Leaders: Doug Gochfeld, Jason Kitting, Dave Krueper, Raymond VanBuskirk
Travel day for everyone. Bad weather in Chicago delayed many flights, but the group did make it to Albuquerque just before sunset. An earlier flight with several participants allowed for some afternoon birding in Embudito Canyon on the west flank of the Sandia Mountains. We all gathered at the Na- tivo Lodge for a meet and greet ses- sion and to go over our schedule for the next several days. Dinner was at a local eatery, The Range, and then the group celebrated Ethan’s 13th birth- day with a surprise birthday cake with a Black Rosy-Finch design to give us a grand start to the tour.
Beautiful Male Pyrrhuloxia
Up early, we arranged to store some of our luggage at the Nativo to save space in the vans and then off for breakfast at the El Camino Restaurant for some traditional New Mexico cuisine before the long drive to Roswell. This was a departure from the original itinerary to give us the opportunity to search for the first state record of Common Crane which had recently been discovered. We drove through short grass prairie in a freezing rain which made for some tricky driving conditions, but we did well. Several stops to the north of Roswell resulted in looks at distant Ferruginous Hawks and a fly-over McCown’s Longspur. We spent the remainder of the late morning and early afternoon search- ing the agricultural fields to the south- east of Roswell for the single Common Crane in the midst of thousands of Lesser Sandhill Cranes, but we were not able to locate the bird. Late lunch in Roswell, and then a several hour drive from Roswell to Socorro in the Middle Rio Grande Valley, passing through Lincoln (home of Smokey Bear and the origin of the Lincoln County Wars made famous by Billy the Kid) and to the north of the Trinity Site (where the first atomic bomb was detonated in 1945). A Golden Eagle was a good find along the way and we were able to watch as it circled over the highway before departing to the south. Dinner at Socorro Springs Brewery in town was fun.
Today was another early start with a quick breakfast at the hotel and then south to Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge (BdANWR) to view the flyout of the cranes and white geese. We arrived just in time to view the large flocks and then watch as they departed to feed in agricultural fields to the north of the refuge. We toured the refuge for several hours and then had a picnic lunch at the headquarters before driving south to Paseo del Rio Camp- ground and Rock Canyon Marina at Elephant Butte State Park for afternoon birding in a desert environment. Some of the highlights for the day included Cackling Goose, Pyrrhuloxia, Sagebrush and Black-throated sparrows and Sage Thrasher. Driving back to the north, we stopped for dinner at Frank & Lupe’s for New Mexican fare, and then back to Albuquerque where we were reunited with stored luggage at the Nativo and prepared for some higher elevation birding and colder weather in the Sandia Mountains.
Gray-crowned Black Rosy-Finches
After breakfast at the hotel, we departed and drove east and then north to Sandia Park to search for Pinyon Jays and Evening Grosbeaks in the juniper habitats east of the mountains. We enjoyed good views of Cassin’s Finches and a huge flock of over 250 Evening Grosbeaks there and then drove the 10 miles up into the Sandia Mountains to the Crest House. Here we were able to watch as three species of rosy-finches came in to the feeders and also witnessed the banding operation that BRANT has been conducting on these unique birds for ten years. After good views of the finches, a hot lunch and lots of photos, we headed back into town for dinner at The Range and then to pack up gear and prepare for our last morning of birding before departure at the airport.
After breakfast we headed to Embudito Canyon to view some of the last of the target species in the mixed shrublands and canyons on the west side of the Sandia Mountains. We all were able to get great looks at Bewick’s Wrens, Western Scrub-Jays, Rufous-crowned Sparrow, Canyon Towhee, Cactus Wren and Curve-billed Thrashers. With airline departures on our mind, we departed the canyon just past 10:00 with a surprise quick view of two fly-by Scaled Quail and a last second flyover Prairie Falcon, a lifer for some. With that nice send- off, we headed to the airport and made departures back to Illinois to end a long weekend in New Mexico.
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