roosting on the west bank of the river just north of the bridge than the last time I’d been there, and it was simply amazing to watch how the gulls could distinguish the silhouette of a distant bald eagle from the crows, cormorants, ducks and other large birds – only an eagle alarmed them and caused them to lift off the water.

Taking that as a hint, my plan for the next morning was to park it in the middle of the bridge and wait for the signal from the gulls in hope of getting a closer view of an eagle.  Good plan, and actually got a couple of pictures just as I arrived, but it was way to cold and windy to hang around long enough for another one to pass over, so I decided to head back to the Rio Grande Nature Center to see if maybe the Bald Eagles were still roosting where they’d been the week before.  No luck on that score either, but got a surprisingly nice picture while I was there of a Bushtit gathering nesting material.

Bushtit

Usually, these guys are in a large flock and constantly on the move, making it rather difficult to get a picture of one.

This week, the Thursday Audubon Birders took it easy and went up to the Crest House at the top of the Sandias to look for the Rosy Finches while sitting in a nice warm place with hot coffee.  Unlike my last visit when you had to wait awhile to even see a single one, this time we had the more usual large flock that stayed around for a surprisingly long time.  While the three different species were present, my pictures are of the Gray-crowned, and three of them came out pretty well.

Rosy Finch

Rosy Finch

If you look closely, you can see how fluffed up and downy they look, which may contribute to their choice of habitat in a cold, almost arctic environment.  Now, I’d like to explain how I patiently staked out this next location and waited for hours to get this shot, but in truth, I didn’t realize the bird had left until later that morning when reviewing my pictures.  It did come out pretty good, though, didn’t it?

Rosy Finch

In addition to all the rosy finches, there were an unusual number of Steller’s Jays visiting the feeder along with a few more ‘good little birds’.  This little guy is a Mountain Chickadee.

Mountain Chickadee

Several White-breasted Nuthatches came by while we sat watching,

White-breasted Nuthatch

and every now and then, the less common Red-breasted Nuthatch would dart in for an instant before vanishing with a bite to eat.

Red-breasted Nuthatch

All those marvelous birds made the drive up more than worthwhile.

For the last couple of weeks, some of us have been out looking for nesting Great Horned Owls in areas we’d seen them before.  These owls tend to start nesting about now and earlier than most other birds, so searching the leafless trees for old hawk nests has the potential for finding one.  Although there have been a few reports of the owls being seen in various locations around town, we’ve been unsuccessful so far this year in finding any active nests.  Just to check, this morning I went back to the new Route 66 Open Space to visit a nest that I’d seen fledglings in last year.  That nest also looked abandoned today, but as I was rambling along the creek back to my car, I noticed a peculiar shape in one of the cottonwoods, and sure enough, it was a Great Horned Owl roosting for the day.

Great Horned Owl

It was a little easier to see this guy from a different angle, but that camouflage pattern and pose was just amazing to see.

Great Horned Owl

Will definitely be visiting again soon to see if a nest develops.

A Good Week for Eagles

It is about the right time of year to see a few eagles on the Rio Grande, but this week more than surpassed my expectations.  Last Wednesday, I rambled around the Rio Grande Nature Center and ran into two other regular birders in the area, neither of whom had been seeing much.  That’s not too unusual for this time of year, and I wasn’t seeing very many birds either.  But at a few points on the Aldo Leopold Trail there are pretty good views up and down the river, and I got to watch my first nearly adult Bald Eagle of the season as it swooped and dove several times on a small sandbar, obviously something drawing its attention.

Bald Eagle

Just about the only other bird I got a picture of that day was this one of a male Northern Shoveler.

Northern Shoveler (male)

The next day, the Audubon Thursday Birder group also took a walk at the Rio Grande Nature Center, and would see a few more birds, including a close fly-by of an immature Bald Eagle and a distant view of a mature adult Bald Eagle.  Despite the pretty quiet morning, I did get a few good pictures of several other birds, including this one of a Hermit Thrush that came out pretty well.

Hermit Thrush

As we were heading back to our cars at the end of the morning, someone pointed out the huge flock of Cackling Geese on the Candelaria Pond.  Very similar to Canada Geese, Cackling Geese are much smaller, have much shorter necks and different bills.

Cackling Goose

There were a few Canada Geese on the pond, too, which made the comparison quite distinct.  A special surprise among the flock was a single Greater White-fronted Goose.  And, to top it off, after we stopped looking at the geese and headed for the cars, a Greater Roadrunner popped up with a nice salamander snack.

Roadrunner w/lunch

On Saturday, a couple of us headed out east of the Sandias near Moriarty to scope out an upcoming trip to look for longspurs.  We didn’t see any that day, but did find a few flocks of Horned Larks, which is a good sign that longspurs may be hidden among them.  We did get a few good looks at a male Northern Harrier, several Loggerhead Shrikes,

Loggerhead Shrike

and more of the Ferruginous Hawks we’d seen on a visit earlier this month.

Ferruginous Hawk

But, hey, this is Eagle Week, and sure enough, an absolute highlight of the day was spotting a Golden Eagle about three telephone poles away while driving a dirt road in the area of the King Ranch.  After scoping it for a few minutes, I started to amble down the dirt road to see if I could get a little closer for a picture. When it took off, amazingly it headed right back down the road over the car so we all got really good up close looks at it; certainly closer than I’ve ever been to one before.

Golden Eagle

This morning’s mission was to head back to the Rio Grande Nature Center and later the Pueblo Montano Open Space (on the west side of the Rio Grande south of Montano) looking for Great Horned Owls, who should start nesting soon and have been seen near the Nature Center recently.  No luck on the owls, but I did see seven snoozing porcupines at Pueblo Montano and a couple near the Nature Center.

Crossing the bridge near the Nature Center, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet was hanging out in the olive tree on the western bank of the acequia and posed nicely for a picture.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

I started out by walking north on the bike trail and then cutting west to the river on the Aldo Leopold trail, where I saw a couple of White-breasted Nuthatches, a Spotted Towhee, Hermit Thrush, Downy Woodpecker, and a couple of other birds in addition to the usual American Crows.

White-breasted Nuthatch

Checking out the river from the small beach area north of the Nature Center, I arrived just in time to catch this immature Bald Eagle as it flew over me heading north along the river.

Bald Eagle (#1)

That sighting would have been enough to make my day, but as I headed further south to the other beach area south of the Nature Center, not only were there two Great Blue Herons roosting in a tree across the river,  but there were three more Bald Eagles hanging out in another tree.  A mature adult took off as I moved closer, circling once before heading upriver.

Bald Eagle (#2)

I hunkered down across from the remaining two and watched them for about 10 minutes, hoping the adult would return.

Bald Eagles (#3 and #4)

Instead, first the really immature one and then the more adult one took off about a minute apart heading upriver.

Pretty incredible to see four Bald Eagles right there in the middle of town, not to mention that amazing view of the Golden Eagle earlier in the week.  There are only two species of eagles in the United States, so seeing both of them and so close definitely made my week.

Some Surprising New Birds

Although a little slow at times typical for this time of year, it has been another good week for birding around here.  On Monday, I met up with several friends at the Tingley Ponds who hadn’t yet seen the Rusty Blackbirds and Pacific Wren that have drawn so many people lately.  Not the best day for birding with a pretty stiff breeze blowing and threats of a little rain, but fun to watch a Red-tailed Hawk just hovering in the wind as we met in the parking area.

Red-tailed Hawk

With all the wind, the wrens were tucked away somewhere and we weren’t successful in finding them that day, but the blackbirds seem to have become accustomed to people and allowed a much closer approach than they did several weeks earlier.

Rusty Blackbird (male)

Wednesday on my way to the Alameda Open Space, I detoured down San Antonio Drive following directions from Judy Liddell, and was thrilled to see a Peregrine Falcon hiding out at the top of the tall telephone structures in the median across from the Post Office where I’d parked.

Peregrine Falcon

Maybe the second time I’ve ever seen one, this one allowed me to get reasonably close before it would sail off to the west before again landing on a more distant structure.  After getting a few more pictures, it was off to Alameda.  The Black-crowned Night Heron roost on the west side of the river just north of the bridge had at least six roosting birds including several immatures, quite a few more than I’d ever seen there before.  While watching them from the pedestrian bridge, one at a time four of them decided to fly off back across the river and let me grab a few pictures as they went.

Black-crowned Night Heron

Walking south along the eastern side of the river, there were several Common Mergansers, the usual Mallards, Coots  and Canada Geese, and a few Wood Ducks floating in the river.  In one of the trees lining the bank was this porcupine, of which there seem to be quite a few around this year.

Porcupine

Usually, they hang out quite a bit higher in the trees, but this one was close enough you can even make out the facial expression.

This week took the Audubon Thursday Birder group to Los Poblanos Open Space, where we ended up with close to 20 species including quite a few Savannah Sparrows hiding in the weeds.  At the end of the walk as we were compiling the checklist, an American Kestrel landed on a nearby telephone wire for several of us to photograph.  I managed to get this picture as he flew from the wire to a tree a little further away.

American Kestrel

Not quite done birding for the day, Rebecca and I decided to drive over to the Sandia View Academy in Corrales to try for a better look at the Western Screech-Owl we know is there but has never shown itself very openly.  Once again, when we got there you could just make out its ear tufts as it nestled deep in its hole in a large cottonwood.  This time, however, when I played the call, the owl popped right up and glared at us for disturbing it before dozing off while still quite visible.  If you look closely at the lower right, you’ll see it’s holding a mouse or some other prey.

Western Screech-Owl

A life bird for me, and one I’d been wanting to see since getting to see the Eastern Screech-Owl on a visit to the Texas Hill Country last spring.

On Friday, Rebecca suggested going to check out a cattle tank east of San Antonio, New Mexico that has been reliable in the past for Horned Larks and Chestnut-collared Longspurs.  (The location is known on ebird as the ‘Longspur Tank’.)  It was unexpectedly breezy and we saw surprisingly few birds anywhere that day, but sat patiently by that tank for about an hour and did see large flocks of the Horned Larks and briefly at least two of the Longspurs.  Never managed to get a picture of the latter, but took a number of pictures of the former.

Horned Larks

Interestingly, ebird reports from recent years indicate that sometimes the longspurs greatly outnumber the larks, while in my admittedly limited experience usually the longspur/lark ratio is more like what we saw.

Heading back, we decided to drive the BLM’s Quebradas Backcountry Byway, an unpaved 24-mile drive between US 380 and Escondido Lake through some very scenic country and a landscape dotted with quite a few ocotillo.  We only saw a single bird, an American Kestrel, on the drive, but it does look like it could turn up some interesting birds in fairly unique habitat that close to Albuquerque, so a return trip in the spring is definitely in order.

On the way home, we stopped at Whitfield Wildlife Conservation Area and walked the loop.  Not expecting to see many birds, there were still a few about and it was a pleasant afternoon for a walk.  There was a fairly large flock of Savannah Sparrows and a few Song and White-crowned Sparrows.  A Song Sparrow posed nicely long enough for a picture.

Song Sparrow

One of the reasons for seeing few birds might have been the resident female Northern Harrier that was patrolling about.

Northern Harrier

For the dead of winter, it was a good week, especially with getting such good looks at that rather uncommon Peregrine Falcon and Western Screech-Owl.

Raptors and Wrens

Before catching up with a few friends at Tingley Ponds on Saturday to help them find the unusual Rusty Blackbirds and Pacific Wren, I decided to stop by the Albuquerque Botanic Garden to see what was about.  Not too many birds at this time of year, but there were a few Wood Ducks hanging at the pond, including this pair quietly paddling around.

Wood Ducks

We did get lucky later the afternoon at seeing both of the target birds, but it wasn’t until later in the week when I returned to show them to Matt that I got a pretty good picture of that Pacific Wren, who gave us quite a show and was unusually talkative during our visit.

Pacific Wren

Tuesday seemed like a good day to drive up to Sandia Crest to see the rosy finches while they are still around.  A smaller number this year stopped by while I was there including several instances when only a single bird would arrive instead of the more typical swirling flock.  Pictures weren’t that great during the short times they were there, but I did get a pretty good one of one of the Steller’s Jays that were about along with white- and red-breasted nuthatches, chickadees, and juncos.

Steller's Jay

Matt and I had a great morning on Wednesday, first tracking down the Thayer’s Gull that had been reported recently near the Alameda Bridge, and then finding both the Rusty Blackbirds and the Pacific Wren — it’s a good day when Matt  gets to add three birds to his State (310 species) and County (232 species) lists including one that was a lifer!

Fairly entertaining to see while we were hunting down that wren was this Cooper’s Hawk apparently enjoying a day at the mud spa, behavior I’ve never seen before.

Cooper's Hawk

The next day, the Thursday Birder group headed out to the open country east of the Sandias near Estancia on a successful hunt for Ferruginous Hawks and several other raptors.  This one waited rather patiently on a telephone pole for me to take his picture,

Ferruginous Hawk

but eventually tired of my intrusiveness and took off for parts unknown.

Ferruginous Hawk

In addition to a large number of Ferruginous Hawks, there were a few Red-tailed Hawks (including two of the dark morph form) and American Kestrels seen, Loggerhead Shrikes, a huge flock of Horned Larks (with a couple of Chestnut-collared Longspurs),

Horned Lark

a couple of Sage Sparrows (unusual for this area), and a few Western Meadowlarks.

Western Meadowlark

Yesterday, Rebecca and I drove down first to Bernardo NWR and then on to Bosque del Apache NWR.  Bernardo seemed to be the place to go for Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese (not to mention the 8 Bald Eagles we saw during our short visit), with considerably larger numbers of both than we’d see at the Bosque.  A nearly full moon still up that morning made a pretty good backdrop for the geese flying about.

Snow Geese

Just as we were closing in on the Visitor Center at the Bosque, Rebecca spotted a raptor-like bird in a cottonwood on the side of the highway and had me pull a quick u-turn to check it out.  Turned out to be a Merlin, and close to where we’d seen one during the Festival of the Cranes back in November.  Much better lighting this time for a picture of this fairly uncommon bird.

Merlin

The feeder at the Visitor Center brought in a White-throated Sparrow in among the large flock of the more usual White-crowned Sparrows.

White-throated Sparrow

Birding was fabulous at the Bosque that day.  Among the raptors, there were large numbers of Red-tailed Hawks and Northern Harriers,  a couple of Ferruginous Hawks,  several Bald Eagles, and, as we were leaving to head back to Albuquerque, a surprise Prairie Falcon.  We were watching one Red-tailed perched in a tree when a second one flew up and and drove the first one off.

Red-tailed Hawks

During the day, we’d also get to see the Long-billed Curlews that have been reported near the Willow Deck recently, a Wilson’s Snipe, Cinnamon and Green-winged Teal, Hooded and Common Mergansers, and quite a few other species.

Most entertaining at the end of the day was a Great Blue Heron who’d been hanging around near the fee station all day, and who apparently had one of those itches that just won’t go away.

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

Kicking Off The New Year

2012 got off to a great start bird-wise with a return visit to the Tingley Ponds on Sunday, January 1. Rebecca had joined me to work on finding the very uncommon Pacific Wren and Rusty Blackbirds that people had been seeing there recently.  This time we were quite successful and would return with the Thursday Birder group later in the week for the same birds. The day seemed at times like some kind of Birder’s Convention as we kept running into others out on the same quest.  Turns out the blackbird shown in my last post was indeed the male Rusty Blackbird, and on Sunday we got great looks at both the male and the female.

Rusty Blackbird (female)

We also got a brief look at the more usual, but uncommon, Winter Wren, and excellent looks at its recent split, the Pacific Wren. These birds are so similar it is only possible to distinguish them by their call notes. Most of us were fortunate to see the Pacific Wren (and some the Blackbird) again on Thursday, where I got this picture when the little guy popped up quite close to where we were standing.

Pacific Wren

Rebecca and I had first done a scouting visit to the Albuquerque Open Space Visitor Center on Tuesday, where the Thursday Birders would start before heading to Tingley Ponds. The Visitor Center has a small wetlands pond that surprisingly for such a small area drew in a Belted Kingfisher and this Great Blue Heron.

Great Blue Heron

A White-crowned Sparrow also posed long enough for a few pictures that afternoon,

White-crowned Sparrow

and this mated pair of Mallards made for a pretty good picture as well.

Mallards

On our return visit early Thursday morning, although we didn’t see the heron or the kingfisher, we were treated to a fabulous display of a female Northern Harrier cruising low over the fields in search of prey. After a short walk there around the pond, we headed off to Tingley for the blackbirds and wrens.
Toward the end of the morning, we also checked out quite a variety of ducks on the southern pond at Tingley, and I was able to get a couple good pictures of a male Belted Kingfisher that was chattering away at our presence.

Belted Kingfisher (male)

Today, I returned to the Shining River Open Space and walked from Paseo del Norte to Alameda and back. Very quiet other than a large number of crows calling, but did see the Spotted Sandpiper we’d seen there the week before and about half a dozen Common Mergansers of both sexes near the dam (but too far away for good pictures). Also stopped by Los Poblanos Open Space, where I’d had great fun recently watching and photographing a variety of raptors, but it too, other than a number of Sandhill Cranes and Canada Geese, was also pretty quiet, but probably not that unusual for this time of year.

Sandhill Cranes

All in all, a pretty good start to the new year with a couple of new lifers and a few good pictures.

Year-end Surprises

I didn’t expect there’d be any more good pictures before the end of the year after my post last Wednesday, but the hits just kept coming, and thought I’d share a few with this last post for 2011.  The Thursday Birder group headed north along the drain from the Shining River Open Space, and in addition to a few unusual sightings of things like camels, llamas, ostrich, and Guinea fowl, saw some interesting birds and a couple of porcupines, including this guy just dozing away.

Sleepy Porcupine

Not at all usual along such running water, we were treated to a Spotted Sandpiper

Spotted Sandpiper

and a Wilson’s Snipe,

Wilson's Snipe

both of whom would fly ahead of us we headed down the path.

Friday afternoon, I spent some time at Los Poblanos Open Space where there were still a few Sandhill Cranes around, a couple of fly-bys of a Northern Harrier, and an American Kestrel that would turn out to be quite entertaining.

American Kestrel

This guy was busy checking out a cropped field for something to eat, and would fly from a nearby fence post at anything that moved in the grass.  The field was also being scanned by a pair of Greater Roadrunners, and at one point one of them made a move on whatever it was the Kestrel had found.  After a brief standoff, the Kestrel apparently decided to leave the fight for another day.

Roadrunner vs. Kestrel

On my way out, I noticed a large Red-tailed Hawk still hanging out in a tree just east of the Open Space and decided to see if it wanted to pose for a picture.

Red-tailed Hawk

Although it kept an eye on me the whole time, it must’ve felt pretty safe way up there in the tree and stayed there as I got back in the car and headed for home.

This morning, New Year’s Eve, I rambled down to Tingley Ponds to look for a couple of rare birds that had been seen there recently.  No luck on the Pacific Wren, but the jury’s still out on whether or not the single blackbird I saw might be the Rusty, instead of our more typical Brewer’s Blackbird.

Blackbird

Soon after seeing that, a bird was fidgeting around in the reeds I’d hoped just might be that Pacific Wren, but nope, turned out to be one of the Song Sparrows we’ve been seeing a lot this winter down by the river.

Song Sparrow

Had a noisy Belted Kingfisher, a roosting Great Blue Heron, and a variety of interesting water birds, including this Pied-billed Grebe

Pied-billed Grebe

and a male Canvasback.

Canvasback

Saturday’s porcupine total reached a total of five, including for the first time for me, two of them hanging out right next to each other.

Porcupines

Wrapped up the morning with a quick visit to the Rio Grande Nature Center, but it was pretty quiet overall right until I was about 10 feet from my car, when I noticed this Cooper’s Hawk hanging out in a low tree between the parking lot and Candelaria Pond.

Cooper's Hawk

So that’s it.  I’ve put my camera away for the year, and it has been a pretty remarkable year for photography.  We’ll see what tomorrow and 2012 brings!

Over the River and Through the Woods

Well, we did cross the Pecos and a couple of other rivers, but I don’t recall much in the way of ‘woods’ on the drive to Austin, Texas earlier this month.  The reason for the trip was to help some friends move their stuff to Austin and to visit my sister who lives there. Upon starting up the huge 26′ diesel truck at 5 am Monday morning, however, a continuously beeping alarm highlighted a low brake pressure warning light, and hearing that the service guy wouldn’t get to us for about  an hour had us questioning the feasibility of continuing that day.  But after sitting there in the dark for about 15 minutes, we restarted the engine, and with the alarm silenced and that idiot light gone, the two of us headed off on what would be a remarkably quick and easy drive for the 12 hours it took us, ‘pedal to the metal’ which typically was about 10 mph below the posted speed limit.  After spending the entire Sunday completely filling that truck,  we’d originally planned to leave on Tuesday, but the new apartment people couldn’t figure out a way to give us a key while they closed the office for their all-day Christmas party on Wednesday.  True, Austin is a party town, but really, people.  More confusion when we did show up  at 8 am Tuesday morning with moving guys ready to go, only to discover that the rental office doesn’t open until 10 am.  And while some of their people were around, they still couldn’t find a way to hand us a key until then.  Ah, I do so miss those days of dealing with quirky landlords.  Once we got through that, though, all went well, unloading half the truck at the apartment and the other half at a nearby storage place; getting most stuff unpacked and reasonably organized; and enjoying my sister’s incredible hospitality.  On Thursday, Matthew flew back to play tag-team parent with their two little girls, while his wife, Elisa, flew to Austin to continue with the unpacking and organizing (and the aforementioned hospitality at my sister’s).  By the time we flew back Sunday, everything was in great shape for the family’s transition to their new life in Austin.  And in a fabulous apartment overlooking the Austin skyline and Town Lake, which has lots of good birds, including a Great Blue Heron roosting nearby, large flocks of cormorants and scaups, flyovers by snowy egrets, and the constant calls of Blue Jays and Great-tailed Grackles.  I’m guessing the girls are going to have fun living right on the water with all the new things to see and do that just don’t happen in Albuquerque.

Managed to get home just in time for the first snowstorm of the week.  Lots of blizzard action, whipping winds, and so foggy the mountains were only visible for a few minutes each day, but it did create some incredible sunsets and provide crystal clear views when the clouds dissipated.

Morning Snowscape

A couple of days later another bigger snowstorm was on the way, and with the snow beginning to fall as I was driving to Corrales for the weekly Audubon Thursday Birder trip, one had to wonder if birding in a snowstorm was going to be a good idea.  Oddly, the sun was shining while the snow was drifting down, and fortunately, things cleared up just fine with the real snowstorm arriving much later in the afternoon.  Turned out to be a good day for birding, starting with a surprised Great Blue Heron squawking and flying away at our first stop and a Northern Harrier zipping away at out second stop.  During the day we saw quite a variety of birds, including two Belted Kingfishers,

Belted Kingfisher

several Song Sparrows, including this one just about to take a bit of a bath,

Song Sparrow

and new for me, a Swamp Sparrow.

Swamp Sparrow

Christmas was a treat for me this year, starting on Christmas Eve helping my friend, Rebecca, set out luminarias all around her house and, after a wonderful dinner, strolling the neighborhood to experience that wonderful magic of Christmas Eve in New Mexico, with hundreds of luminarias glowing softly into the night. (Next year, I’m going to get serious about taking some pictures of it.)  Dinner the next day with the family of my closest former co-worker was a good time, too, and it’s been fun watching their children grow up over the years.

The next day it was up before dawn for the Sandia Christmas Bird Count.  Given the rather chilly morning, I was a bit pensive about keeping warm while tromping about Embudito Canyon, but managed to round up extra socks, a down jacket, and the best gloves I could find for what turned out to be a most enjoyable day with a couple of regulars from our Thursday Birder group and another person who always braves the cold for this annual event.  And once the sun crept over the mountain at about 9 am, the day proved fairly comfortable. You can tell it was pretty cold out there early in the morning from this picture of a Canyon Towhee patiently waiting for the sun to appear.

Canyon Towhee

We managed to scare up a flock of Scaled Quail before the sun arrived, and were soon treated to views of a Red-tailed Hawk flying over the canyon and later a Sharp-shinned Hawk, lots of Canyon Towhees, White-crowned Sparrows, and Oregon Juncos, and the occasional Scrub Jay and  Bluebird.  The male Ladder-backed Woodpecker that is regularly seen at the mouth of the canyon

Ladder-backed Woodpecker (male)

was joined that day by a female, the first I’ve seen in that area.

Ladder-backed Woodpecker (female)

A few of the other highlights of the morning included the Golden-crowned Sparrow that has been seen there recently, a Lincoln’s Sparrow, a Rufous-crowned Sparrow, and later in the afternoon, an unseasonable Black-throated Sparrow.

Black-throated Sparrow

Oddly, despite our efforts to call them out, we neither saw nor heard the Cactus Wrens or Canyon Wrens that are usually about in the canyon, but did spot a Bewick’s Wren and a couple of Rock Wrens.  Ended up the day with a fun compilation party at O’Neill’s Pub, with a total of more than 70 species seen within the 7-mile radius of San Antonito that was the focus of the day’s count.

Wandered around Montano and Alameda Open Spaces yesterday hoping to see a Bald Eagle and looking around (successfully) for porcupines sleeping away in the trees.  Ice on the acequias at Montano was beginning to melt as the day warmed up, and this mallard seemed content to swim in a small stretch of open water at the northern end of the acequia.

Mallard (male)

Fascinating patterns in the quick frozen ice to the south, including several areas that seemed to catch rainbows as they froze and these interesting patterns of bubbles frozen before they could reach the surface.

Frozen Bubbles

The winter solstice has passed and days are growing longer.  Can’t wait to see what the New Year holds.

A Chill Wind Blows

Albuquerque got a good dose of winter over the last couple of weeks, starting with that incredibly high wind event that seemed to blow all the way across the country from Los Angeles and followed by a pretty fair dusting of snow and remarkably cold temperatures.  Until the sun came out again, I hunkered down in the house without getting out to take any pictures.  The day before it all got started, weather at the  Open Space at the end of Copper was close to perfect for a scouting trip for the next day’s Thursday Birder trip there.  Highlight of the day was spotting a cactus wren on the east side of the U-mound hill – I’ve been seeing them regularly in Embudito, but this was a first for me in this area.

Cactus Wren

By the time of the next morning’s outing, however, the wind had reached ridiculous levels with all the smarter birds well tucked away, so we all decided instead to bird the inside of a nearby Starbuck’s for a while (no birds, but the coffee and conversation were good) before heading off to an excellent Christmas potluck at the home of one of the members of the group.

Having survived my bout of cabin fever, the sun finally reappeared on Tuesday and I got out in the afternoon to check out the Rio Grande Nature Center and Montano Open Space.  Most of the water at the Nature Center was frozen, but there were a few wood ducks, coots, and several others in what open water remained.  Montano was better, with a pheasant and northern harrier seen among the growing number of sandhill cranes.  When the weather got even warmer on Wednesday, I decided to stop by Tingley Ponds and then take another look at Montano Open Space.  At Tingley, the northern pond was completely iced over, but a small stretch of open water remained on the southern pond that held quite a few coots, American wigeon, Northern shovelers, and redheads, all paddling frantically to keep the water open.  Here’s a picture of a male northern shoveler who hopped up onto the ice to take a break, and of a male redhead just cruising along.

Northern Shoveler

Redhead

Montano Open Space was again pretty entertaining, with a large number of sandhill cranes and some  Canada geese browsing in the fields.  It was a little surprising when all the geese took off simultaneously in alarm when this little American kestrel left his perch and sailed over the flock.

American Kestrel

The cranes ignored the event, and you wouldn’t think the large geese would have much to fear either.  A few of the cranes, however, did comment on the uproar.

Sandhill Cranes

Particularly entertaining that day was the same juvenile Northern Harrier hanging out in the southeast corner of the field where I’d seen it the day before.

Northern Harrier

Apparently hungry, this guy was actively hunting whatever moved in the area including the kestrel shown above, and in a moment of major excitement,  attacked a large flock of rock doves that were pecking along the ground, which it would continue to harass unsuccessfully for several minutes.

Northern Harrier on the Attack

The next afternoon, a smaller than normal Thursday Birder group headed down to Whitfield Wildlife Conservation Area in anticipation of watching the sunset fly-in by the sandhill cranes.  Because of that week’s cold, however, the pond there was frozen over and while there were a few cranes about, most flew on in search of a more secure roosting spot.  We did see a number of good birds around, including a resident northern harrier and American kestrel, a pyrrhuloxia (!), a large flock of Savannah Sparrows,

Savannah Sparrow

the usual White-crowned Sparrows, an unusual number of Western Meadowlarks, plenty of red-winged and Brewer’s blackbirds, and a couple of Spotted Towhees among others.

Spotted Towhee (and White-crowned Sparrow)

Toward the end of the walk, with the sun setting and a blanket of cold settling down, we spotted what we first thought was just a kestrel flying away, but only had a chance to realize it was some sort of shorebird nobody had a chance to identify before it disappeared in the distance.  Pretty cold by then and nearly dark, we decided to call it a (good) day.

A Different Perspective

Last Saturday, a good friend of mine invited me and another former co-worker to fly to Grants ‘for breakfast’ in his Comanche 250.  A good day for flying and not nearly as bumpy as I’d expected given the pretty good breeze blowing at ground level.  It was a wonderful experience and gave us a unique view of a picturesque region that is mostly devoid of any roads or human presence.  Taking off from the tiny Mid-Valley airport in Los Lunas, we quickly gained enough altitude to see a line of volcanoes south of Albuquerque, and then a landscape filled with mesas and volcanic plugs including Cabezon Peak (the big peak on the right of the picture) off in the distance.

Volcano Landscape

(Note that some of these pictures are not that great since the late morning light was a little bright and they were shot through the plane’s plexiglass windows.)

Off to the south, we soon spotted Acoma Pueblo high on an isolated mesa.

Acoma Pueblo

If you zoom in on the picture, you can just make out the mission-style church (built 1629-1641) on the mesa just behind that square standalone mesa in the middle of the picture.  Acoma has a very long history of  being occupied by humans for at least 1200 years, and was visited by the Coronado expedition in 1540.  It’s been a few years since I last visited, but should make a return trip as it is a fascinating place to explore.

Continuing west, we skirted the lava flows from Mount Taylor in preparation for landing at the Grants-Milan airport.

Mount Taylor

At 11,305 feet, Mt. Taylor is more than 600 feet higher than Sandia Peak in Albuquerque and is one of the four sacred mountains marking the Navajo Nation.

This next picture shows our setting up for the landing in Grants.

Final Approach

And here’s our intrepid pilot and the plane on the ground.

Captain Bob and the Comanche

One might feel a bit of trepidation on hearing that the plane is almost 50 years old and (as I later found on google) was the same model that Patsy Cline died in a crash, but Capt. Bob gave us a sense that he had things well under control.

Borrowing a car from the airport, breakfast at the WOW Diner was excellent and fortified us for our return trip.  This leg of the trip took us a little further south over the extensive lava flows of El Malpais and some  fascinating nearly roadless and uninhabited territory.  Able to fly over such areas at a lower altitude, at times we were lower than some rather nearby peaks.

Scenic View

From the air, one also gets an excellent view of the fractal patterns of washes and creekbeds, these just west of Los Lunas.

Fractal Patterns

A smooth landing back at the home field in Los Lunas, and not a bad way at all to spend a morning.  Definitely have to talk Bob into another ride sometime.

The next morning, Rebecca and I pretty much repeated that journey on the ground, heading to Bluewater Lake State Park just west of Grants, where there had been several recent reports of some interesting birds.  We’re pretty sure we saw the immature red-necked grebe and a California gull during our visit, and definitely saw large numbers of eared grebes, a belted kingfisher, and a bald eagle, but all were quite far away and required scope viewing.  I did get an interesting picture of the waves generated by a single boat crossing the still waters that morning.

Waves

Earlier this week, I was surprised to spot a West Coast Lady last Wednesday while walking in Embudito Canyon.  It’s pretty late in the year to still be seeing butterflies, especially one as fresh-looking as this guy.

West Coast Lady

Yesterday, although cold and breezy, there were a few birds about in the Open Space at the end of Copper, where the Thursday Birder group is headed this week.    This pair of Canyon Towhees stayed around long enough for me to get their picture.

Canyon Towhee

And right at the end of my walk as I was headed back to the car, I spotted this Rock Wren quite close to the trail.

Rock Wren