With a late July business trip to Denver, and some spare time at home, I decided to add a
couple days of vacation to work on my New
Mexico state list.
I’ve been targeting NM lately, with three previous trips there in the
last 12 months. With a great migrant fallout
and 20 new statebirds on my last NM trip in May, I was just 12 short of the old
ABA reportable
threshold. And since I’ve never been to
northern NM in summer, that gave me quite a number of reasonably regular
nesting birds to try for. As a result I
was hopeful I could surpass the reportable threshold with several to spare,
though of course I would have preferred a trip in June so there would be more
song. But I had to work around the
business trip dates and hope for the best.
A couple weeks before my trip a megararity
was found in southern NM – a Rufous-Necked Wood-Rail, a first record for the US. This would be an amazing addition to my trip
if the bird stuck around long enough. It
was found at Bosque del Apache NWR, which is an excellent birding location - perhaps
the best spot in NM. There are a number
of regular breeders at the refuge that I need for my NM list, plus some
shorebird migrants and a continuing Carolina Wren that would be good additions. So although this was farther south than I was
expecting to travel, the possibility of seeing a megararity lifebird plus
adding several other local specialities made the extra driving worthwhile. As the trip approached the Wood-Rail was
still being seen and heard, including the day before I left for the trip. So I was hopeful I would get a lifebird bonus
on what was otherwise a NM statebirding trip.
Day 1 – Evening at Bosque del Apache NWR
My flight arrived in Denver mid-morning, and I quickly started my
7 ½ hour drive south to Bosque del Apache.
If all went well I would arrive at the refuge in the early evening which
is a time when the Wood-Rail was most often seen. While en route I called the refuge and asked
about the bird’s status – it was last heard pre-dawn the day before and not
seen or heard at all that day. That
certainly wasn’t the best news, but there was a recent day when it was only
seen after 6:30 PM, so I hadn’t given up total hope. With only 2 brief stops along the way I got
to the refuge at 6:30 and went right to the boardwalk on the Marsh Loop where
it had been seen. There were at least 30
other birders there, but no one had seen it that day. Luckily quite a number of my other targets had
been reported from that spot as well, so I had other birds to look for while
waiting for the Wood-Rail. One of the
first birds I saw was a distant tern that turned out to be a Forster’s – my
first new NM statebird for the trip. A
little later one of several very cooperative Least Bitterns came into view
(#2), including this one that I captured in a phone-scoped photo.
In recent days this impoundment had
featured a number of shorebirds I needed for my list, but that evening there
was nothing new for me, though there was a large flock of Avocets, 3 Greater
Yellowlegs (I need the other yellowlegs for my statelist), and some Western
Sandpipers. In the distance I finally
got some looks at 2 Common Gallinules (#3) at the edge of the marsh. I’ve now seen this species throughout much of
its range in numerous regions across the US (see my statebird map below).
But as sunset approached, and still no
Wood-Rail sighting, these 3 statebirds seemed like poor consolation prizes. I left the refuge about 30 minutes after
sunset, some 18 hours after I left my house that morning. On the drive to my hotel several Lesser
Nighthawks passed low over the road which were my last bird of the day.
Day 2 – Bosque del Apache, Magdalena Mountains, and Points North
While waiting unsuccessfully for the
Wood-Rail on the evening of Day 1, I had quite a bit of time to think through
the next day’s strategy. Obviously the
lifebird was my key target, and early morning had been a good time for the bird
in the past, though of course the bird had not been seen or heard for 36
hours. On the other hand, of course
early morning would also be the prime time for landbirding, and I was worried
that many of these landbirds would be tough to see later in the day especially
so late in the summer. I was given some
advice for a great landbirding spot a short distance away – Water Canyon
in the Magdalena Mountains, with key targets there not
possible elsewhere on my itinerary being Red-faced Warbler, Olive Warbler, and
Greater Pewee. Decisions,
decisions… I decided to start at 5,
pre-dawn, at the rail spot, and give it until 7. If I didn’t have the bird by then it would be
48 hours since the last sighting, so I would give up on the Wood-Rail, bird
briefly elsewhere on the refuge, and then head to the mountains.
I was the first person to arrive at the
refuge at 5, to almost complete darkness.
As I intently listened for the unique call of the Wood-Rail, the
pre-dawn chorus started with 2 distant Great Horned Owls. A few minutes later a barely visible owl
circled overhead and then called – it was a Barn Owl. Overhead the stars and planets were putting
on quite a show, including Jupiter low in the eastern sky. I was quite lucky to be able to get this
phone-scoped photo (heavily cropped) showing Jupiter and 4 of its moons.
It was now first light and about 20 other birders
were with me along the boardwalk. But
still no Wood-Rail. The dawn chorus
consisted of several Chats and Yellowthroats, along with Blue Grosbeaks, a
White-winged Dove, and even a Roadrunner cooing. The impoundment featured a different mix of
shorebirds from yesterday – no avocets or yellowlegs but now several Baird’s
and Least Sands were in with the Westerns.
And 3 dark ibis were feeding in the distance – 1 was noticeably larger and
fed a short distance from the other 2.
But they stayed too far away for positive ID. At 7 I stuck to my plan, and left the
boardwalk, disappointed about the Wood-Rail, but hopeful for my other targets
at the refuge.
Most of my targets were seen along the Seasonal Tour Road
so that was my planned first stop. Soon
after I left the boardwalk I saw a couple other birders with binocs trained
into the sky. I hopped out of the car
and watched 2 Green Heron’s fly by (#4).
One of the first birds I saw on the Seasonal Tour Road was a large raptor
perched on a dead tree in a distant impoundment. Although I assumed it was just a Red-tail, I
stopped and looked at it through the binocs.
I’m glad I did – it was a Peregrine (#5). As my statebird map shows, I still need this
recovering species in a lot of states.
As I drove slowly along the brush was full
of small passerines like Lesser Goldfinches, Blue Grosbeaks, Chats, and
Yellowthroats. At my first stop I flushed
a small warbler which I followed to a distant perch which turned out to be a
Lucy’s Warbler (#6). A few minutes later
I arrived at the spot where the long-staying Carolina Wren had been recently
reported. I got out of the car and
started to walk down the road to listen for the wren. Luckily it started calling soon thereafter
(#7), because the mosquitoes were intense!
NM is now my third state seeing this species as a rarity (along with ID and CO).
As I neared the end of the road, I stopped
to watch a family of Bewick’s Wrens feeding young. And a minute later a pair of Willow
Flycatcher’s starting singing (#8). That
was all 3 of my landbird targets for the refuge in just a 15-minute span. While heading back to the refuge exit a male
Vermillion Flycatcher flew by and perched most cooperatively at the edge of the
road. Though not new for my NM list, I
can never see enough Vermillion Flys!
Just before I left the refuge I passed by a small mudflat in the last
impoundment which contained a couple Killdeer, a Spotted Sand, and a Solitary
Sandpiper (#9). I left the refuge at 8 AM
with mixed emotions – although I missed the Wood-Rail I was very happy with 9
new statebirds including a few that are very good for NM.
The next stop was in the foothills of the Magdalena Mountains at a location called The
Box. This is a rocky pinyon juniper area
reported to be one of the best spots for Gray Vireo, and possibly some of my
other targets. The dirt road up the
valley had been washed out by recent heavy rains, so I parked the car and
walked up the hillside into the junipers.
It was quite a walk uphill under a warming sunny sky, but I eventually
got into the habitat which featured Scott’s Orioles, and Canyon and Rock Wrens,
but no Gray Vireos. Though I was able to
add one target - 2 Black-throated Gray Warblers singing above me on the
hillside (#10). I’ve now seen BT Grays
throughout its normal western range as well as two eastern states as a rarity.
Next stop was the mouth of Water Canyon,
which unfortunately I didn’t reach until about 10 AM. The lower stretches of the canyon were in
pinyon juniper habitat, but with hardly any song. Best I could do was a flock of Bushtits and a
Western Pewee. The woodland transitioned
to mostly deciduous trees with a few Ponderosa pines when I reached the Water
Canyon Campground. Just outside the
campground I heard an unfamiliar pigeon sound.
I tracked it down and found a flock of 12 Band-tailed Pigeons
(#11). And nearby I stopped to check out
some dead snags and an Acorn Woodpecker flew in (#12). That was #264 for me in NM, the ABA reportable
threshold! I continued up the canyon
making numerous stops up into the ponderosa pines and firs but saw few birds,
even though I played some Pygmy Owl tape.
Initially the highlights were several Cordilleran Flycatchers (#13)
along the dry creek that paralleled the road up the canyon, and a stop with
several Hammond Flycatchers and Juniper Titmice. My statebird map for Cordilleran now pretty
well matches this species’ range though with a gap in UT.
Then on a next stop I heard distant calls
of a Pygmy Owl – but was it a recording from another birder? I doubled back to get closer to the calls and
sure enough the sounds were coming from a distant inaccessible part of the
canyon – a Northern Pygmy Owl (#14). The
owl continued to call for at least the next 30 minutes. One last stop in the canyon yielded a family
group of Ash-throated Flycatchers, and the first of 2 family groups of
Blue-Gray Gnatcatchers (#15) – one of my nemesis birds for NM. And I can finally fill in NM as one of my
last gaps in my statebird map for this species.
Other birders I ran into mentioned they earlier
had a Painted Redstart and Red-faced Warblers in the canyon, but I wasn’t so
lucky. The small number of birds and the
almost complete lack of bird song really had me worried about finding many of
my woodland targets, though I was happy to have found the Pygmy Owl. Maybe it was just the time of day – it was
now 1:30 PM and getting warm even at this altitude.
On my way up the canyon earlier in the day
a young boy noticed me birding along the road and mentioned that I could come
by his house to see his hummingbirds if I wanted. So as I returned to this area, and still
needing Calliope Hummingbird, I decided to drop by the house. I was invited to their yard and quickly found
a single feeder that was loaded with hummingbirds. I estimated about 100 birds in total, with
maybe 70% Broad-tails buzzing away, 20% smaller but very aggressive Rufous, and
about 10% shier but larger Black-chins.
Finally I noticed a smaller bird perched in a nearby shrub – a male
Calliope (#16). I would also find a female
Calliope a bit later. These small birds
were tiny compared to their relatively larger cousins. I took this photo with my iPhone of a
representative group of the hummers at the feeder.
The homeowners were very friendly and
shared some good stories about their local birding experiences, including the
fact that they fed the doves – the flock of Band-tails I had earlier were
actually in their yard.
It was now 3 PM and time to figure out what
to do with the rest of my day. I decided
to start heading north making what would hopefully be short stops for specific
target birds – “tactical strikes” as I call them. The first one was a marsh called the Taco
Bell Marsh on e-bird that had several recent reports of Cattle Egrets. Though I was completely relying on the
location listed on e-bird, I hoped that the title meant that there would be a
Taco Bell nearby. Luckily the location
was perfect (right next to a Taco Bell), and I pulled up to a small wetlands
that had nesting Black-necked Stilts, a few Wilson’s Phalaropes, and several
peeps. And in a small group of trees
nearby were 17 Cattle Egrets (#17). It’s
great when e-bird works out so well. My
sightings for this species have now covered all the southern states but are
still very spotty elsewhere across the US.
Next stop was at a location along the Rio
Grande River in Isleta with nesting Common Black-Hawks. These birds are only infrequently seen in the
area, but when they are seen they are typically perched on light poles on a dam
at this spot. As I neared the dam I
quickly noticed a large black bird on a distant light pole. I found a spot to pull over and there was the
Black-Hawk (#18). That was lucky!
Next stop was in a juniper habitat east of
Albuquerque at the Four Hills Open Space for possible Gray Vireos. I arrived at the spot and after a few minutes
realized that this might not be a very fruitful chase – although it seemed like
good habitat it was a large area with no bird song. So I headed back to the car after adding
Canyon Towhees to the trip list.
A short distance to the north was a
location where I was told that Scaled Quail were reliable. This location was in a neighborhood along
Simms Park Road near the Elena Gallegos Open Space, where feeders attract
quail. This was my biggest nemesis bird
in NM – I’ve spent many hours in good habitat and have birded specific
locations for them, but with no luck.
One of the problems in Albuquerque is that the introduced Gambel’s Quail
may be displacing the native Scaled Quail.
I arrived at the preferred location but could find no feeders. But there was good native habitat in the
area, so I decided to walk through the area and give it a try. Just a couple minutes after leaving the car I
heard a brief call of what I thought was a Scaled Quail – but I couldn’t be
sure. A short walk later I saw movement
in the grasses – a family group of at least a dozen Gambel’s Quail. Will this be another failed search? But just a few seconds later I saw more
movement and there was a Scaled Quail moving through the brush (#19) – no
longer a nemesis bird for my NM list.
Since I was able to quickly get my targets
on most of my tactical strikes, there was still a little time left to try for
one last target – Osprey. Although there
were no recent Ospreys reported on e-bird, there was a report from early June
of birds on a nesting platform just south of Cochiti Lake not too far off the
route to my next hotel. Of course the report was 45 days old, and maybe the
birds would have left the nest by now, but I decided to give it a try. I arrived at the location listed on e-bird
but there was no nesting platform in site.
So I decided to drive to the lake and look for them there. But before I reached the lake I noticed a
platform up ahead – it was the Osprey platform complete with an adult and
full-sized juvenile (#20). Although the
e-bird location wasn’t exact, the report still gave me enough information to be
able to find one of my targets. My statebird map for Osprey is pretty well filled in except for the
plains states.
I finished the day with 106 species – not
bad for a hot day in July. And 17 new
birds for my NM list.
