ABA Reportable in New Mexico – and Then Some, though no Wood-Rail, Part 2, July 2013

This is the second part of my 4-day New Mexico birding trip, featuring stops in northern NM.

Day 3 – Los Alamos Mountains

Since my stop in the Magdalena Mountains on Day 2 was not very fruitful, I still had a number of targets from montaine habitats.  But given my limited success the day before, I wondered if those montaine birds would even be possible.  I contacted local birder Jerry Friedman, who I had met on my last northern NM trip, and he suggested the American Springs trail northwest of Los Alamos because a recent Audubon trip to that spot had found most of my targets.  We decided to meet there at dawn and try for my remaining woodland targets, hoping for better luck than down in the Magdalenas.

The American Springs trail is in the area of the massive Los Alamos forest fire that occurred in 2011.  Although there were some mature Ponderosas in the area, most were burned to the ground in the fire.  Now 2 years after the fire, vegetation is definitely returning though the area has been in an intense drought for some time.  As a result most of the area is now very open with low grasses and brush.  The small stand of Ponderosas close to the parking area was full of birds when we arrived – including numerous Dusky Flycatchers (#21) and an Olive-Sided Flycatcher (#22), along with Pygmy Nuthatches, Creepers, Plumbeous Vireos, etc.  My statebird map for Olive-Sided is quite complete in the western part of its range, but very spotty in the east where it is a less common species.

As we got into the open areas Dusky’s were everywhere, along with Spotted and Green-tailed Towhees, a few White-crowned Sparrows, and even a pair of Kestrels – few if any of these would have been in this area before the fire.  When we arrived at a small stand of Ponderosas that survived the fire we found a family of Olive-sided Flycatchers and a likely family group of Grace’s Warblers (#23).  It seemed like the woodland birds were concentrated in the very limited remaining stands of surviving mature trees. 

Our last stop along the trail was at a creek crossing that featured steep slopes down to a dry creek bed.  The area had a few live trees and some dead but standing trees, along with a fair amount of brush in the creek bed.  The first birds we found were a family of Gray Flycatchers (#24) at the edge of the ravine.  In the dead trees were a family of Hairy Woodpeckers and a likely family group of 4 Flickers – just about the only site with standing dead trees in the area.  Down in the creek bed were numerous Towhees of both species, a MacGillivray’s Warbler surprisingly 30 ft off the ground in a tree, and a Virginia’s Warbler (#25).  I now have seen this species throughout most of its regular range in the southwest.

That was 5 for 5 for my realistic woodland targets, so we headed back to the car most happy with our results.

Next stop was the Camp May ski area to try for my higher elevation targets.  Though I didn’t get any new statebirds, this was a nice area with a couple new birds for the trip – Gray-headed Junco and Red-naped Sapsucker.

Although it was now late morning and temps had risen well into the 80s, we decided to drop down out of the mountains to head to some nearby sage habitat to try for Sage Sparrow.  Certainly not the best time of day and best weather to try for these birds, but I was running out of targets to try for.  We arrived at the sagebrush area near El Rito and started walking through the vegetation, stopping occasionally to play some tape.  In the first few minutes all we could find was 2 distant Ravens and a Horned Lark flyover so it wasn’t looking very promising.  But a little later I heard a couple distant chip notes, and found a Sage Sparrow perched on top of one of the sages (#26).  We later had a classic view of the bird running across the desert with its tail cocked up.  My Sage Sparrow statebird map is pretty spotty – I’ve had troubles finding this bird in quite a number of locations.

The last stop of the day was to try for Black Swifts at Jemez Falls – the only reliable location for them in NM.  The local advice to find these birds is to be at the falls at dawn or dusk and hope that you can get brief views of one of a small number of swifts that nest at this site.  When I arrived at the Jemez Campground at 5:30 to begin the hike to the top of the falls I found numerous barricades and signs that said the trail to the falls was closed due to flooding.  But just as I got out of the car to try to see if there were other options to get to the falls, I heard the twittering calls of swifts overhead.  I looked up to see a pair of swifts passing directly overhead – they were really large and all dark – 2 Black Swifts (#27)!  Boy was I lucky.  The only other time I’ve seen Black Swifts was in CA in 1983 – 30 years ago.  What a way to end an excellent day of birding.

Day 4 – Maxwell NWR and Other Northern NM Locations

I started the day in riparian habitat along the Pecos River near the town of Ribara to try for Red-headed Woodpeckers.  Multiple birds were reported at two different locations along the river here back in early June, and although the report was now 45 days old, I was optimistic that they would still be around.  But despite excellent directions to the locations, I had no luck with the woodpeckers.  Though seeing Blue Grosbeaks, Indigo Buntings, and Lazuli Buntings in the area was nice.

The next stop was Maxwell NWR to search for Eastern Kingbird, several grassland targets (Cassin’s and Grasshopper Sparrows, Dickcissel, Long-billed Curlew), and maybe some shorebirds.  Given the significant drought that has rocked this area for a couple years, vegetation in the grasslands in northern NM had been minimal.  As a result there had been no Grasshopper Sparrows or Dickcissels reported from this area this year on e-bird, and only 1 recent Cassin’s Sparrow report.  Despite these conditions (or maybe because of them?) this had been a good year for nesting Curlews.  But this part of NM had received quite a bit of rain of late, with standing water in all the refuge impoundments, and a lush carpet of green grass growing on the plains.  So maybe the grassland birds would be having a late nesting season and be more cooperative even though it was late July.  And would the Curlews still be around?

It turned out that Eastern Kingbirds were quite easy (#28), with one or more birds seen at four locations, along with the Cassin’s and Western Kingbirds.  My Eastern Kingbird statebird map pretty much matches the normal range for this species that covers certainly much more than just the eastern US.

My first set of stops in grasslands yielded a number of singing Vesper and Lark Sparrows, but none of my targets.  I then got to an area with tall grasses that seemed good for Grasshopper.  Far in the distance I saw a small sparrow perched on a low twig.  With 50X scope views I could tell it was a singing Grasshopper Sparrow (#29).  The bird was so far away, that I faintly heard its buzzy song a full second or two after I saw it sing.  A couple stops at the lakes yielded some new waterfowl for the trip list, but no new shorebirds.  Then I found a grassy area with low mesquite that seemed good for Cassin’s.  I got out of the car and gave a couple high squeaks and a pair of Cassin’s Sparrows popped right out (#30).  I didn’t have any Dickcissels or Curlews at the refuge, but it was a very successful stop nonetheless.  My Cassin’s Sparrow statebird map covers much of this species normal range, plus MA as an extreme vagrant.

On the way out of the refuge I stopped at a flooded field to try for shorebirds and found a Lesser Yellowlegs (#31), 2 Solitary’s, a Spotted and a Killdeer.  And 2 Burrowing Owls were in the adjacent prairie dog town.  The last two stops of the trip were at Springer Lake and Stubblefield Lake where I got a few new species for the trip, including an immature Franklin’s Gull, and a Ring-necked Duck which is quite good for NM in July.  Nice to have a rarity as the last new species.

The Trip by the Numbers…

I added 31 birds to my NM statelist, which was way over my initial expectations of 18-20.  That gives me 283 for the state which is 19 over the ABA reporting threshold.  NM is now my 42nd ABA reportable state – only 7 more Lower 48 states (plus DC) to go.  I tallied 164 species for the trip, bolstered by the addition of the Bosque del Apache NWR stop to my itinerary and all the waterbirds there.  And although this was certainly a very successful trip, it sure would have been nice if the Wood-Rail had stayed around just a couple more days.