After a short - and nearly bird-free - walk this morning with Sasha at Florida Lake Park, I set out to check a few of the local shoreline nooks and crannies of Freeport and Yarmouth. Visits to the South Freeport Town Landing and Winslow Park failed to produce any Barrow’s Goldeneye – there’s still very little ice in the river, and the 20-30mph north wind was churning up some nice chop (not to mention blowing in my face, causing my eyes to tear-up and along with the 18-degree temperature, causing me to spend a few less moments at the tip of Winslow!). I did, however, see three Hooded Mergansers behind the Muddy Rudder restaurant, 4 Pine Grosbeaks along Rte 88 in Yarmouth, just south of Bayview St., and all three mergansers (Common, Hooded, and Red-breasted) were together in the Royal River off of the Lower Falls Landing.

But, I didn’t have too much time out and about this morning, as the pile of work here at the store still needs to be whittled down after my recent peregrinations. This blog, for example. So, without any further ado, here’s my Photojournal from my recent trip to New Mexico with WINGS (see the previous two entries).

1/19
Gavin and I arrived last night, and after picking up the van this morning, we began some scouting, beginning with the Chochiti Lake area, followed by the Rio Grande Nature Center.

A couple of large ponds here, easily viewed from blinds and from within the nature center building provide excellent views of a number of common local waterfowl . . .

. . . such as Wood Ducks . . .

. . . but also a rather rare Hooded Merganser.

While multiple well-stocked feeding stations hosted hundreds of White-crowned Sparrows of the gambelli subspecies.

And for some reason, I found this sign rather amusing. Something about the use of the word "fugitive" in this context, I guess.

1/20.
Today was the first birding day of the tour, and we began at Embudito Canyon, with a number of species, including this Curve-billed Thrasher.

But it was Three Gun Springs that stole the show, with Pinyon Jays on the drive in. . .

. . . and a Juniper Titmouse and this Crissal Thrasher at the trailhead.

Then, it was back to the Rio Grande Nature Center for the tour's first "official" visit.

We then worked our way south to Socorro, with a number of stops, including the productive Ladd S. Gordon Waterfowl Management Area, where we had our first taste of the quantity of waterfowl and Sandhill Cranes that winter in this area.

1/21.
Driving south from Socorro, today's goals were desert residents. We spent half of the day in the Caballo Lake and Dam area, including a visit to the Percha Dam Recreation Area. Here's a shot of the Rio Grande as it runs through this location.

The better part of the afternoon was spent along Animas Creek, with the highlight being the aforementioned, and afore-posted (?) Rufous-backed Robin (see last week's post), as well as my first Bridled Titmice - which may just be one of the cutest birds (scientifically speaking) out there.

Working our way back to Socorro, we enjoyed a female Lark Bunting with a hoard of Brewer's Sparrows in some little village off of NM Rte 187, White-throated Swifts and others in Truth or Consequences, and finally, my "lifer" tumbling Tumbleweed at Elephant Butte State Park.

1/22.
Dawn at the Flight Deck at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. There's a reason why this place is such a popular destination, and it was no doubt one of our highlights on the trip.

Managed wetlands and farm fields produce a wealth of habitat and food for waterfowl and Sandhill Cranes.

There's a "few" Snow Geese around here.

And "some" Sandhill Cranes.

The Canyon Trail produced Sage Sparrows, after quite a bit of effort; other than White-crowned Sparrows, most sparrow species were relatively few and far between this tour.

Lunch was at the famous Owl Bar Cafe in San Antonio.

Home of the Famous Green Chili Cheeseburger.

After a relaxing lunch, we worked our way back to Socorro, enjoying more fun stuff like this Say's Phoebe.

1/23.
Today was a fantastic day. As if Bosque wasn't great enough, today we had some more tremendously successful birding. First off, Socorro County Rd A127.

Which produced dozens of Chestnut-collared Longspurs, including a flock of at least 30 that joined Horned Larks at a icy cattle pond.

While this isn't the best shot around, it does show the "long spurs" of the Longspurs!

After being satiated with grassland denizens, we climbed up the Sandias, to Sandia Crest. Sure the view is nice . . .

. . . but the real reason for this trek to 10,678 was the Sandia Crest House, which, in addition to selling food and souvenirs, hosts some very famous feeders that host all three species of Rosy-Finch! Black, and Brown-capped (both lifers for me), and Gray-crowned (this year, also including at least two of the more coastal "Hepburn's" subspecies)! This is THE location in North America for seeing Rosy-finches. While some visits are more productive than others, and sometimes one species or another is hard to find, this visit produced all three and a half subspecies in a feathered blizzard only a few minutes after we arrived.

Can you find Brown-capped, Black, Gray-crowned, and the "Hepburn's" Gray-crowned in these shots?

After the excitement died down (in other words, the flock consumed every single seed that had been spread out for them!), we headed north to Sante Fe, via the Turqouise Trail.

1/24.
We got another (relatively) early start today, and headed north to the prairie. We met up with Dave, a friend of Gavin's, for some local knowledge, and we proceeded to bird the Springer Lake area, with highlights of a more northerly-flavor, including American Tree Sparrows, a Northern Shrike, Black-billed Magpies, but also a Golden Eagle, Black-tailed Prairie Dogs and lots of Pronghorn, and a couple of Prairie Falcons.

Maxwell National Wildlife Refuge was the highlight of the day.

In addition to building our trip list - and my state list - with stuff like Great Horned Owls (3), Barrow's Goldeneye (1), Tundra Swans (2), we were treated to a roosting Long-eared Owl, thanks to Dave's expert knowledge. Best of all, he knew not just exactly WHERE to look for them, but HOW, allowing us to enjoy the bird without disturbing it.

But, to be honest, Gavin and I had other thoughts on our mind. A Barnacle Goose - a rare vagrant from Greenland - had been discovered here in early Decemeber, and Dave refound it at Lake 13 yesterday. Our first check failed to turn it up, but a bird this good deserved another chance.

Somehow, among a flock of 1,000 or so Canada and Cackling Geese, I found this "red-letter" needle in a haystack. The extensive white on the face contrasted with the black head, neck, and breast. Gray flanks, and its gray and black-striped back did not stand out amid the crowd as much as one would expect. See?

Following a late lunch at the historic, and apparently haunted, restuarant (mmm, bison burgers, aaaarrrgggghhhh), we wandered around the countryside - including twitching two Lewis's Woodpeckers at the well-known Philmont Scout Ranch, before heading back to Santa Fe for the night.

1/25.
How quickly a week goes by when you're having fun!
With a little dusting of snow on the ground in town, we headed up into the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, heading towards the Sante Fe Ski Basin.

At the top, fresh overnight snowfall attracted a crowd of skiers.

But our interest was in the feeders in front of the lodge. There, the mountain denizens feasted on seed and suet, including Mountain Chickadees . . .

. . . Clark's Nutcrackers . . .

. . . "Gray-headed" Dark-eyed Juncos . . .

. . . and Gray Jays. Notice how much white-headed, and browner-backed they are here than in Maine?

All too soon, it was time to head downhill - although a trio of rare Evening Grosbeaks in the Sante Fe Highlands were a nice diversion, along with a few Townsend's Solitaires, and across the plain towards Cochiti Lake.

Unforunately, the ice had not broken up in the past few days, so we decided to finish the trip with a relaxing visit to enjoy the ducks and feeder-birds back at the Rio Grande Nature Center, including Gadwalls and American Coots . . .

. . . Cackling Geese . . .

. . . Ring-necked Ducks . . .

. . . and of course, the charasmatic Wood Ducks.