Clouds and a touch of rain this morning didn’t stop the Thursday Birders from seeing a special bird right off the bat this morning, a Painted Redstart, which is usually found much further south (e.g., Silver City area). Got a good look at it first in the plum trees in the private yard east of the levee on the trail from the Open Space Visitor Center and then in various trees of the Bosque Center west of the levee. Terrible picture, but at least you can tell what it is way off in the distance.
Painted Redstart
In other news, the nesting Great Horned Owl just north of the ditch crossing at the end of La Orilla on the left by the burn area decided to show off her babies for the first time today. Consensus is there are three of them, but I was only able to get a picture of two of them looking out.
Great Horned Owls - OSVC
And, much like the other nest over at the Nature Center, whose little ones we’ve been watching for a couple of weeks now, there does seem to be a bit of sibling rivalry going on with one owlet dominating the others.
Great Horned Owls - OSVC
Natural Moments 
It is amazing that you got a photo of the Painted Redstart because it was always on the move. I think it’s a great shot of a very uncommon species to Albuquerque.
Thanks, Rebecca – some days you just get lucky 🙂
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